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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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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:

WoodBetweenTheWorlds · 09/10/2011 00:51

OP, are you sure that the bill was for the property that they live in? Or could it have been the bill for an investment property or something similar?

Original poster

oksonowwhat · 09/10/2011 16:45

No def the current house. I checked address as i was so surprised!

OP posts:

ShellyBoobs · 09/10/2011 17:02

I will see what i can do about this!!!

Do you mean that you'll try to get their bill increased?

TalkinPeace2 · 09/10/2011 17:10

The other tricky issue is the "legality" of houses
here in Southampton, the estimate is that 1 in 3 houses have had work done that requires Building Regs sign off
but do not have it (mine included)
they have moved me up a band even though they have not officially approved my work
SO if the same pattern is repeated elsewhere there are hundreds of thousands of home owners who will take their cases to appeal with the Valuations Agency (not HMRC btw)
hence the extreme lack of will to bring the whole thing up to date

for the record, I'm not signed off as I refused to change every door in my house for a fire door as there is no legal requirement to keep the doors closed and an open door is not (as per building regs doc B) a fire door. The jobsworth agreed to go away till the rules were changed!

betterwhenthesunshines · 09/10/2011 17:13

I would keep out of it. I'm amazed someone asked you to sort out their filing for them as it does mean you could know some fairly personal financial stuff about them. I think if you get involved you could find they don't want you as a cleaner anymore.

Just be glad your council tax is only £100 a month, we pay over £300 and have to pay for parking (just increased by 75%) and garden waste extra... and don't get involved in anyone else's finances!

FlossieFromCrapstonVillas · 09/10/2011 17:17

I challenged mine about three yrs ago, it went down a band, we paid Council Tax of around a penny a month for a year! (Or something daft)

New build, developers had forgotten to tell Council (or HRMC) the bigger house they were going to build was replaced by a slightly smaller one.

Reeesult.

octopusinabox · 09/10/2011 18:41

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster

oksonowwhat · 09/10/2011 18:44

Shellyboobs, NO i actually meant i would see if i could get mine lowered, alright?

OP posts:

Original poster

oksonowwhat · 09/10/2011 18:50

Betterwhen, i won't get anymore involved. I was just surprised i suppose. Wondered why their gorgeous house would be the same as mine. Kind of hoping mine might be reduced i suppose but after looking on the net i don't think i will ask for a reduction as similar houses on our street are banded the same.

The house owner is very busy and i suppose he thought it made sense to get someone else to do the sorting/filing. I always do their bank statement filing and have never once felt slightly inclined to peek or be nosey. Just happened that the council tax bill was sat there infront of me quite obviously showing the monthly payment. I was also having to separate the new house bills from the old house ones so i did have to read a little.

OP posts:

breatheslowly · 09/10/2011 19:01

When we moved to our new house it triggered someone to come out and look at the banding because the previous owners had extended over the garage. Apparently planning permission or building regs or something go on record and the reassessment only happens when the house is sold. A lovely bloke came out to look at the house. He had the plans for our house and a description of what had been done. He said that he was only meant to inspect it from the outside, but I showed him what had been done from the inside as you can't really see a converted roofspace from the outside. He measured up and said that the bandings would depend on the volume added in this case (number and type of rooms might also be an issue, but wasn't for us). We then got a letter to say that the band had been left the same.

Might they have extended with 2 bedrooms? Could the granny flat be separately taxed?

sqweegiebeckenheim · 09/10/2011 19:11

Shelleyboobs would you mind if I PM'd you?

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