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Original poster

Council tax bands? Why are we paying more on d than people who live next to us? All the same size houses?

37 replies

JanuaryBluehoo · 22/01/2022 14:03

What on earth is going on?

Victorian terrace houses?
Now the houses next to us have loft rooms, two bathrooms etc?
We have been on d for years?
Dh said according to valuation now its correct but was based on 1991 prices??

OP posts:
BritInUS1 · 22/01/2022 14:04

Put an appeal in with the council - we did that and got ours amended

Original poster
JanuaryBluehoo · 22/01/2022 14:04

Any money back?

OP posts:
lunar1 · 22/01/2022 14:05

Are they in a different band, or is the amount on the same band different?

Could it be that you split your payment over 10 months and they do it over 12?

Original poster
JanuaryBluehoo · 22/01/2022 14:06

They are band c. We are d
Even larger house up the road is c??

We pay ours over 12 months

OP posts:
Playgrind · 22/01/2022 14:08

I looked into getting band changed but decided it wasn't likely given the neighbours were paying the same. At the time I was living in a 2 bed flat above a shop, you could hear the till ring in the bathroom and entered the flat via a dodgy entrance up fire escape steps. For this delight we were band D, around £1500 for the year.

lunar1 · 22/01/2022 14:08

Then I would appeal it if there is no obvious reason for you to be in different bands.

Playgrind · 22/01/2022 14:09

Sounds like you have grounds to request a band change though. Think money saving expert has advice on this

Seeline · 22/01/2022 14:09

@BritInUS1

Put an appeal in with the council - we did that and got ours amended
We did that and all our NDN was put up a band 😳
titchy · 22/01/2022 14:10

Have they been extended by the current owners? If so the house may have been rebranded to D, but rebandings only take effect once a house has new owners. (There's a list you can google.)

HarrietOh · 22/01/2022 14:11

Was going to say you do risk that your neighbours will be moved up to D!

Snowiscold · 22/01/2022 14:11

Banding only changes when the house is sold. If it was a 3-bed and the owners did a loft conversion and added two bedrooms, the house would still stay at the original 3-bed banding until the house is sold. Then the banding would change for the new owners.

TheDrsDocMartens · 22/01/2022 14:13

We got ours changed and a big refund.

Seeline · 22/01/2022 14:14

@Snowiscold

Banding only changes when the house is sold. If it was a 3-bed and the owners did a loft conversion and added two bedrooms, the house would still stay at the original 3-bed banding until the house is sold. Then the banding would change for the new owners.
Our NDNs was changed without the property being sold, after we appealed ours.
IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 22/01/2022 14:17

If you feel you are paying too much, you can challenge you council tax band. I did about 10 years ago and we were rebanded down. We got a cheque back from the local authority for all the overpayments we’d made over the years we’d lived there.

We live in a row of 5 detached houses. They all have 4 bedrooms except for us who have 3. I checked on line, and we were all band E. My basis for the challenge was that we have fewer bedrooms.

have you seen this about band allocation?

Original poster
JanuaryBluehoo · 22/01/2022 14:17

Dh said its more likely our neighbours would be increased.
But we brought this house before both neighbours on either side?

OP posts:
Snowiscold · 22/01/2022 14:23

@Seeline
That’s interesting. Were the neighbours increased or decreased?

Seeline · 22/01/2022 14:26

Increased 😧

Madlymumming · 22/01/2022 14:35

When houses were first banded for council tax I realised the property opposite us was a C ..... they had a driveway/garage and a larger house altogether. We were banded a D!

I appealed the decision and we were put down to C. Strangely our attached neighbour decided to remain a D as it would affect her house value to go down. Silly woman.

wobytide · 22/01/2022 14:43

As others say can only appeal if the house has changed hands. I bought a place in a terrace where they were all banded the same but appealed the banding was too high(E) and the entire row of 14 was downbanded (D) and refunds issued to the relevant owners over the last 14 years.

I was probably not very popular with the council that year

Sounds like you are stuck with the banding unfortunately

chesirecat99 · 22/01/2022 14:55

It's incorrect that you can only challenge council tax banding within 6 months of moving in. From gov.uk:

www.gov.uk/challenge-council-tax-band

Which challenges are reviewed

When you challenge your band, you’ll need to give a reason for your challenge and provide supporting evidence.

The VOA will review your band if you’re challenging it for any of the following reasons:

your property has changed - for example, it’s been demolished, split into multiple properties or merged into one
your property’s use has changed - for example, part of your property is now used for business
your local area has changed - for example, a new supermarket has been built
They’ll also review it if you’ve been paying Council Tax on your property for less than 6 months.

If you have a different reason and you’ve been paying Council Tax on the property for 6 months or more, you can still challenge your band. The VOA will only be able to review it if there’s enough evidence for why you think it’s wrong.

Original poster
JanuaryBluehoo · 22/01/2022 15:15

I've gone onto they deeds and mortgage.
Would that classify as changing hands??

OP posts:
Original poster
JanuaryBluehoo · 22/01/2022 18:48

Does anyone know if me joining the deeds is new ownership?
I'm a new person??

OP posts:
chesirecat99 · 22/01/2022 19:06

I guess it would depend whether your name was listed on the council tax bill.

It doesn't matter though, PPs are wrong that you can only challenge the banding in the first 6 months. You can challenge it at any time if you have evidence the banding is incorrect. I linked to the relevant gov.uk page. It states:

If you have a different reason and you’ve been paying Council Tax on the property for 6 months or more, you can still challenge your band. The VOA will only be able to review it if there’s enough evidence for why you think it’s wrong.

You will need evidence of the council tax banding/values/layout/size etc of the lower banded houses on the same street. You should be able to get that info from the land registry and RightMove/Zoopla archives.

OnTheBenchOfDoom · 22/01/2022 20:11

I used to work in council tax. When it was brought in they had to band every property which led to them driving down roads and making guesses as to what band they should be.

Sometimes it is wrongly assumed that a row of houses are all the same inside. The VOA -Valuation Office would band it as they do for all new builds, the council merely bills it at that band.

Yes you can make your neighbours increase and yes I was at the council when that happened. The vast majority of the challenges were decreased and refunds issued. The council do not care, they want the properties to be correctly banded.

On the VOA website you can search for your postcode area, there is a list all of the properties and their bands. If someone has added an extension etc then there is a marker next to it saying something like pending so on the sale of the property it is looked at to see if there needs to be a band increase.

The most unfair bands are the lowest and highest. You could have a 5 bed house at the top band and a 23 bed house also on the top band.

My advice, do some research and if you feel yours is wrong then challenge it.

OnTheBenchOfDoom · 22/01/2022 20:14

www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-council-tax-band/search

Please don't use Zoopla but instead Rightmove for floor plans etc

www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices.html

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