Council Tax Advice (London Area)

P_Money24

Hi all, hope you're well.

I'm hoping for some advice regarding Council Tax Bands and whether I should challenge mine. I usually wouldn't think twice about something like this, but there's a few past & present factors that are making me question things & I'd welcome your opinions on this.

I purchased a 3 bed semi-detached property in March 2020 and its original C Tax Band was E. The property was vacant until Sep '21. Due to months of construction works prior to this, the property was inhabitable and I successfully received a full refund on the C Tax paid during those works via an application with the VOA. They were very efficient to deal with in my experience compared to Local Councils.

The above process effectively deletes your property from the register and hence your Band from the system which is later re-listed once it's liveable again. Unfortunately, upon reinstatement of the property once works were completed, the Listing Officer decided that my property was (now) in the wrong Band and gave evidence for their decision. It was changed from Band E to Band F.  I naively accepted their decision without looking into the finer details of their reasons; which I've started doing now.

Some background details to give a full picture as well as their reasons and why I disagree:

• My planning application was for a loft conversion & single story 6m rear extension. However, the actual construction works carried out was only the latter and the loft was left untouched. Hence I do not believe that this extension resulted in the property now accommodating more occupants. 

• This is relevant because one of their reasons to change my Band was the fact that my property was now a 4 bed house & I didn't catch this at the time. I don't think the VOA had any reason to believe that the loft extension had not been done. If anything, I have actually lost a bedroom since purchasing/extending since during the works the small box room was knocked into to make a walk-in-wardrobe for the larger bedroom. The original door to the box room has been kept for re-sale purposes if needed but it's no longer a habitable room. My point is that if anything, the property is now a 2 bedroom house, maybe 3 if you count my downstairs (empty) front living room which is isolated from the rear open plan extension. I'm not sure what the Council's definition for a bedroom is but it's never been a 4 bedroom house and isn't currently as they are stating. However, I can see why they might think this and perhaps new photos & a survey would be required to prove them wrong.

• Both of my neighbours, who had the exact same property as me are Band E (what my property used to be). I don't think a kitchen extension warrants the drop to Band F, although from the potential misleading info above, I can see why the VOA aren't looking at it this way.

• MSE's 1991 house price calculator shows me as being comfortably in Band E bracket (£91,396). This method was incorrectly used in the VOA's decision too, however they didn't use actual numbers and instead compared my '4 bed semi' to smaller Band E homes in the area and said that I exceeded those property values because my home is bigger. However, once again it's an indirect comparison because the property is not a 4 bedroom etc. I'm actually fairly close to Band D (£3.4k away) so I'm not sure if there's a case to say that my '2 bed' semi is actually Band D? Unclear on how this could be proven and if it's unlikely to be successful.

• I already receive a 25% discount on C Tax since I live alone so the sting has not been as bad as it could have been but I still want to obviously correct this.

• There was a 3 month window to appeal the VOA's decision but at the time I saw no reason to appeal, I was perhaps too happy about the C Tax refund I was about to get! I don't think this means it can never be appealed again so perhaps a moot point.

I could start a fresh challenge for this and I see 3 outcomes:

1. My neighbours band increases. This is unlikely because they have not extended their properties like I have and they're an unaltered 3 bed semi (no extensions). Also, as per 1991 prices they sit comfortably in Band E like I do.
2. I get reduced back to Band E or better. If this happens I believe they will give me a refund dating back to the time my Band was changed to F by the VOA?
3. They insist I'm correctly in Band F and nothing changes. At this point I would push to give them proof on the current habitable bedrooms in the property to prove that it's actually closer to 2 than 3. As well as showing them that it has never been a 4 bedroom house even after extending.

Since I pass Martin's first 2 checks, the risk of 1. happening is low & furthermore I think my extension is offset with the reduced bedrooms too, so I don't see a huge difference between me and my neighbours in the eyes of the Council. So I believe I have a strong case to go back to Band E or better and receive a refund as well as a reduced C Tax bill going forward.

Is there anything unclear or something I'm missing in my approach?

Thanks in advance!

lincroft1710

MSE's 1991 HPC is inaccurate and will not be accepted as evidence by VOA. The VOA use size of dwelling rather than number of bedrooms as a comparator.


Any extension can theoretically move a dwelling into a higher band.


You would need to provide evidence of semis of a similar size and age in Band E, otherwise the VOA will send you a generic reply "The band has already been investigated and found to be correct"

P_Money24

lincroft1710 said:

MSE's 1991 HPC is inaccurate and will not be accepted as evidence by VOA. The VOA use size of dwelling rather than number of bedrooms as a comparator.


Any extension can theoretically move a dwelling into a higher band.


You would need to provide evidence of semis of a similar size and age in Band E, otherwise the VOA will send you a generic reply "The band has already been investigated and found to be correct"

Thanks. I've had a look at the rest of my street and there's major inconsistencies across the board.

For example there are numerous properties that have double storey side extensions (2 additional bedrooms) yet have retained Band E. There are other examples involving loft conversions as well.

I think the issue here is that the VOA formed their opinion based on my planning application as opposed to the works actually conducted, hence they've given me Band F based on a 4 bed property.

I will have to state examples from my road of similar (or bigger properties) to show I should be Band E or better. I would be very surprised with all the evidence I provide if they decide to change others on the road rather than decrease mine.

lincroft1710

If these properties have had extensions carried out by their current owners, then their bands cannot be increased which would seem to be a logical reason for their still being Band E. If not the VOA may well decide to increase the bands if this is what sales evidence suggests.

Did the VOA inspect the property after the alterations had been carried out. 

P_Money24

lincroft1710 said:

If these properties have had extensions carried out by their current owners, then their bands cannot be increased which would seem to be a logical reason for their still being Band E. If not the VOA may well decide to increase the bands if this is what sales evidence suggests.

Sorry I'm not following. I'm wondering how the situation you've described varies from mine. Is it because their houses have not been recently sold/had a change of owner? Whereas mine was a recent purchase with a subsequent alteration?

lincroft1710 said:

Did the VOA inspect the property after the alterations had been carried out. 

No, they did not inspect the property. It was in September '21 when restrictions had eased so I could make a case to have it inspected in person. I'm convinced that they based their decision on the planning application documents, otherwise I cannot see how they concluded my property is a 4 bedroom.

If it's fruitless to compare other properties to mine because of the reasons you stated, then I'm probably better off requesting an inspection because one was never carried out.

lincroft1710

Agree that the VOA should inspect as they didn't in 2021