Unable to compare banding to others

M0n3y

I have in the past attempted to contact the council/ valuation office to explain my banding being incorrect and gave a lot of information to prove so but all I ever got back from them were very short replies as if they hadn’t read all my information and didn’t really want to help. 

Basically I gave up with trying a few years ago but it’s always been in the back of my mind that I could potentially be paying a-lot of money that I shouldn’t be to a council that will literally waste it. 

Anyway I explained that my house was not sold in 1991 but I calculated that the price in 1991 would have been £57000 or there abouts (I’ll post exact calculations). There were quite a few examples and explanations of how this was correct but the office just replied stating we need proof of sale in 1991. It is impossible to do this as the house was built in 1983 and sold for £33,000. Then not sold until 1997 for £63,500. So I said how can you prove to me that I’m supposed to be in band D if you cannot actually show me proof - their reply was generic explaining how the process worked but not actually answering my question. 

So in 1997 it was sold for £63,500 but if the house hadn’t appreciated at all in those 6 years (which is impossible) the house would have been less than £63,500 in 1991 making the band C and not D which it is at the moment. 

I have looked at average house prices in the UK and my house follows average house price almost exactly for the 5 times it has been sold since 1997 and it is still very close to average house price now. 

On this theory if I look at the average house price of April 1991 the price shows £56,853  which is VERY close to where I estimated it to be, again making it band C not D. 

I am going to contact the valuation office again but if they reply again with useless information who do you go to after this? I know it sounds petty but I’ve lived here for 10 years potentially overpaying £300+ a year. 

Any help on this would be great. 

Thanks in advance. 

Poormum

Hiii I’m currently going through the process with them of a re evaluation.. my house was built in 2008 so I had no sale price to go off.. I looked on zoopla, right move and council banding list and spent time looking for comparable houses within I think it has to be a 2 mile radius… I sent big long lists in emails of houses that I saw as comparable.. 

they refused the first two lists I sent but the third email they agreed to re-evaluate. That was in May and I’m still waiting for the outcome.. 

my point is don’t give up. It means a bit of work from you but worth it if you can get it changed!!