council tax review

splitpin36

hopefully buying a 3 bed bungalow soon..its currently in band E..having done a lot of research have found the following information..built between 1986 and 1992 as 1 of 20 residents and ALL put in band E, ALL are still in band E..there are a mix of 4 bed houses,3 and 4 bed bungalows..using your help think my possible new property should be in band C..can i make a revaluation claim once i move in..have already informed the current owners of this

p00hsticks

 splitpin36 said:

using your help think my possible new property should be in band C..

So what evidence do you have to support that ? 
I believe you have an automatic right to appeal within six months of purchasing the property, but in my view with the information you have provided I can't see you having much chance of being successful. The properties were all built and presumably sold at around the time Council tax as first introduced so there will have been pretty reliable market value information available when first doing the banding, and if none of the surrounding properties have had a successful appeal I don't really rate your chances. 

Council tax bands were (and still are) pretty wide so you'll get cases where one property was at the bottom of a band and another neigbouring bigger, more expensive property at the top of the same band, and they'll both pay the same amount of council tax.. 

By all means put an appeal in - there is no harm in trying and if you don't ask you don;t get. But you need to get as much hard evidence as you can (e.g. can you show what those properties first sold for when first built  and does it fit with your proposed banding ?). In your shoes I wouldn't hold out much hope of it being successful, especially as you seem to be suggesting it is inaccurate by not one but two bands.

FlorayG

Yes you can try
As nobody else there is in a lower band your chances are very slim, but it looks very unlikely you would have the worst outcome and be put into band F so just try it. I know you would never get a band C on a 3 bed bungalow near where I live, but all councils are different

lincroft1710

FlorayG said:

Yes you can try
As nobody else there is in a lower band your chances are very slim, but it looks very unlikely you would have the worst outcome and be put into band F so just try it. I know you would never get a band C on a 3 bed bungalow near where I live, but all councils are different

Councils have nothing to do with banding.

splitpin36

have spoke to the original person who done the 1991 banding and he says it was just a quick walk around..he is also now been asked to do my survey and give an updated valuation..also since first built very few of the 20 properties have been up for sale and the selling information is almost non existent.the whole small estate is like a mini retirement home and am sure no one has been bothered to challenge their banding..as said the property iam talking about is the smallest and has the least bedrooms.some are large 4/5 bedroom houses with a larger ground floor area..for the person asking this is some of the evidence i have so far found.

lincroft1710

splitpin36 said:

have spoke to the original person who done the 1991 banding and he says it was just a quick walk around..he is also now been asked to do my survey and give an updated valuation..also since first built very few of the 20 properties have been up for sale and the selling information is almost non existent.the whole small estate is like a mini retirement home and am sure no one has been bothered to challenge their banding..as said the property iam talking about is the smallest and has the least bedrooms.some are large 4/5 bedroom houses with a larger ground floor area..for the person asking this is some of the evidence i have so far found.

It is quite remarkable that you have spoken to the person who allocated Band E for this bungalow back in 1992 (the year the banding exercise was carried out in preparation for the Valuation List being published in early 1993). Did you not say you believed they had got it completely wrong?


If the estate is basically full of retirees and there have been few sales, there must be some very old people living there. Pre 1994 sales information is not in the public domain, so you would only have hearsay evidence as to what sold prior to that year.


None of what you have posted is "evidence" that the band is incorrect, just observations.