Council Tax. Are You Paying More Than Your Neighbours? Check It Out

housebug

We're in a new building of six flats, five of which are one bedroom, the sixth is a two bed. We pay Band A, which I know is the lowest, (its still £89 a month) but I still think council tax is the biggest rip off after bank charges. God only knows what it is urban areas like London, Manchester and Birmingham.

Why not simply add 1% to the current income tax rates, and give it to the councils? Surely they won't lose anything by switching to that and if it forces them to be more efficient, so be it. The rest of us have to live on a budget, no reason government should be any different.

Congratulations to everyone who's successfully appealed!

slysy

Anyone know why my property is not listed on that site? Others on my road all seem to be there.

weeman_4

Just found this on my council website!

Could I get a discount on my Council Tax?

The full Council Tax bill assumes that there are two adults living in a property. If only one adult lives there (as their main home), the Council Tax bill will be reduced by a quarter (25%). You can apply for a single person's discount by either calling at the office for a form or by ringing 01691 677320 or e-mailing counciltax@oswestry-bc.gov.uk

N.B. - you should also let us know if someone moves in with you and you are no longer entitled to the 25% discount.

How anyone living on there own?

This was Oswestry Council In Shropshire not sure this applies everywhere worth a check

seven-day-weekend

black-saturn wrote:

So if mine is a band A I am presuming this is the lowest?

Band A is the lowest....one of the reasons I'm not rattling any cages on mine!!!!

MSE_Martin

The single person's discount is a universal one. It's a good point - I will add it to original post

JeanneB

I've been paying 95% Concil Tax on an empty 2 bed property in Swindon which I've been trying to sell and which has been empty for over a year now. £100+ per month. I have asked them to justify this and they say "there are so many empty properties in Swindon, we are losing income". Could that anything to do with the fact they have flooded the market with 2 bed apartments!!

halfpint_2

JeanneB wrote:

I've been paying 95% Concil Tax on an empty 2 bed property in Swindon which I've been trying to sell and which has been empty for over a year now. £100+ per month. I have asked them to justify this and they say "there are so many empty properties in Swindon, we are losing income". Could that anything to do with the fact they have flooded the market with 2 bed apartments!!

If your property is unoccupied and unfunished for all this time then you should have been able to get a six month exemption from council tax. Regardless of any exemption period if it is unfunished you should only be paying 50% of the rate anyway.

Oh and check out the rules carefully as the council officers don't always know (tell) the truth. I bought a house five years ago and spent 18 months renovating it before I moved in. Upon receiving my first bill for council tax I rang up the local office to see if I was entitled to a reduction as I wasn't actually living in the property due to all the work going on. The girl flatly told me no, and thus I duly paid my bill for the year.

The following year when the bill came in I read the accompanying leaflet carefully and realised that if a property is unoccupied and unfunished they you only pay 50% of the rate. Already angry I carried on reading only to find that as I was refurbishing then I could have had a six month exemption! The girl was either completely stupid or had told a blatent lie to me.

I did get it all sorted in the end but emphasis was on me to prove the work had been done as they hadn't sent out an inspector at the time!!!!

On top of all this I also happen to live in Wales and we have had rebanding brought in for the 2005/2006 financial year. A bit of forethought could make life easier for everyone in England when rebanding is done there.

Although new bands took effect in April 2005 they were based on house prices on the 1st April 2003. Two years previously!!!

It was so unfair that no prior warning was given so you could perform your own valuation at the time. With the way the housing market has rocketed over the last few years could you honestly place an accurate value on your home two years ago? To get any adjustment you have to prove that your house was worth less at the time.

I would really recommend that you start keeping track of the value of similar property in your area. Pick up leaflets of similar property for sale from the estate agent and file them away, perhaps even get them to value yours as well. This way if you do have cause to challenge any new banding then you have evidence in hand to prove your case.

Don't get me wrong the rebanding was good in someways. The bands were adjusted for price rises and they added extra ones on at the higher end. It also caught up with those not paying their fair share after having massive extensions, conservetories etc added to their property.

However the process was extremely fustrating if you went up a band when your property was on the boundry and you coulde prove it!!!

stanzelsa

:mad: 8 years ago I moved into my terraced house, it was band b when most of the people I knew were in band a. I contacted the council tax office about it and they said my house must have something had different when the bands were assessed. I explained that it in serious need of modernisation and the only thing I could think of was that my house had 3 bedrooms where my friends have 2. I was told there was nothing could be done. I have just looked on this website and discovered that the whole of my street, with the exception of mine and 2 others, are in band a. Some of these houses have attic conversions, some are semi-detatched with large gardens and all have at least 3 bedrooms. I am furious that I have been paying over the odds for 8 years, when I have been struggling desperately to keep my head above water for over half of that time. I cant appeal now because it is so long since I moved in and it makes me want to cry

britters

I just got on to the web site recommended and ran a search on my place, and it couldn't be found. In fact there were no results at all for my location. What does this mean?

nmealey

Great link for the scottish site, I won't appeal as I'm band G at the moment, and have been since we moved in 2000 when we were close to the value limit. we got a bargain and reakon the house is now worth twice what I paid, so will get humped if we get revalued. annoyed to see the rest of the street bar 3 people are ban A though......