A SEMI WITH 2 ADULTS

Dexter_9571

One of the neighbours has a higher rateable value than us but his charges are less that ours. It says on our bill that the charges are based on rateable value but Yorkshire Water have said this is not the case. The rateable values are not shown on our bills.

matelodave

Dexter_9571 said:

My original point though was that the basis for charging was grossly unfair. Whilst a meter will resolve the cost issue it does not alter the fact that we have been mischarged for over forty years.

 You cant justify the whinge of being mischarged if you've had  the opportunity to have a meter for most of that 40 years, It's down to you if you've chosen not to avail yourself of that opportunity. 

The option of having a meter is usually included on the annual bill statement so you get an annual reminder,  and most companies give  the opportunity to try it for at least a year (Anglian Water allow 24 months) and let you revert if it doesn't suit - so its a no brainer really

We had a meter installed some 35 years ago and our water bill plummeted. Even now we pay at least 60% less than what it would be if we were on RV

Dexter_9571

I'm not whinging about the difference between metered and unmetered charges, that was my fault for not looking at the facts. My concern is that the unmetered charges are wrong. If they are based on rateable value, as my bill says, why is my neighbour charged less for his water when his rateable value is more than mine?
Why is it based on rateable value anyway? There are plenty of houses in the area with much higher rateable values but still just two people in them. People in more expensive houses might be better able to pay more but less likely to use more water than us.

QrizB

Dexter_9571 said:

Why is it based on rateable value anyway?

Because back when it was a nationalised supply, it was "water rates" based on the rateable value. And RVs were reviewed periodically to ensure that more valuable properties paid higher water bills, as a form of proportional taxation.

If you've been paying water bills for 40 years then surely you remember this?

matelodave

Are you confusing Council Tax banding with Rateable Value. Water bills are based on the old rateable value which has no relevance or correlation to council tax band

Rateable values were decided between 1973 and 1990. A number of things were considered by the Valuation Office when deciding annual rental values. These included the size of the property and plot, area, general condition and availability of local services. That data is no longer available so there's no way of working out how your RV was determined or how it compared with others. AFAIK water companies just used the rateable value of the property as it stood at the time. Dunno how it was determined for new builds but since 2015 all new houses are supposed to have a water meter so wont have an RV.

In 1991 Council Tax bands were introduces and have no relationship to the old rating system but were determines on the notional value of a property which in a lot of cases was determined by a drive by guess, or based on the sales price of similar houses. I think they also just got lists of house prices etc from the local estate agents.

see here - https://valuationoffice.blog.gov.uk/2023/06/05/how-properties-are-valued-for-council-tax/

We managed to get our council tax band reduced from an E to a D (as did the rest of our street) as we could prove that the guesstimates were wrong and our houses had been overvalued

QrizB

Dexter_9571 said:

One of the neighbours has a higher rateable value than us but his charges are less that ours. It says on our bill that the charges are based on rateable value but Yorkshire Water have said this is not the case. The rateable values are not shown on our bills.

Your bill should look something like this:

Where it says "RV" on the Water Services charge line, that's the rateable value. £148 for roseview's house (I've taken the image from this thread).

Roseview is in South West Water's area, but I'd expect Yorkshire Water to produce similar bills.

Dexter_9571

Hi Matelodave and QrizB. However the rateable value was determined doesn't explain the differences between two similar houses, I appreciate your comments and well believe the ramshackle manner in which it was done. Again, if I had been aware of any of this I would have investigated it at the time.  I have indeed been looking at the council tax bands, the fact that our neighbours house, almost the same as ours but built slightly after ours, was higher rated was not a surprise, but still doesn't explain why his charges are less than ours, however they were determined. Our bill is nothing like the example, it simply states "Water charge based on rateable value" A meter will cure it all hopefully, but not the forty years of suspect charges.

Dexter_9571

Our property was built in the 1960's, we moved in in the early 1980's. At this time the "Rateable Value" was assessed by the inland revenue, and quite clearly in a haphazard fashion. Our neighbours house, very similar to ours, has a higher council tax rateable value and had more people in it, yet his IR value is less than ours so his water charges are significantly less than ours. This cannot be fair. I have spoken with Yorkshire Water who have repeated the Inland Revenue info and the fact that it cannot be changed. This does not alter the fact that we have been overpaying. I have booked an appointment for a meter, earliest currently end Oct.