Council Tax bands

Was just discussing that today. My home is worth £250000 (1930s 4 bed semi) and band a. Dc is buying a 2 bed new build terrace for £150000 which will be band b. It feels very unfair.

@Awwlookatmybabyspider
The only people who would be affected by the extra bands are those in band H

Why should a family home worth £700k
pay the same council tax as a certain £18m penthouse ?

It should be on Band Z

Yanbu I've posted about this before.
Same road. Same price paid. One band b and one band f.

2004 for Wales.

The purpose isn't to increase the overall take, just make it fairer.

@Snippit does yours sit on a larger plot? Just trying to understand your banding as it does seem strange. I used to work in council tax and the general rule of thumb for where we were, if I remember correctly and it has been a long time, D bands were the starting point and every band is a percentage higher or lower than that.

A 3 bed detached was a D band, 3 bed semi C, 2 bed semi B also a 1 bed quarter houses was a B, then A band covered bedsits, studios and 1 bed flats I think. A the other end, 4 bed detached E band, 4 bed exec (larger or double garaged) and also 5 bed, an F band.

It feels wrong that you have direct comparisons in your street and the next street and the VOA are being arseholes about it. Based on what you have said I cannot see why you are banded higher. The honest truth is that councils had to band properties and there are definitely still properties banded incorrectly today. Local to me (not where I worked in ctax) there is an entire estate that I believe has one house type incorrectly banded but I bet they would fight it because it would be a loss of revenue and back crediting would cost too.

VOA band it, council bill it. There definitely needs to be additional bands both at the absolute bottom end where people are effectively living in a teeny studio and also at the top end where it needs staggering out.

Sorry to ask a daft question but where are people finding all this extra money per month to pay for these higher Council Tax rates that you want. We don’t all have a magic money tree in our back garden.

All houses need to be rebanded with a couple of extra tiers on the top. Obviously, the amount you pay in each band will depend on the house prices in each council. If they don't do it soon, it won't be done.

You’re right, it isn’t fit for purpose.. I’m currently challenging my band, we are in Band E. Our house is a 3 bed detached in North Derbyshire, current value approximately £375, we’ve been here for 11 years.

Some houses on our road, same style etc are in band D, it makes no sense. Every house of our style on the next road, built by the same developer in the 1960’s are in Band D. There are 3 of us banded in E?! I’ve tried myself to argue this with the valuations office, but failed. I have now instructed someone who used to work for these people, now retired, to try again for me, fingers crossed 🤞

You can write to the council if you think you’re on the wrong band.

It needs to be redone but not based on house value.

I don’t think it should be done like that, with your banding example in my area you’d have most family houses at band E and above and pretty much no properties in band B. The south would be paying a huge amount to subsidise the rest of the country when we already have huge house prices to contend with, that wouldn’t be fair.

I agree. Our 4 bedroom detached has a higher band than a bloody Manor House with 12 bedrooms. Same council. I don’t understand it at all

Fairest thing to to increase the number of bands up to Z

Mad that a multi million pound mansion pays the same as a 3 bed semi

Centralising Council tax money will not work - Councils need the power to raise taxes locally
Rural councils need more per capita than urban

I agree with you that things should be balanced better but I don't think it should be banded by house price when house prices can put you in a completely different kind of housing situation in different parts of the country. A small 2-bed maisonette in London costs the same as a 6 bedroom mansion in a cheaper part of the country. It's not like it costs significantly more to supply street lighting etc.

I think it should be reformed so that you pay for the square-meterage of the home divided by the number of persons who live there (with under 18s being 0.5 persons and under 2s being 0.25 persons) and where if you own two properties your "persons" get divided between the two so you'll pay even more so it incentises people to downsize to the size of home they need but it's irrelevant whether you live in a popular area with over inflated property prices or somewhere remote and rural.