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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Council tax....amazed!!!

36 replies

oksonowwhat · 06/10/2011 21:51

I pay £100 per month for my council tax. I live in a ha house in a countryish location on a busy road. A very small house i may add!

I have started cleaning for a family who have just moved to a wonderful house. She asked me to sort out the filing in their office last week and i happened to notice their council tax bill whilst i was making up a file for household bills.

They pay exactly the same as me per month!??? How does that work then?

They live in a gorgeous house it is only four bedrooms but the house itself it mahoosive. Two bedrooms have ensuites and then their is a big family bathroom. The downstairs is so big it is like cleaning a school hall. There are masses of reception rooms etc., etc., and the grounds are amazing. They also have a granny flat over the garage.

So how does it cost the same as mine??? Theirs is in a village too, a more exclusive village than mine.

OP posts:
Original poster
oksonowwhat · 06/10/2011 21:57

Sorry i should add.......AIBU to question this and rant about it...?

OP posts:
rhondajean · 06/10/2011 21:59

Not going to answer if you ABU or not - but you might want to have a look at this as it might just be of help to you....

www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/council-tax-bands-change

rhondajean · 06/10/2011 22:00

Shoot sorry

www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/council-tax-bands-change

nancy75 · 06/10/2011 22:02

is it under a different council? My nan used to live in a flat in a rough london borough and her council tax was a fortune (labour council), my parents council tax for their massive house (worth about 10x my nans flat) was less money (very tory borough). I think some places are more expensive than others because some councils spend more/less money

catsareevil · 06/10/2011 22:04

Have you appealed your banding?

gabity · 06/10/2011 22:05

We moved into our new build 4 bedroomed house a couple of months ago, the council have only just sorted out our council tax - got the letter today. We had resigned ourselves to paying at least band E tax (£220 per month) but were Shock that it is band C £140 a month! We paid the same in our last house, 2 bed terrace, in a really crappy area?!

YANBU to rant about it as i'm interested in responses too! Wink

squeakytoy · 06/10/2011 22:56

I would love to know why council tax differs according to the size/value of your property. I have always thought it a very unfair tax.

CBear6 · 06/10/2011 22:58

Is it rented? Usually rented properties are Band A.

CBear6 · 06/10/2011 22:59

Exactly squeaky, it's the same binmen who come round, the same emergency services, the same roads, the same schools, etc.

CardyMow · 06/10/2011 23:45

CBear6 - it has FUCK ALL to do with whether your property is rented or not - my friend lives in a bought 3-bed semi (no dining room) in the next street to my rented 3-bed semi, they are both Band C, we both pay £1360 a year.

My other friend round the other corner is in a bought 5-bed, 3 reception room detached house and is in Band F, and she pays £2120 a year.

Council Tax is worked out on the value of your property, absolutely nothing to do with whether you are renting or not.

Tortington · 06/10/2011 23:47

isn;t it all based on some spurious method of a man going round in a van in 1996 or something.

its all made up shit with no method to it

CardyMow · 06/10/2011 23:49

I should add - mine doesn't have a dining room either, they are both VERY small 3-beds (in fact my council classes them as 2.5 beds).

It is quite a 'posh' area of my town though, plus officially it is part of a village (but is a new estate that isn't really part of the village at all, in fact it is separated from the village by a huge Bypass road...) and all the houses are less than 7 years old in this bit. But being part of the 'village' means that part of our fucking extortionate Council Tax is Parish Council Tax.

CardyMow · 06/10/2011 23:50

Yes, Custy. Which means that if you are in a new house, your council tax band WILL be higher (often 2 or more bands) that a property of exactly the same size or spec that has been built BEFORE the original Council Tax Valuation. It's CRAP.

splashymcsplash · 07/10/2011 00:07

Thank you for posting this. I live in a block of flat (all one bed, very similar size inside). My neighbours flats (which are slightly bigger) are a lower council tax band. Surely this is grounds for appealing? Surprised the flats werent all given the same band!

Stupify64 · 07/10/2011 05:47

Council tax bands are set by HMRC & are based on the supposed value, on the open market, assuming vacant possession, as at 1/4/1990.
It's not the size, it's its worth, eg a garden flat may be smaller, but might sell for more. Of you disagree with your banding, contact the Valuation Office Agency. Bear in mind that an appeal could also see your band go up. Guess what I do for a living...

Stupify64 · 07/10/2011 05:57

I signed up about 1 hour ago as was so keen to add my views on another topic & am so ashamed that I typed Of instead of If. I have joined the ranks of the inept in such a short time. Apart from the typo the rest of the post holds good tho'...

borderslass · 07/10/2011 06:41

We used to be band B but DH found out that others in bigger houses where band A and appealed the banding this was about 5 years ago it was dropped to band A for us and another street whole street got a cheque for overpayment ours was £1800 we'd been in this house from beginning of council tax Grin. A neighbour sent us a christmas present as a thankyou that year.

Robotindisguise · 07/10/2011 06:54

I wonder, has it been extended? The last time valuations were done for council tax was 1991 - which is why when you look at the literature which goes out with the bills they are no help at all (Band A up to something like £40,000)

If the house was much smaller in 1991, and since then has been extended / done up - if they ever grasp the political hot potato of revaluing housing your employers will be in for a shock!

My house is extended and sometimes I do wonder exactly when the extension was done and if I'll get a nasty surprise myself...

slavetofilofax · 07/10/2011 07:54

I appealed our tax band when we first moved into this house. It's a semi and I found out that we were being charged as a band higher than our next door neighbours. I can't remember what the band was, or which one we are in now, but it definately went down.

They said at the time that it was worked out based on the house when you moved into it, and when we moved in, there was no downstairs toilet. We had one put in, so apparantly the next owners of this property will have to pay more because when they move in, there will be a downstairs toilet. It's ridiculous.

Original poster
oksonowwhat · 07/10/2011 15:23

Very interesting replies. Thank you all very much. By the way, mine is a housing association rented house, theirs is their own house and although hard to say i would say its work well over £900,000. I will see what i can do about this!!!
Someone suggested it may have been extended. That might be a good point, i know the guy who owned it before actually built it, so i'm wondering what was on the land before!!!

OP posts:
Oggy · 07/10/2011 17:29

I really doubt that a house worth 900,000 is paying £100 a month in council tax (unless its in Wandsworth where council tax is pittance and a 3 bed terrace will cost you nearly that anyway)

Original poster
oksonowwhat · 07/10/2011 18:03

Oggy, i saw it in black and white! I have looked into mine and all the houses the same as mine are in the same band. I'm abit scared of challenging it just in case they put it up! Thats just my luck!!
I also think that the other house must be being charged before it was rebuilt or something!!!

OP posts:
Robotindisguise · 07/10/2011 19:03

I think you're right and I think they're going to be in a bit of trouble. It's one thing to have a 2 bedroom house in 1991 (when they last came round with clipboards and assessed) and since then to have had a couple of extensions, so you now have a much larger house. That's totally legit - although when they do revalue, the homeowner can expect a much bigger bill.

But if you knock a house down and rebuild, that's a new property - albeit one at the same address. At that point it should have been revalued. Since it wasn't - that would be fraud I should have thought. Mind you, fraud on the part of a previous owner, so I guess your employers would probably be ok.

Oggy · 07/10/2011 19:53

okso

Only thing I can think is they must have done soem major work to it re extending etc then. New council tax banding doesn't kick in until the next owber takes over when it gets re-evaluated (this happened to us when we moved into our current home when previous owners had done a loft conversion)

Original poster
oksonowwhat · 08/10/2011 22:50

Ah well i reckon they will get it re evaluated then i suppose! Don't want to sound mean but i was gobsmacked that my little place was costing the same!!!

OP posts:
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