Estimating council tax banding for a new build home.

Upwood

I have been proceeding with a purchase of a new build home and as I understood, the council tax banding will not happen until after completion. I was convinced it would be an E as though there are no other similar homes on the development that I can check with ( development very new ), other properties in the local area built in modern style this last 20 years are largely E for similar square footage. However. Some of these would have been smaller when first built and have since added conservatories etc. I’ve now seen another developer advertising locally for a smaller house with same number of bedrooms and they have added an estimated band of F. This worries me as I fear now the home I was buying will be banded F which is too high for me. I’ve tried valuation office, local council tax office and both developers and am unable to get any indication on council tax bands. Using the 1991 house price calculator Nationwide, it suggests the house I was buying would be an E. Does anyone have any advice please? Interestingly with another development selling a plot with one less bedroom which I know will be a D council tax, the house is £20k more expensive to buy and I’ve calculated that if I change
to buy the smaller house the difference is have paid in council tax if I continued with the one I was buying would take 16 years taking account of the big price differential between the two homes. Thanks for any advice you might be able to give. 

lincroft1710

There is no accurate way to estimate exactly what a new build CT band will be. The NW calculator usually undervalues 1991 prices so cannot be relied upon


How do you know the house £20k more will be Band D.


As the difference in my area between a Band E and Band F is less than £10 a week, you may be overstretching your budget if you cannot afford the extra, Remember CT is almost certain to rise on April 1 20244

Wonka_2

lincroft1710 said:

As the difference in my area between a Band E and Band F is less than £10 a week, you may be overstretching your budget if you cannot afford the extra, Remember CT is almost certain to rise on April 1 20244

Exactly this - I've just checked my bill and E to F is under £500 a year - whilst it's not peanuts it's a potentially small difference vs potential increases in other costs

Upwood said:

Interestingly with another development selling a plot with one less bedroom which I know will be a D council tax, the house is £20k more expensive to buy and I’ve calculated that if I change
to buy the smaller house the difference is have paid in council tax if I continued with the one I was buying would take 16 years taking account of the big price differential between the two homes. Thanks for any advice you might be able to give. 

I'm genuinely intrigued on your maths on this ? You move from an E to a D - maybe saving £500 per year but you're going to pay £20k more for a smaller property in order to 'save' £500k pa ?