council tax band G & H to double

[StrawberryThief1930]

has anyone seen the rumours that the council tax rates for bands G and H are going to double?

I know everything is just rumours at the moment but im worried this one might stick. easy to implement in an existing system and doesn't require the revaluation of thousands of houses etc.

I'm about to buy a G band house. Seriously questioning whether we can afford it. The current council tax is £4k a year. so £8k a year. Over £300 a month more than we had budgeted. we have spreadsheets coming out of our ears trying to check we can afford this house. Buying with a 40% deposit. im sweating...

anyone have the same worries? or further thoughts?

Clearly it's completely unfair which is why the government should be using current property values. A lot of people who live in multi million pound homes in London pay less council tax than those outside London in homes worth a fraction. Personally, I favour a land value tax instead of council tax and stamp duty.

Why should they, we have a lot of memories in our house and amazing neighbours, I wouldn’t want to move.

I don't think, I know.

A two bedroomed flat pack to bare minimum size requirements built in 2010 - band G.

Four bedroom Victorian villa with driveway, huge gardens, the whole works, directly opposite - band D. Three bedroom Victorian terrace 1/4 of a mile away, pretty much the same size and layout as the flatpack - band C.

The difference is that the flatpack was built after the cutoff date and was therefore deemed to be more valuable, as though becoming disabled enough to need social housing designed for disabled access was a sign of wealth in excess of that required to own the other two houses.

It's worth bearing in mind that any tax levied upon house value isn't reflecting the difference between home owning and social housing that the tenants have no agency over - the alternative to accepting whatever is offered is being homeless, after all, so they can't exactly refuse the brand new accessible housing they need and say they'll just wait for something built earlier and the council will have to magic up step free access, wider doors, wet rooms, etc. To a lesser extent, this does apply to private renting, but there is still a market choice in that.

I don't really understand how this would work.

Aren't by nature council taxes collected by individual local authorities and the rates set by those authorities?

Can central government impose a doubling of rates on certain bands universally? And if it did, surely that wouldn't support all areas equally as I'd imagine there are quite big differences in the number of properties in these bands in different regions.

So some councils would raise a lot more and others very little so what would that mean in terms of the distribution of central funds? It sounds simple but would surely be very complicated.

Interestingly, that is more in tune with what Rachel is considering, with extra bands for the most expensive houses, but for some political reason the Torygraph source seems to have omitted it.

Perhaps because it would not cause as much squealing outrage as their headline claim repeated in the title of this thread.

If you RTFT you’ll see that your guess at people’s income in comparison to property prices is not as you think

Let’s also not forget , for example, huge property increases when the O2 etc was built and new train connections. Just one example how peoples property prices can change over time which would not also reflect their income.

This thread highlights how people’s misconceptions can be damaging to lives if Labour also wrongly make such assumptions

I’ve read the extra over and above the usual ctax increases would be separated out and given to central Government

People in “more expensive” houses have ALREADY paid more tax, in the form of Stamp Duty? I have just paid an enormous stamp duty bill. And I paid it from already higher rate taxed income. To say I’m not paying my “fair share” is frankly ludicrous.

That's crazy @NeverDropYourMooncup. I'm surprised that the owners have never appealed the bandings. I hope that common sense and fairness prevails wrt current values being used for the bandings. Let's see what the hit the UK with on budget day!

lets hope the reality is adding new higher bands on top of the H band. Leave the existing G alone! and then split the H into new bands to reflect the different values.

i still cannot get my head around the 5 bed semi i am buying might have a CT bill of nearly £10k a year! it is not a mansion by any stretch of the imagination.

i can see a madness where a Band F house (still pretty nice id guess?) commands a higher sale price on the open market because it doesn't attract a penalty rate CT! ridiculous.

the government needs to be careful NOT to create a cliff edge of CT

The Torygraph write things for political reasons?! I'm shocked, I tell you!

How do you know what Rachel, I mean Reeves is considering?

See

"PigletJohn · 04/11/2025 19:36
I will confess that I don't usually read the Torygraph.
But I do read the FT."

Yes I think so

often people struggle to buy the properties in the first place

Stamp duty is 35K on quite a few properties round here F &G so I think people are definitely contributing.

It depends when they bought it. They could have bought many years ago and paid zero tax very easily. Again, it's recent buyers, more often younger people, but not exclusively, who have been disadvantaged here.

We can’t keep going back decades declaring people didn’t pay a tax that never existed to justify taxes now

Agree

They probably had to pay high interest rates on the mortgage

how did rates compare with CT. Was water included

chart re mortgage interest rates

.

Let’s just hope they don’t bring the beard tax back. I’m now menopausal and my chin is sprouting hairs, I can’t keep up with plucking the little beggars 🤪

It could inadvertently affect downsizing negatively unless they also change when CT is recalculated.

Bungalow gobbling would ramp up even further.

I think that a lack of thought in new build design is a big contributing factor in why people don't downsize.

I have relatives in large three bed semis (1930s/50s style) who would consider moving.

But these houses have separate dining rooms and a downstairs (small) bathroom. To buy a two bed bungalow would cost more than the current house and doesn't have the garage etc they have now (and if they do there's an even bigger price difference).

They'd quite like to swap the upkeep of a 1930s property for a new build but almost all of those don't have hallways. Kitchen/diner is straight off the lounge. Small staircases.

So if they have mobility issues they can't install a stair lift or use a downstairs room as a bedroom.

Once you add stamp duty and moving costs it wouldn't free up any money. So all of them would be better effectively pretending they don't have an upstairs in old age than moving.

Agree
We should be building more lifetime homes.
With
Accessible ground floor WC and shower, seperate room to accommodate a bedroom and stairs that can accommodate a stair lift (although accommodating a stair lift has never been part of the requirement )
It was a thing in the past but somehow developers are getting away with not having to accommodate this now

Oh, there was an appeal (only one is permitted by law). It was rejected on the basis that the value for a property built after x date was correct. Which is what the law says, so hard to argue with, especially with no further right of appeal.

There are people paying less than that for CT.