My house is Band F council tax - what does this mean re Budget?

[housemonkey]

I love my house. It's four bedrooms detached newbuild. It's probably worth about £750,000 (not meant at all to be a boast, as I know lots of people's houses are worth a lot more!). It was put in Band F by the VOA (don't know how they assessed it). I love my house, but it seems insane that it will be hit by Rachel Reeves' mansion tax. At first, that was for houses over £2m! I complete agree that the council tax system needs revamping. But how do they actually define Band F houses? I can't find a clear explanation anywhere!

Yes it is a disgrace, there needs to be more public pushback for accountability on council tax, too many councils are just taking the piss.

CT pays for services though not standard of living, and many London people might think that staring at fields all day was a vision of hell, it is all relative. London is a super bubble, but it is starting to deflate.

https://www.mpamag.com/uk/news/general/london-buyers-hit-by-sharp-rise-in-surveyor-markdowns/557684

Would have though sellers would be more concerned than buyers though? Strange headline.

"And that's the run up to the election when they'll have to be careful who they piss off."

It won"t matter, they are already toast, can"t see a way back for them now.

I know of someone who came up with a way to minimise their council tax:

They:

1. Purchased a small derelict band B property and appealed to have it downgraded to band A.
2. Built 3 extensions, took the roof off and added a 1st floor.
3. Gutted and completely modernised it.

A large 5 bed detached house on band A.

Sadly, government incompetence seems to go one way. The cost to build anything these days is eye-watering and the hassle is monumental. Then to add to the pain, I very much see the council re-banding properties to force more council tax.

" I very much see the council re-banding properties to force more council tax."

That is a good way to damage the economy even further as people will cut back their spending even further.

That's what they want. They don't want you having money. As it is the state helps itself to your wages before they reach your bank account, so you never see it. Your payslip is the only evidence of this theft. What you make is merely a cut that you're entitled to by contract, the rest belongs to the state.

I think what worries me is it is becoming very apparent the current government is incredibly far left, its policies are testamount to that, but they dressed it up to get in, pretending to be more central, starmer and reeves are more far left than Corbyn and momentum. They just dressed it up so they could get in.

The fundamental issue for the population is they see the rich as anyone above min wage. The tax freezes will see so many penalised and brought into new bands, the freeze on the North Sea has seen all our gas now come from the Nordic’s, and us paying a fortune in energy, they have their hands in everyone’s pockets, doling it out to the nhs, or in benefits, as they kill growth, increase unemployment, kill landlords, kill businesses, I don’t think anyone understood just how far left they were. Or maybe how weak starmer was and how far he’d give in to the far left.

but here we are. Fucked.

Indeed, a Labour government is like childbirth ...you momentarily forget how bad it is and do it again

I reconfigured a 3 bedroom bungalow into a 2 bedroom with dining room / kitchen, could I apply to re-banded?

So it was all nonsense and nobody other than people living in houses worth £2.0m will be paying anything extra.

They took the cowards way out and rather than actually do something about reforming an out of date and unfair tax instead decided to bottle it and go for a soak the (very) rich instead.

It's almost as if I predicted it.

Good

most working people are financially stretched as it is

Hasn't stopped them stitching up most working people in other ways

No, F, G and H bands will be revalued leading to quite a few uplifts and higher council taxes

Absolutely

Where did it say that?

I would like to know this too!

That is what the government shared informally as part of the implementation of the mansion tax. Currently the government has no other way to identify houses above the 2m threshold as for most of those latest valuations for council tax purposes are from 1991. The exact scope of houses that will undergo re valuation will be clarified over the coming months. But clearly a band F at 1.5M for instance will most likely be upgraded to H after this exercise.

Can you link to where this info is? Because rebranding wasn’t spoken about - save for high value houses.

It didn't.

"Properties will be assessed based on 2026 valuations provided by the government's Valuations Office Agency.
While council tax bands are not going to change, the government will look at properties in the three highest bands of F, G, and H to see if they are valued above £2m."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce910z9jd3po

(bottom of article)

It doesn’t say anything about rebanding them.

I didn't say it did. It's just all I can find on this topic (referred to me on another thread). I cannot find anything official written by the gov as yet.

We moved 4 years ago from a band E house 525k to a band F house £675

the new house was rebanded and made into a G which we did appeal but didn’t get anywhere…i am confused about the mention of F being 1.5 million

do the bands change depending on where in the country you are ?

It’s someone making stuff up hence the confusion!