Wrong council tax band
teebaks
Forumite 
I live in England and I strongly believe my house is in the wrong band.
The council or VOA are making this really difficult to challenge as info required don’t exist and they are not willing to review the band.
The original land owner purchased a large piece of land and decided to divide the land into 3 portion.
1 - portion of the land - The main building which is a 3 bed, 2 reception and a garage detached house still has the property number. It occupies 134 sq meters
2 - portion of the land - My property which was originally built as a annex has the same number with A to differentiate both houses. My property is a 2 bed, 1 reception detached house which occupies 88 sq meter
3 - portion of the land - The owner kept this for her daughter. The daughter built a nursery in 2005.
My property is the 2nd smallest property in the area. Most of the property own in Crow lane are unique cos owners purchased large land and then portioned piece of land out for sale.
All houses in my area are unique and they are not similar in shape size of description.
Majority of large house sizes range from 134 to 235 sq metes and are in band E & F. There are 3 small houses are between 79 to 88 sq meters, all in band E which should be reviewed.
My property was built in 1984 and sold in Oct 1997 at 75,499 then sold to me in 1999 at 104,000. According to all online calculator, the estimated price in 1991 for my property is 69,613.
The size of my property is very small compared to other houses in the area. The closest property within 2 mile radius with a 2 bed, 1 reception and a garage. This property is in band D.
The council or VOA is making it difficult or asking me to provide info that is not available.
I have tried to contact the solicitors who represented the vendor in 1997 if they have any info on file but they are no longer in business.
| Band | Value at 1 April 1991 |
| A | up to £40,000 |
| B | £40,001 to £52,000 |
| C | £52,001 to £68,000 |
| D | £68,001 to £88,000 |
| E | £88,001 to £120,000 |
| F | £120,001 to £160,000 |
| G | £160,001 to £320,000 |
| H | more than £320,000 |
Replies
House price indices are unreliable and the VOA will tend to ignore such evidence.
You also say that there are 3 houses no larger than yours in Band E, but the nearest in Band D is 2 miles away. The VOA would probably say that your house 's band was in line with other similar in Band E.
thanks again
Our records show that the property you provided differs to your own, and considering all the evidence available, either in relation to age, locality, type or size, we cannot consider them as comparable evidence.
To be considered as comparable, you would need to provide evidence of properties in your locality that are:
• The same type, for example detached bungalow or terraced house
• A similar size
• Built at a similar time
The evidence we need may include any of the following:
• Evidence of identical, or very similar properties to yours, in your locality (within two miles of your property, this can be extended to ten miles for rural areas) which are in a lower band, please provide full address(es) including the postcode(s) of your comparable(s)
and/or
• Sales evidence in your locality, very close to the valuation date of 1 April 1991 (no more than two years either side of this date), which suggests your property might be incorrectly banded,
and/or
• Evidence that an error was made when your property was banded.
We will investigate the band if you are able to provide more compelling evidence to suggest your property has been incorrectly banded.
many thanks