Council Tax change after buying home

lincroft1710

Hallux said:

As the previous resident has been on a lower band for 16 years it seems like discrimination to now put me on a higher band when the property has had no further changes (in fact a lot of the exterior has wood and has deteriorated).  People should be treated equally.  ?

How can it be discrimination?


It has been explained several times to you. If a previous owner has made alterations or improvements to their home the CT band cannot be altered to reflect these until after they have sold it. If a dwelling is in poor repair, this cannot be reflected in the CT band

Hallux

liberty_lily said:

It's not discrimination, it's the way things are.

We sold a house eight years ago that we'd 'improved' by replacing a small, decrepit attached outbuilding with a slightly larger kitchen extension (as well as comprehensively refurbishing the rest of the 400 year old property that we'd purchased three years previously as an unfinished project). When we bought the house it was in council tax band C. We always felt this was low as the house was 2000+ sq ft with five bedrooms, 0.3 acre garden and in a fairly expensive part of the country.

Shortly after selling, the house was moved into council tax band E (up two bands), which seemed more a appropriate banding given the above factors. 

At no time during the sales process did we tell our buyers there was an improvement indicator on the property and nor did they ask...but it was there for all to see if they'd checked. Perhaps they did or their conveyancing solicitor told them. All I know is it would have been extremely unlikely to have deterred them from the purchase, because - like yourself  - they saw it as a once in a lifetime opportunity to buy a one off property. 

Appreciate your interesting reply.  Seems rather odd that the improver of our property enjoyed 16 years without a council tax band increase though.

molerat

Hallux said:

Appreciate your interesting reply.  Seems rather odd that the improver of our property enjoyed 16 years without a council tax band increase though.

Nothing strange at all, it is the way the system has always been, the band does not change until the property is sold.  The information is in the public domain for you and those you employed to do the searches to find. For example https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-council-tax-band/property/216479147

lincroft1710

molerat said:

Hallux said:

Appreciate your interesting reply.  Seems rather odd that the improver of our property enjoyed 16 years without a council tax band increase though.

Nothing strange at all, it is the way the system has always been, the band does not change until the property is sold.  The information is in the public domain for you and those you employed to do the searches to find. For example https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-council-tax-band/property/216479147

All this was explained to the OP by more than one poster nearly 2 weeks ago.

Hallux

lincroft1710 said:

Hallux said:

As the previous resident has been on a lower band for 16 years it seems like discrimination to now put me on a higher band when the property has had no further changes (in fact a lot of the exterior has wood and has deteriorated).  People should be treated equally.  ?

How can it be discrimination?


It has been explained several times to you. If a previous owner has made alterations or improvements to their home the CT band cannot be altered to reflect these until after they have sold it. If a dwelling is in poor repair, this cannot be reflected in the CT band

So you are basically saying or implying that after the property has been solved the CT band can be altered to reflect improvements but if it is in poor repair that cannot be reflected!

Whether it is the rules or not discrimination is about treating people equally and if one enjoys the  same property in the same (or even better) condition for 16 years on a lower CT band and then another is denied then that qualifies as discrimination.

There's no need to explain what the rules are I know what the rules are.  This is about logic and fairness not dogmatically saying it is the rules and we've always done it this way!  May be the rules should change?

lincroft1710

Hallux said:

lincroft1710 said:

Hallux said:

As the previous resident has been on a lower band for 16 years it seems like discrimination to now put me on a higher band when the property has had no further changes (in fact a lot of the exterior has wood and has deteriorated).  People should be treated equally.  ?

How can it be discrimination?


It has been explained several times to you. If a previous owner has made alterations or improvements to their home the CT band cannot be altered to reflect these until after they have sold it. If a dwelling is in poor repair, this cannot be reflected in the CT band

So you are basically saying or implying that after the property has been solved the CT band can be altered to reflect improvements but if it is in poor repair that cannot be reflected!

Whether it is the rules or not discrimination is about treating people equally and if one enjoys the  same property in the same (or even better) condition for 16 years on a lower CT band and then another is denied then that qualifies as discrimination.

There's no need to explain what the rules are I know what the rules are.  This is about logic and fairness not dogmatically saying it is the rules and we've always done it this way!  May be the rules should change?

Even when it was domestic rating, a poor state of repair could not be reflected in the assessment and this premise carried forward into Council Tax. The principle is extremely well established over many decades and logical - it is to prevent CT payers allowing their homes to fall into disrepair in the expectation of a lower CT band and will not be changed.


CT is about domestic property not people. There is no "discrimination", and I'm not sure you actually know what the word means. There are 2 issues. Firstly following the sale of a dwelling, the possibility of a band increase, because of alterations carried out to that dwelling by a previous owner this is covered by the 1992 Local Government Finance Act  Para 24(4)(a)(i). Secondly the rules for ascertaining CT bands which are covered by the UK Statutory Instrument 1992 No. 550 Council Tax (Situation and Valuation of Dwellings) Regulations 1992 Part III, Regulation 6 (2)(e) refers to state of repair.

No "discrimination" the regulations apply to ALL dwellings.

Nearlyold

Hallux said:

lincroft1710 said:

Hallux said:

As the previous resident has been on a lower band for 16 years it seems like discrimination to now put me on a higher band when the property has had no further changes (in fact a lot of the exterior has wood and has deteriorated).  People should be treated equally.  ?

How can it be discrimination?


It has been explained several times to you. If a previous owner has made alterations or improvements to their home the CT band cannot be altered to reflect these until after they have sold it. If a dwelling is in poor repair, this cannot be reflected in the CT band

So you are basically saying or implying that after the property has been solved the CT band can be altered to reflect improvements but if it is in poor repair that cannot be reflected!

Whether it is the rules or not discrimination is about treating people equally and if one enjoys the  same property in the same (or even better) condition for 16 years on a lower CT band and then another is denied then that qualifies as discrimination.

There's no need to explain what the rules are I know what the rules are.  This is about logic and fairness not dogmatically saying it is the rules and we've always done it this way!  May be the rules should change?

The condition/state of repair of the property is not a factor in assessing the Council Tax Band. Keeping a house in tip top condition does not move the property into a higher band, neither does a house in terrible condition move into a lower band - the only possible exception is where:-   The property is uninhabited* & either  1) in such a poor state that to repair it would change its character or 2) is undergoing a major scheme of works that renders the whole property uninhabitable. In either of these cases on application it may be possible to delete the banding entirely. 

* If the property is occupied the general assumption will be that it's habitable.