Money Moral Dilemma: Should I challenge our council tax band if it means my neighbour may pay more?

MSE_Kelvin

This week's MoneySaver who wants advice asks...

We live in a four-bedroom semi-detached bungalow and are in council tax band D, which I'd never questioned. But recently my next-door neighbour told me she's in the cheaper band B, and her home has exactly the same layout. I'd love to claw back some council tax, but I'm worried that if I flag it, it might result in my neighbour's band being increased, which I don't want to happen. What should I do?

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lincroft1710

If your neighbour's band is too low, then you and all the other CT payers will pay fractionally more because of this. Band B sounds far too low, so Band D is probably correct. Check the bands of other similar bungalows. If they are Band D, then perhaps do nothing.

My personal view would be why should they get away with paying less CT than they should be paying

sam1974_2

Going through the same dilemma myself at the moment! 

Lived here 10+ years but up until recently (some of the elderly neighbours passing away) everyone else had lived here since they first got married, raised families and are now pensioners. They’ve always called us “the youngsters” …. Im in my late 40’s and hubby is in his 50’s! 

We’ve still got a few of the original elderly neighbours who are the most lovely people and last thing I want to do is incur them any extra costs with increased council tax. I’ve spent the last year doing everyone’s shopping during Covid, looking out for them and hubby regularly does little maintenance jobs for everyone to save them some pennies too. 

We’ve always been aware we were on a higher band than everyone else but didn’t want to rock the boat But …… as relatives have sold the inherited houses and we’ve got quite a few much younger new neighbours, it’s starting to grate on me that the new ones are paying less when they all seem to arrive with 2 brand new cars and constantly going out for dinner and shopping. 

The one elderly neighbour I’ve discussed this with had told me to go ahead and get the banding looked at to save myself some money. He said he will just accept if his increases instead and try to make adjustments to afford it ….. he’s a sweet old gent but I just have no idea how I’d look him in the eye knowing he’s scraping by, because of me 🙁

Tricky situation sometimes. 

Edited to add:- once the last of the original neighbours are no longer with us, I will absolutely be getting the banding re-valued as no loyalty to any of the new neighbours and tbf, the area is changing with them all here now so will probably sell ourselves then so won’t have to face them anyway ! 

Mrssmith2012

I'm not sure where the original poster is from but in Scotland Council tax is based on the value of a property back in 1991. So any house built before then that was banded during the initial council tax implementation, if the house has been owned by the same people since then it will be in the same band as it was banded in back then. Even if they have extended the property etc. It was done this way so that you wouldn't be penalised for improving your own home while you lived there. For example attic conversions turning a 2 bed into a 4 bed wouldn't change your council tax band while you still owned it but if you were to sell that property, the new owners would most likely receive a rebanding on sale meaning the council reviews the size etc of the house at point of sale against either previous sales or the original/current banding and adjusts accordingly. 

Therefore when you describe a situation where the residents of the majority of the houses have lived and raised a family etc and have owned the house for a long long time they will be in a lower band than the house in the estate that was bought by a newer family who the previous owners had added extensions etc as the change in band only happens at the point of sale. So I wouldn't assume all the new neighbours are paying less than you, they are possibly paying more if the house they have bought meets the criteria explained above. You can dispute a band, either rebanding on sale or an initial banding of a new property but you generally only have 6 months to do so. 

Simple example below-

If you bought a 2 bedroom bungalow and it was a band C and you renovated it, adding 2 further bedrooms and additional living space then your band would stay in C. But if you sold the house as a 4 bedroom spacious family home a couple of years later then the new owners will likely see an increase in the council tax band for example it may rise from C to E, again based on what a house of that size and spec would have been worth back in 1991.

Hope this helps.

Nailer99

I successfully challenged a council tax band a few years ago and had the band lowered, so it’s well worth doing if you are confident your band will go down. 

I’d say do some more research, looking at similar streets elsewhere in your area, and come to a conclusion whether your band is too high or your neighbour’s is too low. If it is the latter, I would leave it. You aren’t going to feel good about forcing your neighbours to pay more council tax. 

Nailer99

And (as surely goes without saying) read all the excellent advice on this on MSE!

13zero8

I challenged the band of my house a few months after moving in. Was successful and the council tax was reduced by one band. Thought about letting the previous owners know about the reduction so they could claim back £1000s for the 20 odd years of overpayments (which I'm sure would've been a MSE record refund, or close to). Decided against telling them in the end because they did me dirty when I moved in, by refusing to pay for something they agreed to pay for, leaving me to foot the bill.

Karma's a b****h! 

sam1974_2

Mrssmith2012 said:

Therefore when you describe a situation where the residents of the majority of the houses have lived and raised a family etc and have owned the house for a long long time they will be in a lower band than the house in the estate that was bought by a newer family who the previous owners had added extensions etc as the change in band only happens at the point of sale. So I wouldn't assume all the new neighbours are paying less than you, they are possibly paying more if the house they have bought meets the criteria explained above. You can dispute a band, either rebanding on sale or an initial banding of a new property but you generally only have 6 months to do so. 

Simple example below-

If you bought a 2 bedroom bungalow and it was a band C and you renovated it, adding 2 further bedrooms and additional living space then your band would stay in C. But if you sold the house as a 4 bedroom spacious family home a couple of years later then the new owners will likely see an increase in the council tax band for example it may rise from C to E, again based on what a house of that size and spec would have been worth back in 1991.

Hope this helps.

As houses have been sold by their family members, the new owners are on the same banding as the original owners, even the ones who brought about 4 years ago and have since converted part of the back of the property into an annexe to use as a holiday let. 

I’ve checked the VOA and no changes are registered on any of them. 

I’m wading through the nearest other streets and can see one has been changed to a lower band. Doesn’t say when, just from 1993 so maybe they asked to be revalued 🤷🏻‍♀️

13zero8 said:

I challenged the band of my house a few months after moving in. Was successful and the council tax was reduced by one band. Thought about letting the previous owners know about the reduction so they could claim back £1000s for the 20 odd years of overpayments (which I'm sure would've been a MSE record refund, or close to). Decided against telling them in the end because they did me dirty when I moved in, by refusing to pay for something they agreed to pay for, leaving me to foot the bill.

Karma's a b****h! 

My understanding from reading here is that once the banding is lowered, the previous owners would have received an automatic refund as they have their new address, contact details and probably bank details already from when they moved, de-registered the account at your house and re-registered their new address. 

keithyno.1

Absolutely apply to claw back some council tax if you’re able to. You’ve got to look after your own finances, and not worry about your neighbour’s.

olgadapolga

I challenged my council tax banding and got it reduced when I purchased my first home. It didn't change any of the neighbours' CT banding. But the road was a mixture of band C and band D anyway, so maybe other people along the street had also challenged their CT banding. 


I found it quite satisfying that I was paying much less to the extravagant  local council than my two immediate neighbours, none of whom were particularly nice. Not my problem if the neighbours couldn't be bothered to check/challenge their banding.

Teddibiase

MSE_Kelvin said:

This week's MoneySaver who wants advice asks...

We live in a four-bedroom semi-detached bungalow and are in council tax band D, which I'd never questioned. But recently my next-door neighbour told me she's in the cheaper band B, and her home has exactly the same layout. I'd love to claw back some council tax, but I'm worried that if I flag it, it might result in my neighbour's band being increased, which I don't want to happen. 

I am in a similar situation, can I ask are you thinking of approaching the council and outright telling them your neighbour is paying less and can they check your banding against your neighbours?