Can I Appeal Council Tax Banding If Other Houses In Road Are The Same Band?

Cazza_babe

Does anyone know if I can still appeal with regard to my council tax banding if the other houses in my road are the same band?

I went through all the steps as Martin Lewis advised, to see if I can appeal. My tax band in 1991 should have been a band lower, however all the other houses in my road are the same as mine.

I have just phoned my listings office who say there's no point in appealing if the other houses in my road are the same band even if I think it's too high and that they don't go by the nethouseprice.co.uk guideline.

Can anyone offer advice please. This is so frustrating.

Thanks a lot,

Cazza

vivatifosi

Cazza,

First, they are right, they don't go by the nethouseprice guideline. House price engines of this type only give approximations, not actuals. Price movements vary hugely from town to town, and property type to property type, even within the same region.

If all of the houses in your street are the same, you may be able to appeal if there are other streets in the same area with the same type of house that are in a lower band. That way you can use them as your evidence.

HOWEVER, even if you do this, you should be prepared for a fight. In that respect you should be prepared to spend a couple of hours in the local library going through the paper archive and looking for houses the same of yours, on the market in the early part of 1991, at a price in line with the band you anticipate being in.

If you don't put that amount of work in, unfortunately you won't succeed because there are plenty of houses in the street that they will use as references against you to show that the band is correct. It isn't an easy case to make in your case I'm afraid.

Cook_County

For the sake of argument let's assume most of the houses in my street are identical.

I bought my house in 1992 so know what I paid for it then. However my house is semi-detached but the other half of the pair was vacant when I bought mine & that neighbouring had been significantly neglected by 1991 because it had been occupied by 2 elderly sisters who had died by 1990 or so at which point it had been left empty.

Would I have an argument that my half of the semi was worth less than all of the other houses in the street because the adjoining house was run-down and looked unheated/unkept & in disrepair? (In other words my house was undesirable because of the way it looked at the time in 1991)?

vivatifosi

Hi Cook County,

I made a similar argument (alongside some thankfully more successful ones) at tribunal as my house was in a right state when I bought it. Unfortunately the VOA has a presumed level of habitability (in other words that all houses are done up to a reasonable standard) whether or not its the case so that bit didn't work.

Shame though, otherwise if they reviewed the situation we'd all be able to live like on the Chatsworth Estate in Shameless and get a reduction next time round

Cook_County

vivatifosi wrote: »

Hi Cook County,

I made a similar argument (alongside some thankfully more successful ones) at tribunal as my house was in a right state when I bought it. Unfortunately the VOA has a presumed level of habitability (in other words that all houses are done up to a reasonable standard) whether or not its the case so that bit didn't work.

Shame though, otherwise if they reviewed the situation we'd all be able to live like on the Chatsworth Estate in Shameless and get a reduction next time round

That's brilliant, really helpful - thanks for the info. I'll possibly appeal anyway just in case but it is good to know that I have a really low chance of success so I don't get my hopes up too high!