Evidence for Council Tax Band Appeal

andrewg112

Hi All,
I have read quite a few threads on this topic, but these appear to be a little outdated in some places although lots of the information is still helpful. 

Earlier this month we received a letter from the VOA to say the council tax band for our property was being reassessed and they would be in touch to confirm the outcome. 2 Days later I received an updated council tax notification to inform us we were being moved from a 'Band A' to 'Band C'. Ouch... that's around £600 a year increase which is something we can't really afford right now with everything else. 

So, I went about appealing the decision, but it turns out this is not easy to do as the evidence is hard to find. I initially believed we should be in 'Band A', but I get the feeling 'Band B' would be more appropriate after research, but I am finding it hard to find evidence to send in with my appeal.

We live in a row of 5 detached cottages in a village, built around 1835. All of the original cottages are the same size with various extensions. All 5 of the cottages were already in 'Band C' although two of them with their extensions are now 3 bedroom. We have 2 Bedrooms, 1 Living Room, 1 Dining Room, 1 Kitchen 1 Utility room and 1 Bathroom, no garage or driveway. Based on this it could be assumed that we were incorrectly banded since all the neighbours appear to have been in 'Band C' for a while. I therefore cannot use this as part of my appeal.

We purchased the house in 2020 for £190,000, previous to this it was sold in 1998 for £22,000. Interestingly the description in 1998 lists it as a new build. £22,000 seems very low for the time, and I can only assume the house was derelict or inhabitable in some way which is why it was listed this way and therefore banded in 'Band A'. There are no other sales of the cottages apart from 2003 and 2014 and 2018.

So I set about finding historic data for house prices. I found that the Land Registry only hold data for house prices post 1995. The first sale of relevance was 1998 which was our property which I know is an anomaly. Pre 1995 its only the VOA who hold the prices houses sold for and all of my research suggests that any FOI request for the data is declined as they have an exception, so I am completely dumbfounded how I am supposed to make a reasonable appeal or even check to see if an appeal is worth pursuing without the prices.

Undeterred, I visited the local library this morning and looked at 3 reels of microfilm in 1990 and 1991 only to find that there is only a small sales segment in the local paper, and most of the sales are listed in the free-ads type paper which is not archived at all. I did manage to find a couple of similar-ish properties in nearby villages which confirms my hunch that the sale price would have fitted in 'Band B' quite comfortably.

So the only thing I can try to do now is to find exactly when the 5 cottages changed ownership and then head back to the library to try to check the limited sales segments around that time to see if by chance they were listed. I have no idea how to do this, or if it's even possible. I guess it would be the VOA which holds this data too.

I am feeling a bit deflated, I don't feel I will get very far with my appeal without citing specific evidence which I cannot lay my hands on. 

Am I missing something or shall I just give up.

lincroft1710

You say "row of detached cottages", did you mean terraced rather than detached.


If extensions to the other cottages were carried out by the current owners post 1 April 1993 then these extensions cannot be reflected in the CT band.


Look at the bands of other similar cottages elsewhere in the village and in other neighbouring villages, you may be lucky and find some in Band B.

andrewg112

@lincroft1710 thanks very much for your reply and information. Can I just say how valuable all of your advice on other posts has been so far.

Its a 'row' of detached cottages, pretty much next to each other with a small gap between each one. 

After some rather useful advice, I have obtained the size and bedroom number of all of the cottages, houses and bungalows on the street and recorded these against the tax band. It is clear to see that there are much bigger houses with 2/3 bedrooms which are in band C, and the size of our house is consistent with those in Band A. The argument is that the house size will directly drive the price/value. The anomalies are no's 3 and 7 who are my neighbours, and who I also would argue are in the incorrect band.

I am hoping to use this as the basis of my appeal, due to finding house prices from 1991 being almost impossible.

Do you think this sounds reasonable for the base of an appeal?

lincroft1710

andrewg112 said:

@lincroft1710 thanks very much for your reply and information. Can I just say how valuable all of your advice on other posts has been so far.

Its a 'row' of detached cottages, pretty much next to each other with a small gap between each one. 

After some rather useful advice, I have obtained the size and bedroom number of all of the cottages, houses and bungalows on the street and recorded these against the tax band. It is clear to see that there are much bigger houses with 2/3 bedrooms which are in band C, and the size of our house is consistent with those in Band A. The argument is that the house size will directly drive the price/value. The anomalies are no's 3 and 7 who are my neighbours, and who I also would argue are in the incorrect band.

I am hoping to use this as the basis of my appeal, due to finding house prices from 1991 being almost impossible.

Do you think this sounds reasonable for the base of an appeal?

Just use the detached houses, but do not use any which are clearly much older or younger than yours (e.g.. 19th century versus late 20th century)

andrewg112

lincroft1710 said:

andrewg112 said:

@lincroft1710 thanks very much for your reply and information. Can I just say how valuable all of your advice on other posts has been so far.

Its a 'row' of detached cottages, pretty much next to each other with a small gap between each one. 

After some rather useful advice, I have obtained the size and bedroom number of all of the cottages, houses and bungalows on the street and recorded these against the tax band. It is clear to see that there are much bigger houses with 2/3 bedrooms which are in band C, and the size of our house is consistent with those in Band A. The argument is that the house size will directly drive the price/value. The anomalies are no's 3 and 7 who are my neighbours, and who I also would argue are in the incorrect band.

I am hoping to use this as the basis of my appeal, due to finding house prices from 1991 being almost impossible.

Do you think this sounds reasonable for the base of an appeal?

Just use the detached houses, but do not use any which are clearly much older or younger than yours (e.g.. 19th century versus late 20th century)

Ok, thanks for the heads up. Thats only going to be 2 houses then (1 & 9) as 1a and 1b are probably 1970’s. Does that sound ok for an appeal?

lincroft1710

andrewg112 said:

lincroft1710 said:

andrewg112 said:

@lincroft1710 thanks very much for your reply and information. Can I just say how valuable all of your advice on other posts has been so far.

Its a 'row' of detached cottages, pretty much next to each other with a small gap between each one. 

After some rather useful advice, I have obtained the size and bedroom number of all of the cottages, houses and bungalows on the street and recorded these against the tax band. It is clear to see that there are much bigger houses with 2/3 bedrooms which are in band C, and the size of our house is consistent with those in Band A. The argument is that the house size will directly drive the price/value. The anomalies are no's 3 and 7 who are my neighbours, and who I also would argue are in the incorrect band.

I am hoping to use this as the basis of my appeal, due to finding house prices from 1991 being almost impossible.

Do you think this sounds reasonable for the base of an appeal?

Just use the detached houses, but do not use any which are clearly much older or younger than yours (e.g.. 19th century versus late 20th century)

Ok, thanks for the heads up. Thats only going to be 2 houses then (1 & 9) as 1a and 1b are probably 1970’s. Does that sound ok for an appeal?

Unless they are newer houses Nos. 3 and 7 support Band C for your home, 1 and 9 aren't the best evidence to support your case. You really need to look at other roads and see if you can find any 18th/19th century detached houses around 70 sq metres in Band B.

andrewg112

Thanks for all your help. Appeal was submitted 2nd September. Not had any acknowledgement or reply. Any idea how long it takes for them to reply?

lincroft1710

It's a long time since I worked in the VOA, but acknowledgements were usually sent out quite promptly. I would give it to the end of the week, then contact them.

andrewg112

I received confirmation that they have my proposal and will get back to me within 4 months

andrewg112

Well, I have an update from VOA. They have decided to make no change to the tax band. 

I am disappointed, but I also suspected this would be the case.

Attached to the formal letter is a bit of an explanation. They say that the move from band A to band C is because it now has modern features and compares with those also in band C. I do not disagree with this part, when the house was initially banded A, it was in a state of disrepair, many years ago. 

They addressed my argument by saying that whilst they do consider the number of bedrooms in the house, the most important factors are the size of the house and that it is detached, making it more desirable. I understand the argument, but it is a very small detached, no garage, no driveway or parking, bathroom only on the ground floor, so I just don't think it would meet the price they think it possibly could.

The tone evidence they have sent along is where I think I have an argument. They have obviously included my two neighbours (each side of me - no's 3 & 7) who are also band C, but I don't actually think they necessarily should be. They then included two local semi detached houses of a similar size to mine, but that have 3 bedrooms and both in band B. 

So, I wonder if I have an argument for a tribunal appeal. I know its going to be nearly impossible for me to find house price details as I tried to find this during my original appeal. Of course, they may have some evidence of one of my neighbours houses selling for a band c price which I do not know about. The only thing I can try to do is find some evidence of similar sized detached houses who are in band B locally.

Does anyone have any other ideas for resources I could use to raise a tribunal appeal. Could I just resubmit my evidence to the tribunal appeal and see what evidence the VOA have to support their claim.

lincroft1710

You may not think your neighbours should be in Band C, but their bands are not in question. You would need evidence to back up your opinion. If you can find no further evidence to argue your band is incorrect, then, yes, use what you already have