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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Council Tax evaluation

19 replies

lookluv · 03/12/2025 14:42

Well it did not take the money grubbing councils long to wring more monies out of us.

Less than a week since the budget and my Band E property has been revalued and I have been told it has been wrong for years - now moved from Band E to Band F - bloody convenient. Just another 580 to find per year.

Labour are the worst in a long time.

OP posts:
randomchap · 03/12/2025 14:55

"Money grubbing" councils have been strapped for cash since the Tories ideological austerity that cut the money they got from central government

The costs of adult social care have skyrocketed with an aging population and private firms charging huge amounts

How would you deal with this without raising taxes?

lookluv · 03/12/2025 15:01

What improvements have been made to my property in the last 10 yrs to justify upping my banding - none.In fact now the kids have left home we use less resources than we used to. less rubbish, less road wear, less cars, less everything yet I need to pay more - not fair.

If we are going to all be revalued then everyone is going to end up a lot worse off

OP posts:
OhDear111 · 03/12/2025 15:15

@randomchap Run their own services instead of buying in for a start. They just commission places in homes now as indeed they just commission schools. They don’t run them.

Councils are not valuers. They don’t employ them. The District Valuer revalues. As a result I would say they’ve been looking at your property for some time if they have said it’s been in the wrong band for a long time. It’s unlikely this work has been done in a week. Is it now fair? That’s the point.

It’s going to be a massive job to revalue all D, E and F properties, especially in London snd SE where values are high. Who is employed to do this work? It will take years and they don’t have enough professional valuers. Then there’s all the appeals! It is never ending.

HostaCentral · 03/12/2025 15:30

I wonder what prompted you reevaluation. It could have been someone else in your road challenging theirs, and they have prompted a knock on effect evaluation.

Sesma · 03/12/2025 15:32

Why was it revalued.

1apenny2apenny · 03/12/2025 15:35

The first thing that should happen is for councils to stop the waste, stop the spending of any left over budget and to review how council tax payer money is best spent. One of thing that needs reviewing is the use of taxis to take children to school, change the rule and save money.

I agree though OP, they will come after anyone they can, everyone was told and they chose to ignore it. Three more years of this.

lookluv · 03/12/2025 17:32

dont know random letter out of the blue, everyone else is band D and E - one porperty much bigger than the others is F

OP posts:
MaturingCheeseball · 03/12/2025 17:38

As a pp mentioned, another resident challenging their band can trigger this. Ie “Why am I in number 34 Band F when number 43 is Band E?” Cue Council going aha! We missed a trick there! Number 43 should clearly be Band F too…

ByKindOpalPoet · 03/12/2025 17:41

That will probably be because the band F property challenged their band and instead of theirs being brought down everyone else’s has been raised (fuck all to do with labour and happened under the tories)

ByKindOpalPoet · 03/12/2025 17:42

1apenny2apenny · 03/12/2025 15:35

The first thing that should happen is for councils to stop the waste, stop the spending of any left over budget and to review how council tax payer money is best spent. One of thing that needs reviewing is the use of taxis to take children to school, change the rule and save money.

I agree though OP, they will come after anyone they can, everyone was told and they chose to ignore it. Three more years of this.

It’s got fuck all to do with labour. It’s down to challenging the council tax and happened regularly under the tories but yeah let’s blame labour rather than actually using our brains

Dogmum1983 · 03/12/2025 17:52

1apenny2apenny · 03/12/2025 15:35

The first thing that should happen is for councils to stop the waste, stop the spending of any left over budget and to review how council tax payer money is best spent. One of thing that needs reviewing is the use of taxis to take children to school, change the rule and save money.

I agree though OP, they will come after anyone they can, everyone was told and they chose to ignore it. Three more years of this.

My parents had an accident and the other guys insurance company have had to pay my parents taxi bills as part of their rehabilitation. Our local taxi company is absolutely rinsing the insurance company . They take my Dad to the hospital which is about 1 mile away and charging them £9-£10 . Taking him to his private physio office is in the town and again for about a mile it’s nearly £20 for a round trip . One time the taxi took us somewhere and I saw on his meter literally about a min before he dropped us off it said £27 and when the final cost text come through he charged £41 to the account … at the time I looked at uber and for the same journey at the time it was £18 !!!

If these taxi companies are doing this to accounts for insurance they will no doubt be rinsing the councils for the taxi contracts for the journeys to school etc . It’s all out of hand now.

Breakitinto3 · 03/12/2025 18:01

No way would council manage to do the whole process since budget so someone challenged as pps said

1apenny2apenny · 03/12/2025 18:05

Actually @ByKindOpalPoetthe current situation with banding is down to this government and that is what the thread is about. The moment the councils are given an opportunity to raise money, as the Bridget did, they jump on it. Yes, the last government should have done something about waste but they didn’t.

lookluv · 04/12/2025 19:12

We all know each other as two couples challenged quite rightly a few years ago but they told every one first. They were in G and the rest of us D and E for comparable houses. They both got put down to E.
No one says they have challenged and everyone is as they were on the website

OP posts:
OhDear111 · 04/12/2025 19:16

@1apenny2apenny valuation and banding isn’t down to the government. It’s down to the District Valuer. Civil servants. There’s nowhere near enough of them to value these houses.

TheignT · 04/12/2025 19:18

Breakitinto3 · 03/12/2025 18:01

No way would council manage to do the whole process since budget so someone challenged as pps said

Yes Martin Lewis warns about this where he gives advice about applying if you think you are in the wrong band.

TheignT · 04/12/2025 19:20

I don't suppose anyone would want to admit it's their fault.

TheignT · 04/12/2025 19:23

Dogmum1983 · 03/12/2025 17:52

My parents had an accident and the other guys insurance company have had to pay my parents taxi bills as part of their rehabilitation. Our local taxi company is absolutely rinsing the insurance company . They take my Dad to the hospital which is about 1 mile away and charging them £9-£10 . Taking him to his private physio office is in the town and again for about a mile it’s nearly £20 for a round trip . One time the taxi took us somewhere and I saw on his meter literally about a min before he dropped us off it said £27 and when the final cost text come through he charged £41 to the account … at the time I looked at uber and for the same journey at the time it was £18 !!!

If these taxi companies are doing this to accounts for insurance they will no doubt be rinsing the councils for the taxi contracts for the journeys to school etc . It’s all out of hand now.

Well if you pay they just get paid, if it's the instance company they have to submit an invoice and wait for the money so probably a surcharge for that.

YorkshireGoldDrinker · 04/12/2025 19:26

Just be glad they're not retroactively taxing you for that band if it's been wrong for years.

They're going to re-band properties to force more money out of people. I'm not a clairvoyant, but I don't have to be.

Council tax is ground rent. I paid off my mortgage and my house is entirely freehold, yet I'm still paying thousands a year to live in it for not much ROI. It's disgusting.

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