Council Tax Relating to an Annex

Mrcsmrs

We purchased a property last year which contained a home for ourselves and what was advertised as an annex, the latter being a one bedroom self contained bungalow which is in our garden. The property was marketed as having been used as an annex and in more recent days as a holiday let. All services are charged within the main home bills. We have used this to house my 70s aged parents and have approached the council to get the exemption for a dependent relative. It’s taken months for them to re band the property as residential from the holiday let and assign it a band A, now they are saying that before they can apply the exemption they need to resurvey to confirm if they feel it is truly an annex, as apparently an annex must be attached to the main house. Is this correct? Ours is not attached but it is very much in our garden and was marketed as such. The original planning permission was given for it as a residential dwelling whilst the main bungalow was being built and it was subsequently used by the previous owner’s elderly in laws in exactly the way we are using it now. There is a gap of around 3ft between my bedroom wall and the reception room of the annex it’s that close. The main bungalow is also far larger, being a 4 bedroom 4 reception room building too. 

I guess my question is, is the information given by the council accurate and if they do decide they won’t class it as an annex, therefore refusing us the exemption, is there anything we can do about this? 

Thank you. 

lincroft1710

It will be the Valuation Office Agency (part of HMRC) who will have assigned a CT band to the bungalow and not the council.


As this is a separate bungalow rather than part of the house converted or extended to form an "annex", the council may well believe that the bungalow would have been a separate dwelling under the now repealed General Rate Act 1967 and not a separate dwelling under The Council Tax (Chargeable Dwellings) Order 1992. Despite the fact the GRA 1967 was repealed, it is still lawfully referred to. The CT(CD)O 1992 is the legislation used to determine if there is more than one dwelling at a property and it is this  legislation which enables "annexes" to be separately banded. However there is no requirement for an "annex" to be joined to the main dwelling.


Usually an "annex" will have a planning condition forbidding its sale separate from the main house. If there is no such condition then it can be argued (especially for a non-attached property) that the bungalow would have been a separate dwelling under the GRA 1967 and is therefore not an "annex".  


If you disagree with the council's decision, you can appeal to the Valuation Tribunal. 

Mrcsmrs

lincroft1710 said:

It will be the Valuation Office Agency (part of HMRC) who will have assigned a CT band to the bungalow and not the council.


As this is a separate bungalow rather than part of the house converted or extended to form an "annex", the council may well believe that the bungalow would have been a separate dwelling under the now repealed General Rate Act 1967 and not a separate dwelling under The Council Tax (Chargeable Dwellings) Order 1992. Despite the fact the GRA 1967 was repealed, it is still lawfully referred to. The CT(CD)O 1992 is the legislation used to determine if there is more than one dwelling at a property and it is this  legislation which enables "annexes" to be separately banded. However there is no requirement for an "annex" to be joined to the main dwelling.


Usually an "annex" will have a planning condition forbidding its sale separate from the main house. If there is no such condition then it can be argued (especially for a non-attached property) that the bungalow would have been a separate dwelling under the GRA 1967 and is therefore not an "annex".  


If you disagree with the council's decision, you can appeal to the Valuation Tribunal. 

Thank you, there is a condition which prevents us selling off any part of the property separately to the rest so hopefully this will aid us in the matter. So much to think about with all of these things! 

lincroft1710

Mrcsmrs said:

lincroft1710 said:

It will be the Valuation Office Agency (part of HMRC) who will have assigned a CT band to the bungalow and not the council.


As this is a separate bungalow rather than part of the house converted or extended to form an "annex", the council may well believe that the bungalow would have been a separate dwelling under the now repealed General Rate Act 1967 and not a separate dwelling under The Council Tax (Chargeable Dwellings) Order 1992. Despite the fact the GRA 1967 was repealed, it is still lawfully referred to. The CT(CD)O 1992 is the legislation used to determine if there is more than one dwelling at a property and it is this  legislation which enables "annexes" to be separately banded. However there is no requirement for an "annex" to be joined to the main dwelling.


Usually an "annex" will have a planning condition forbidding its sale separate from the main house. If there is no such condition then it can be argued (especially for a non-attached property) that the bungalow would have been a separate dwelling under the GRA 1967 and is therefore not an "annex".  


If you disagree with the council's decision, you can appeal to the Valuation Tribunal. 

Thank you, there is a condition which prevents us selling off any part of the property separately to the rest so hopefully this will aid us in the matter. So much to think about with all of these things! 

I think it is fairly certain the bungalow is an annex and has been banded under the CT(CD)O 1992.