to wonder what happens when the DIY SOS team goes home?

Please bring back the boys, I know you think you might be updating, but you are losing a lot of the banter, especially between Jules and Chris.

they will go up when they are next valued

As others have said, the law is that the band cannot be changed until there is a "relevant transaction". That means the band won't change until the property is sold or leased. See [http://www.voa.gov.uk/corporate/CouncilTax/increasesFollowingImprovements.html here] for the official position.

on extreme makover though, they lots of times are paying off the mortgage or some large cash bonus type gift in addition to the house at the end.

I haven't really watched diy SOS but love cowboy builders. They seem to do a very good job so hope it's ok after they've been - some of their stories are very sad. It's frustrating though because Dom doesn't seem to really make an impact on most of them

Oh yes the more expensive your home the higher the property taxes...In the US most states have no State Income Taxes so the state collects most all its revenue through property taxes...In Houston a 200 thousand dollar home will cost the home owner and average of 5000 per year property tax...If you buy a 100 thousand dollar house you would owe half that amount.There is no government help with any tax bills.
Most all make over shows end up over improving the home and the once lucky home owners cannot afford the extra bills and have to sell and end up losing there home...It is sad but true!

I could never understand why EMHE people hadn't worked the property tax thing out. They are different to council taxes, not only in the fact they tend to be a lot higher. Ours is $25k a year. It makes my eyes water.

But you pay more for having more rooms, more square footage, an extra garage, a pool, etc etc. In EM, they also tended to be the best house in a crappy neighborhood and difficult to sell as people just don't want to/ can't afford to pay that.

I've no direct experience of DIY SOS but a couple of years ago we were having some work done on our bath room and our builder decided to take himself off in the middle of working on our bathroom and help out on a relatively local DIY SOS.

It only took a couple of days, but we did think it was a bit cheeky.

Well the thing there is its a percentage, so at the top end can go very high.

Here in the richest borough, Westminster, council tax peaks at £1353 on properties worth millions, which as a percentage is very low indeed.

The peak is about £3400 anywhere in the uk.

On one of the extreme make overs the property taxes went from $1600 to $5600. That % of increase couldn't happen in the UK, because Band H is 3 times by Band A, but the houses being made over would probably have been Band E or higher to start with, and Band E is more than half as expensive as band h.

DDs best friend had DIY SOS in a few years ago on a big build, Nick did indeed do a lot of the work and the house was lovely when it was finished. They were a very lovely, deserving family with lots of issues.
Still is lovely actually, looks as good as the day they left and did genuinely change their lives for them.

Depends on location, too, Aga. I am from there, lived there and owned property there. My parents' property tax is the same as a Band D home here, and it's worth quite a bit for their location. And the property tax on the terraced home/townhome I owned in another state was more expensive than theirs. But the cost of living in their state is very cheap.

Well, my band has gone from A to B. It is an HA maisonette starting on the first floor.

My sister's neighbour had a DIY SOS makeover, quite a few years ago now. She hated it, said they did the exact opposite of what she wanted, claimed Nick Knowles spent lots of time sleeping on her sofa and that they trashed the rest of the house. I went round there not long after they left , and I have to say some of the decorating finishing was poor. But this was years ago, so maybe has changed! And when the programme went out you would never have guessed she hated it, she was all "ooh lovely"!

Expatinscotland, US property taxes are higher than British ones, at least they are on bigger homes, sometimes 10x higher.

Even in the old DIY SOS programmes, all of them (except Nick Knowles) are proper tradesmen, and even he seems a really good DIY-er now after all these years.

And I'm pretty sure that at least in the Big Build ones, the designers talk to the homeowners first to see what they need/like anyhow.

There's a number of these houses I'd kill for.

There is some sort of register of houses and their council tax bands on them. If there have been improvements they may be marked with an asterisk which means that they will go up when they are next valued.

Our house has one

Council tax bands can't be altered until there is a material change, even after extensions or improvements. Expat - either the rebandings relate to work carried out prior to the property changing hands or they are illegal. The legistlation is very clear about what can and can't be done, besides which the council tax band is determined by the valuation office not by the local councils.

MY neighbours had the Big Boys/Girls lot in, they re did it all the day after they left.

It was funny watching them do the walking up the street thing in over 20 takes

Don't think so, several friends in England got nasty shocks when their new council tax bills came in.

Might it be different in Scotland? Our house was rebanded once we moved in. The sale triggered the new valuation.

We are tenants. Got our council tax bill in for the new fiscal year. We have been moved up a band.

'The council tax here only goes up for the next owner when it's rebanded if I remember rightly. E.g a 2 bed house extended to 4. Owner will pay 2 bed house rate, when it's sold new owner pays on new value (presumably reflecting the 4 bed status)'

Plenty of councils, including ours, reband periodically no matter what the status, meaning if a tenant sat in the home is subject to the reband.

I always wonder with the American one how they insure their new fancy houses and stuff once it's done.

The council tax here only goes up for the next owner when it's rebanded if I remember rightly. E.g a 2 bed house extended to 4. Owner will pay 2 bed house rate, when it's sold new owner pays on new value (presumably reflecting the 4 bed status)

I think it should be good with the amount of tradesmen who help. Did think it will be a nightmare moving all the kids stuff back in though! They seemed really lovely kids on the episode last night

I know one of the teams of guys working on last nights - they are a fully professional team who refurb as a business so the standard should be good. The big difference between DIYSOS and Changing Rooms is that Changing Rooms was done by the people living in the houses, DIY SOS appeals for firms to come and assist so get trained trades(wo)men in. If the work is to a poor standard it would be very bad publicity for them

I can really imagine Nick Knowles getting his hands dirty mucking in.