Council tax too high

Liz65

Hi, asking on behalf of my parents.

They live in a  3 bed bungalow in a road with a mixture of properties.  The other properties are houses, mostly 5 bed.  Their neighbours have had their council tax reduced after contacting their council but after several attempts they have had no luck getting theirs reduced and pay the same as the other !!!!!! houses.  Has anyone else experienced this?

LinLui

Council tax isn't based on bedrooms. It's based on (historical) valuations.  Bungalows are often valued higher than houses. 

fatbelly

Martin has a guide to challenging banding here

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/council-tax-bands-change/

FlorayG

Its quite complicated how that calculates, I tried it and was told no because of various other factors including 'being at the far end of a cul-de-sac' which apparently makes my house worth more tax
Also, if one property is successful in getting theirs reduced the council will normally re-asses all similar properties in the street

lincroft1710

Liz65 said:

Hi, asking on behalf of my parents.

They live in a  3 bed bungalow in a road with a mixture of properties.  The other properties are houses, mostly 5 bed.  Their neighbours have had their council tax reduced after contacting their council but after several attempts they have had no luck getting theirs reduced and pay the same as the other !!!!!! houses.  Has anyone else experienced this?

Councils do not deal with CT banding, that is dealt with by the Valuation Office Agency (part of HMRC) in England and Wales and the Assessor in Scotland.


You do not state which band these properties are in. For example in England if they were all in Band F (value £120,001 to £160,000 as at 1 April 1991), your parents' bungalow could have had a value of £122,000, the 5 beds £158,000, so all correctly in Band F. The bands of the 5 beds may have all been originally too high, so they were reduced, no reason to reduce your parents' band.

Liz65

Thank you for answers, I will delve further