Council Tax Band - is it worth appealing

FrozenGiraffe

My house was first purchased on 16th April 1991 for £120,000 and is band F for council tax. 

I moved in last year and challenged my band as other houses on the same road and the next road which are of the same design are band E. Two of these houses were band F, but have been changed to E - i don't know when the change was made, but assume it was the result of a successful challenge.  
There are only 5 houses on this estate of the same style.

Many other neighbouring properties are also band F, but they are a different style, layout and look very different and I believe they were the more expensive houses at the time of development. 

My challenge has been rejected, based on neighbouring properties being in band F, but I believe their comparison has been with direct neighbours rather than with the same style houses, despite my providing full details of these when submitting my claim.

Although based on the 1991 sale price of my house it should fall within band E, it is only £1 below the threshold. I believe my house was one of the first sold on the new development and sold at the upper end of asking price. I think the value of the property sits comfortably within band E, evidenced by the fact that the other houses of the same style built afterwards are all band E.

Is this a strong enough argument to base an appeal on. Does the fact the house sold for £1 less than the band threshold help or hinder my appeal?

Grateful for everyone's opinions, and if anyone has experience of appealing please let me know how you think thus could be likely to go.

lincroft1710

I'm ex VOA and on the evidence of that sale I would say it is a borderline case.. If your home has had had any alterations prior to your purchase, these would probably be enough to keep it in Band F. Also if there were any  other sales of identical house types in 1991 at higher prices, then this could indicate Band F may have been correct. It is worth appealing however. 


It is to be expected that there will be larger houses correctly in the same band