Council tax band too low - what do we do?

Bananas1_2

When we bought our house it was a barn, and when we had converted a bit of it into a one bed cottage, the council sent someone round to band it as a residence and banded it A.  Then we developed the rest of it, but completing building regs and getting signed off didn't trigger a change in band, which we expected.  Some years ago a woman came round to re-evaluate it, but we were out so she only saw the outside.  She phoned us and said she needed to re-band it, but needed to see inside.  She suggested a date for a visit, but we weren't going to be in.  She said she would get back to us with another date, but never did.  Consequently, we have continued on Band A for years.  In our earlier life we struggled financially, but now we are better off and feel guilty that we should pay the proper amount.  Problem is we are scared stiff to let them know because if they backdated it for all the years we were on the wrong band, we couldn't pay them back.  What would happen if we called them and alerted them to this discrepency?

JGB1955

See How domestic properties are assessed for Council Tax bands - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Making sure your property is in the right band

In a select few situations a banding can be changed without a sale. For example, if a property is extended with a self-contained annexe.

In England, any increase will apply from the date that the Council Tax valuation list is altered. 

In Wales, the annexe will be brought in from the date it came into existence. Any change to the band of the main house will usually be from the same date.

lincroft1710

It would be the Valuation Office Agency who dealt with the banding not the council.


I don't think the band can be increased until you sell. An exception would be if the unconverted part of the barn had, for some reason, been assessed for non domestic rating, which would trigger a reassessment when converted to living accom. Or if you bought half the barn and converted it and then bought the unconverted part at a later date. 


I'm ex VOA and from memory we had a situation broadly similar to yours, but we couldn't increase the band.

theoretica

Worth remembering this for when you eventually list if for sale and have to fill in a form with council tax band as the new owners should not count on band A continuing.

Slinky

If you check your property on the council tax website, does it show as having a property improvement marker against it? In which case it would be rebanded possibly, if you sell. They can get missed though, our old house was never rebanded after we sold 3 years ago as it seems the council forgot to put the marker against the property when we extended it. Other houses with similar extensions were rebanded once sold.