council tax on a annex

lozwoo84

we have had a offer accepted on a property. the property is an old farm house. the council have come back to the current owners to say part of the house could be considered a annex and therefore liable to council tax. 
for contact the rooms in question are a bedroom, downstairs bathroom and the old kitchen. the old kitchen has part facilities, our plan is to rip the kitchen out and use as a dining room and the downstairs bedroom will become a gym. can we contest this?

Bookworm105

you can of course apply to have the property "merged" into one council tax listing

as you appear to have surmised, an annex is all about being a "self contained" residence which means one with cooking and bathing facilities. To convince the Valuation Office Agency that it is no longer self contained you would have to remove the kitchen.

Note it is the VOA who decide, not the local council, but they will not tell you precisely what to do as they consider that doing so would be "offering advice on how to evade tax". They will tell you if you have done enough to delist it, but may not tell you what extra to do if you have not done enough.

Challenge your Council Tax band: Overview - GOV.UK

anselld

You could contest it after the modifications are done to incorporate the annex into the main house, however that may result in main property increasing in band due to the addition of the annex.

The current owners could appeal it but if it is currently self contained with cooking and toilet facilities I cant see a grounds for appeal.  VOA work at a snails pace anyway so nobody will get anything changed in the timescale of buying a house.

lincroft1710

It is not up to the council to decide if part of the property forms a dwelling in its own right and is thus subject to its own CT band, only the Valuation Office Agency (Eng and Wales) or the Assessor (Scot) can decide that.


If, when you have purchased the property, you find there is a second CT band, you can challenge this, but it is doubtful you would be successful as decisions about annexes having their own CT band aren't taken lightly. Obviously if you carry out the works you propose, you can ask for the property to be treated as a single dwelling again. 

TheJP

anselld said:

You could contest it after the modifications are done to incorporate the annex into the main house, however that may result in main property increasing in band due to the addition of the annex.

The current owners could appeal it but if it is currently self contained with cooking and toilet facilities I cant see a grounds for appeal.  VOA work at a snails pace anyway so nobody will get anything changed in the timescale of buying a house.

This ^^^

Your CT band would likely rise due to the improvements made. When i bought my house which the previous owners had it extended this added an improvement indicator which kicked in when i bought the property resulting in the current band moving into a higher band.

Bookworm105

TheJP said:

anselld said:

You could contest it after the modifications are done to incorporate the annex into the main house, however that may result in main property increasing in band due to the addition of the annex.

The current owners could appeal it but if it is currently self contained with cooking and toilet facilities I cant see a grounds for appeal.  VOA work at a snails pace anyway so nobody will get anything changed in the timescale of buying a house.

This ^^^

Your CT band would likely rise due to the improvements made. When i bought my house which the previous owners had it extended this added an improvement indicator which kicked in when i bought the property resulting in the current band moving into a higher band.

OP states current owners have been told the annex COULD be considered for separate listing

simple maths will therefore inform a new owner if it is cheaper to have single CT band on a "larger" property or 2 properties each with their own band of which an annex may get a 50% discount but will obviously be at least band A.
Not many councils have tax increments less than half of the value of band A .... just saying 

TheJP

Bookworm105 said:

TheJP said:

anselld said:

You could contest it after the modifications are done to incorporate the annex into the main house, however that may result in main property increasing in band due to the addition of the annex.

The current owners could appeal it but if it is currently self contained with cooking and toilet facilities I cant see a grounds for appeal.  VOA work at a snails pace anyway so nobody will get anything changed in the timescale of buying a house.

This ^^^

Your CT band would likely rise due to the improvements made. When i bought my house which the previous owners had it extended this added an improvement indicator which kicked in when i bought the property resulting in the current band moving into a higher band.

OP states current owners have been told the annex COULD be considered for separate listing

simple maths will therefore inform a new owner if it is cheaper to have single CT band on a "larger" property or 2 properties each with their own band of which an annex may get a 50% discount but will obviously be at least band A.
Not many councils have tax increments less than half of the value of band A .... just saying 

Which would indicate the council have passed this onto the VOA to investigate which will likely mean a separate band when be added until the annex is merged but then that will mean an adjustment to the merged band.

@lincroft1710 used to work for the VOA so can help with this.

FlorayG

One of my friends had this same situation - the annex actually was a separate council tax dwelling - after advice, she had the separate access to the annex bricked up so that it couldn't be accessed except through the main house, and the council tax was removed from it. Might you be able to do this?

macman

Removing the cooking facilities is half a day's work: just take out the sink and cooker and cap off the supplies.

Bookworm105

FlorayG said:

One of my friends had this same situation - the annex actually was a separate council tax dwelling - after advice, she had the separate access to the annex bricked up so that it couldn't be accessed except through the main house, and the council tax was removed from it. Might you be able to do this?

VOA guidance clearly states that every case is judged on its own circumstances. Hence VOA do not publish definitive guidance on what constitutes a "self contained" "residence". There is however lots of case law covering how to weigh various factors such as access and facilities 
Council Tax Manual - Council Tax: practice notes - Guidance - GOV.UK

lincroft1710

Timeframes would be useful to know. Is there an expected date for exchange and if so completion? How long after moving in, do you expect to start the conversion work? The reason I ask is that it could take 6 months before the VOA actually band the annex. (NB "could" not "will")