VOA/council rebanded home to higher band - backdated!?!?

SuzeQStan

This is my first post - apologies for any newbie mistakes 😊
We received a letter from VOA advising our home we purchased 2.5 years ago was under review to be rebanded for council tax.

2 weeks later we received a revised payment schedule from our council stating we were now in a higher band. This is not entirely unexpected as the previous owner undertook significant extensions etc.
the problem we have is that we have been charged at the higher band rate for the entire financial year instead of from the 8th of august when the VOA changed the band.
I cannot find any information at all about the council being able to backdate the band change for the whole financial year. 

So our new band should be about £30 ish more per month but we have been charged an additional £60 per month for the remaining 5 months of this financial year. Which clearly means we have been charged the additional band rate for the entire year instead of the 5 months remaining from the date we were advised of the change.
any advice/help in pointing to available information out there would be gratefully received.
we know we have to pay the additional - it just seems unfair for it to be backdated 5 months before we were advised of the change. I’m also a bit worried that they might back date it even further (as previously stated we have been here 2.5 years).
Thank you for reading this.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Have you not been notified when the change is effective from?

If not and you are being charged for the increase back to 1 April 2021 then I think it is a foregone conclusion that you will shortly receive demands for the 2018:19 (part year), 2019:20 and 2020:21 Council Tax years.

SuzeQStan

Hi yes we were advised the date of change was August 8. I spoke to our local council who confirmed that the higher band is applicable from the date of change and that it is not backdated. But we have received a revised schedule of payments which is charging for a whole financial years worth of the new band. I am struggling to find any examples of people in the same position. 

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Can you post your original Council Tax charge and revised charge and what you have paid each month so far?

You may not have factored in the short period Council Tax is usually paid over (10 not 12 months).

SuzeQStan

hi - as posted in my original comments we have received a revised schedule of payments from our council charging the higher band for the entire financial year instead of the date from which we were advised of the band increase - 8/8. I have factored in the 10 month schedule and it’s very straightforward really. They have charged the higher band for the entire financial year instead of the date from which the band was raised. 

It would be great if someone on here had been through the same situation.

csgohan4

Only the council/VOA will know your specific case, suggest to contact them on Tuesday to clarify

CIS

SuzeQStan said:

This is my first post - apologies for any newbie mistakes 😊
We received a letter from VOA advising our home we purchased 2.5 years ago was under review to be rebanded for council tax.

2 weeks later we received a revised payment schedule from our council stating we were now in a higher band. This is not entirely unexpected as the previous owner undertook significant extensions etc.
the problem we have is that we have been charged at the higher band rate for the entire financial year instead of from the 8th of august when the VOA changed the band.
I cannot find any information at all about the council being able to backdate the band change for the whole financial year. 

So our new band should be about £30 ish more per month but we have been charged an additional £60 per month for the remaining 5 months of this financial year. Which clearly means we have been charged the additional band rate for the entire year instead of the 5 months remaining from the date we were advised of the change.
any advice/help in pointing to available information out there would be gratefully received.
we know we have to pay the additional - it just seems unfair for it to be backdated 5 months before we were advised of the change. I’m also a bit worried that they might back date it even further (as previously stated we have been here 2.5 years).
Thank you for reading this.

Take a look here for the revised band - https://www.gov.uk/council-tax-bands - and see what date it gives.

The band revision for a sale should be backdated to the date of change, which is the date of sale, to ensure it is correctly charged for (and the council tax charge backdated to match).

kaMelo

We successfully challenged our council tax banding which was changed, albeit to a lower band rather than higher like yourself, but the change was applied from when the house was built, not just the date of our challenge.
We subsequently received recalculated council tax bills at the new band going back to the date we moved in, sixteen years worth if I remember correctly, followed up with a cheque for the overpayment.
I would assume it works the other way too, as you suspect, and you will be asked to pay the correct banding from the date you moved in.

SuzeQStan

@CIS - thanks for the link- it says our new band is effective from 8/8/21. It seems quite punitive to think we might be liable for what would be nearly £1000 for the last 2.5 years we have been in our property at the lower band. If new band is effective from 8/8/21, then why would we be liable for the higher band any earlier than this date? 

SuzeQStan

@csgohan4 -good idea we will contact VOA on Tuesday as suggested and will report back here. It has been very difficult to find any information about whether council tax band change is backdated and council tax t&cs make difficult reading as well. So hopefully our experience will at least give some background to anyone who goes through this in future.

lincroft1710

In England CT band increases on account of a material increase and relevant transaction are not backdated (but they are in Wales). As the revised band has an effective date of 8 August 2021, there is no point in contacting the VOA, you need to clarify matters with your council. It may be that the council have structured the payments for the financial year 2021/22 so that they reflect the increase from 8 Aug, rather than 1 April.