Falsely Advertised Council Tax Band Options

nathearts

So I have just purchased a property which was advertised as a council tax band D on both estate agents websites and the property questionnaire of the home report. I got my first council tax bill and it's come through as an E. I have queried it with the council and the information they have from the Assessors database is that band E is correct.

Do I have any options from here going forward? Currently waiting on response from my solicitor.

Living in Fife, Scotland 

elsien

I’m not sure what options you think there might be? 

Would you have chosen not to buy the property if you had been aware of the difference? 

nathearts

elsien said:

I’m not sure what options you think there might be? 

Would you have chosen not to buy the property if you had been aware of the difference? 

Would've been something taken into consideration further. Just trying to find out if there's any liability on the previous owner/selling agent/surveyor for the information that has been advertised incorrectly. 

turnemc

If improvements are made to the house they can change the band when it’s sold. Was the house extended by the previous owners ?

p00hsticks

It would have been very easy to check for yourself early on in the buying process, rather than relying on the estate agents info - it's possible that it was genuinely a band D but tagged with an improvement indicator suggesting that it would be re-assessed on change of owners.
Scottish Assessors – Scottish Assessors Association website

fatbelly

The above is likely to be what happened. If you had checked the list it would have shown D*

The * indicates that something happened during that ownership (perhaps a new garage or something) that meant it would be reassessed on change of owner. Always seems to go up.

lincroft1710

Your solicitor will be best placed to advise you if the vendor/EAs have done anything actionable as very few of us on here are knowledgeable about Scottish house buying/selling legislation.


You can appeal your CT band but there are time limits, you will have to provide evidence to support your appeal and absolutely no guarantee you will be successful.