So they can just alter council tax bands whenever they want?
Discussion
Bought a house 2 months ago. It was band C, i got my council tax letter through and set up the payments.
As if by magic i get a slightly threatening letter through the door stating that some bulls
t 'valuation officer' will be assessing whether this band is wrong.
A letter pops through today stating my band has changed from C to D and that they have 'already notified' the council of this change.
According to the letter, they base their values on what the house was worth in 1991. So how the fk can they randomly change it whenver they feel like it?
The attached sheet gives the reason that the address has been sold and the improvements to the property made prior to the sale have affected the banding.
I can only assume this was the extension that was put on a few years ago.
So someone can put an extension on, stay at the same band, sell the house then the purchaser gets fked for the extra council tax?
As if by magic i get a slightly threatening letter through the door stating that some bulls
t 'valuation officer' will be assessing whether this band is wrong.A letter pops through today stating my band has changed from C to D and that they have 'already notified' the council of this change.
According to the letter, they base their values on what the house was worth in 1991. So how the f
k can they randomly change it whenver they feel like it?The attached sheet gives the reason that the address has been sold and the improvements to the property made prior to the sale have affected the banding.
I can only assume this was the extension that was put on a few years ago.
So someone can put an extension on, stay at the same band, sell the house then the purchaser gets f
ked for the extra council tax?Edited by fjord on Wednesday 18th September 12:23
It will be the extension that triggered it for sure. When we bought our house 11 years ago the valuation officer was one of our very first visitors!
They must have Land Registry documents and planning applications linked together so as soon as a house is sold that has been developed they can jump on it and raise the band.
The previous owners to us had extended a two up two down to a four bedroomed house but their council tax hadn't altered in the 4 years they stayed there.
They must have Land Registry documents and planning applications linked together so as soon as a house is sold that has been developed they can jump on it and raise the band.
The previous owners to us had extended a two up two down to a four bedroomed house but their council tax hadn't altered in the 4 years they stayed there.
The Council Tax list is held online and can be accessed from the VOs website www.voa.gov.uk. It will give details of the band for a property, but it also has an improvement flag, and the improvement flag indicates that there have been alterations to the property which are not yet reflected in its band, and that once a relevant transaction is made the band of the property will be re-assessed.
The reasons behind this are to prvent people from making improvements to their house and then having to pay on those improvements. If and when there is a revaluation then all the improvements will be taken in to account.
As regards the boat issue I am not an expert on boats but I believe the difference is do with chattels, and the boat is a chattel and the chattel is not rateable, therefore it is the mooring which has the value for Council Tax not the boat.
Finally there is an appeal system.
The reasons behind this are to prvent people from making improvements to their house and then having to pay on those improvements. If and when there is a revaluation then all the improvements will be taken in to account.
As regards the boat issue I am not an expert on boats but I believe the difference is do with chattels, and the boat is a chattel and the chattel is not rateable, therefore it is the mooring which has the value for Council Tax not the boat.
Finally there is an appeal system.
MIL got a letter 3 years ago upping her band from B to C, bungalow unchanged since built in the 60s, being 6 months in to the period, they upped the next 4 payments to catch up.
12 months later the V.O decided they had got it wrong and changed it back to B again, the council then stated 'you can't have the over payment back in one lump sum, all we can do is lower the next 18 months payments until it catches up again'.
I got my Solicitor involved, he sent a letter to the coucil stating the money must be returned within 14 days and that they must also pay his charges,the money was returned within 3 days of the letter being sent.
12 months later the V.O decided they had got it wrong and changed it back to B again, the council then stated 'you can't have the over payment back in one lump sum, all we can do is lower the next 18 months payments until it catches up again'.
I got my Solicitor involved, he sent a letter to the coucil stating the money must be returned within 14 days and that they must also pay his charges,the money was returned within 3 days of the letter being sent.
Chrisgr31 said:
The Council Tax list is held online and can be accessed from the VOs website www.voa.gov.uk. It will give details of the band for a property, but it also has an improvement flag, and the improvement flag indicates that there have been alterations to the property which are not yet reflected in its band, and that once a relevant transaction is made the band of the property will be re-assessed.
The reasons behind this are to prvent people from making improvements to their house and then having to pay on those improvements. If and when there is a revaluation then all the improvements will be taken in to account.
As regards the boat issue I am not an expert on boats but I believe the difference is do with chattels, and the boat is a chattel and the chattel is not rateable, therefore it is the mooring which has the value for Council Tax not the boat.
Finally there is an appeal system.
That actually seems like a pretty fair way of doing it. Although it would be better if that website was common knowledge, I'd have thought that should be checked when a house is purchased, but AFAIK it wasn't part of the solicitors searches.The reasons behind this are to prvent people from making improvements to their house and then having to pay on those improvements. If and when there is a revaluation then all the improvements will be taken in to account.
As regards the boat issue I am not an expert on boats but I believe the difference is do with chattels, and the boat is a chattel and the chattel is not rateable, therefore it is the mooring which has the value for Council Tax not the boat.
Finally there is an appeal system.
fizz47 said:
Amateurish said:
This happened to us. We appealed, and won.
On what basis did you appeal? On what criteria do they charge council tax bands on?We appealed on the basis that comparable houses were in a lower band.
They're not all bad in the VO/Council.
We lived in a house from 1995-1997.
Two months ago we received a cheque for £300+ as the current owners had managed to get the banding reduced.
So we moved out 16 years ago and have had three different addresses since, but they still made the effort to track us down and refund us.
We lived in a house from 1995-1997.
Two months ago we received a cheque for £300+ as the current owners had managed to get the banding reduced.
So we moved out 16 years ago and have had three different addresses since, but they still made the effort to track us down and refund us.
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