Council have increased our tax band - can we appeal?

[fruitstick]

Not sure on what grounds we could appeal but I'm furious.

We bought the house 4 weeks ago and this morning received a letter to say that, as it has had a double extension at the back, we are now in the band above.

An extra £350 a year .

They say we can make a formal appeal but I'm not sure what our best grounds would be.

Any ideas?

I used to work in council tax and the property always gets look at re-banding when an extension is done and it is sold so the new owner gets the increased band, otherwise the current owner would get penalised for improving the property.

The council usually have the plans from the planning department. It is actually the Valuation Office who look at it (sale price compared to others of a similar nature) yours probably cost more because of the extension so it triggers a re-valuation.

You can try to appeal but depending on how many new rooms were added you might not win.

You say it is a double extension by which I think you mean it has more bedrooms than it had, that will almost definitely put you into a higher band. Really sorry.

Your solicitor should have warned you, there is usually a band increase pending marker on the VOA website (valuation office agency) where it lists all the houses in your new street and tells you what band they are.

You can certainly try to get your band back down and you have 6 months from the moving in date to do it but if there are now 4 beds instead of 3 or 3 beds instead of 2, I think you will lose the appeal.

We were told when we built our extension that the tax band would only increase if it was sold, or they rebanded everyone.

So I guess that follows the same rules for you as the house is now under new ownership. I guess the vendors should have told you (but probably forgot about it).

Hmm, no new rooms were added, except an ensuite, but other rooms were made bigger.

We were told what band it was in but nobody mentioned rebanding .

Is it a substantial extension?

In a house we bought, they increased the band from your standard 3 bed modern detached band D to a band E. I argued it back down, the only thing the previous people had done was add a 10ft x 10ft conservatory and nicked 5ft off the back of the garage to make a "utility" area, just enough for a washing machine and tumble drier onto the back of the kitchen. So that is not a significant alteration to the property.

When you said 2 storey I assumed they had added a bedroom. Did they increase the size of the bedrooms with the extension? Had anyone else in the street done a similar extension? You can look on google maps for overhead view of your road.

You have nothing to lose by appealing your band, but these things take time so in the meantime you will have to pay the increased amount. If you are subsequently moved back down they amend the bill.

Same has happened to us for the same reason.

Council Tax bands are supposed to be based in what your house in its present state would have been worth in 1991. I used a house price movement calculator to prove that our house's value, as per the price we'd just paid, when extrapolated backwards would have remained in its original band. The indiscreet person at the valuation office said that a 4 bed house in our area should be a in a band higher. They are clearly not judging it on the correct criteria, more a case of 'the people up on the hill should pay more'. However, I know I could get myself in a right old pickle contesting it when I know they are not going to change their mind.