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

Mumstheword

Thanks for this Maisie, it's a great find.
I have just found that one of my neighbours is band c (seems to be following appeal, but dated to 1993), whilst the rest of us are d. Their house is no different to mine, and if they have had a successful appeal, I want one, lol! I suspect it is something to do with the way the houses are built, they are link detached. Mine is shown as detached, and theirs as semi. They probably dont have a description available for our houses, but maybe agreed that banding it the same as completely detached was unfair. Here's hoping anyway! The ones up the road are also band d, but they are properly detached with an extra room built above the garage, so I shouldn't be in the same band as them anyhow.

Rant over, really pleased to find this site, and it will be a nice bonus if there is a re-banding, thank you!

Mumstheword

Slinky - the man at the valuations office told me they dont reband upwards following work to the house unless it is sold, or there is a general rebanding. dont know if that helps.
Also, dont think I changed my deeds when we married??? I dont think it ever occured to me to do so.

Maisie

Is changing the title on the deeds the normal thing to do on marriage?

I suppose all legal documents need the correct name on if they are jointly owned.

Beckety

Well according to this website my house and my joined neighbour's don't exist! This is slightly worrying as we pay council tax. Does anyone know why this might be or what I should do?

Maisie

Are they brand new houses?

Beckety

No, 15 years old.

Saint_Chris

I showed my friend this site and she checked her house with her neighbours. They are in the same house yet my friend is in E-band, and her neighbours are in D-band.

At this point i'm wishing i hadn't told her.

Is it to late for her to appeal, they both moved in to their houses year 2000.

Should she contact the council or what.

Please help as i feel that i have done her an injustice. But if i can help her to get her council tax reduced it would be greatly appreciated.

labp04

:beer: Oct 19 2005 Western Mail

A LANDMARK council tax victory won by a home owner has raised serious doubts about the whole rebanding exercise in Wales. Ray Fisher, a retired architectural draughtsman, appealed against a decision by the Valuation Office Agency to put his home in Monmouthshire up three bands. Now, following a tribunal hearing in Newport, he has been told that it will only go up one band after all. What makes the decision of wider significance is the fact that the tribunal referred to valuation inconsistencies affecting some of Mr Fisher's neighbours. According to Mr Fisher's MP, David Davies, there will almost certainly be thousands of such anomalies across Wales.

The total cost of council tax revaluation and rebanding in Wales was £5.3m. An estimated 33% of domestic properties moved up one or more bands following the exercise by the Valuation Office Agency.

Mr Fisher, 57, has lived all his life in a 200-year-old cottage next to White Castle, a picturesque Norman ruin in country lanes about seven miles east of Abergavenny. It has been occupied by members of his family for more than a century and in 1957 his grandmother bought it for £500 from the Llantilio estate. Mr Fisher first won a valuation appeal 12 years ago when council tax replaced the poll tax. He said the same mistakes had been made with this rebanding exercise.

"The people responsible didn't come out to look before deciding which band my cottage should be put in. Instead, somebody sat at a computer and made loads of assessments based on false assumptions, then waited for punters to squeal. Lots of people have been clobbered for no good reason. "In my case the cottage, which has three bedrooms, was put in the same band as a six-bedroom mansion in 13 acres. I would advise anyone to appeal."

Monmouth Tory MP David Davies said, "The way the rebanding has been carried out is shambolic. My office has helped more than 100 people and there is a high success rate with appeals. "Those doing the valuations have looked at a few recent sales in the area and made a judgment accordingly. This may be appropriate in urban areas where houses are pretty much the same, but in rural areas it doesn't work because a lot of properties are different."

The adjudication said, "The tri- bunal understands Mr Fisher's annoyance at having been given a three-band increase while other larger, extended and modernised properties had not increased in the same manner and were in lower bands.

"From all the evidence it is clear that there are anomalies, but the tribunal is assured that reviews of those bandings considered incorrect will be undertaken." An agency spokesman said, "Up to the end of September 2005 the Valuation Office Agency had received 10,831 appeals to alter the council tax banding on properties in Wales. So far 1,944 appeals have been dealt with - 1,165 resulted in a band change and 779 were withdrawn or dismissed."

At the risk of being boring, it is really important to keep going when making an appeal for it seems that deals might even be being done in corridors outside the tribunal room on the day of the appeal. Certainly in mine and my wife's case (in England) an agreement was reached on the 'phone the day before the hearing was due. :T

november

Really stupid question - is a B lower or higher than a C. All the houses under my postcode on my street are a B including mine - next door to me is flagged for a change if there is a 'relevant transaction' due to their extension but the one next door the other side is the one that is a C - I'm confused.

Nikki

B is lower than C.