A question about : Council Tax. Are You Paying More Than Your Neighbours? Check It Out
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Council tax eats up a huge chunk of many people’s budgets, yet there’s an easy way to check you’re not paying too much.
What’s the score?
How much council tax you pay depends on your property’s “banding”; a letter from A to H which varies according to the size, location and layout of your home. Yet many don’t realise it’s possible to challenge your banding and pay less tax.
Are you paying too much for your pad?
Sadly these bandings haven’t been revalued since the system began in 1993 so many are out of date – especially if you've had a night club built next to your house or it's been turned into flats (though you could also be paying too little if your home’s improved!).
It’s worth noting that properties in Wales were revalued last year; so if you’re Welsh your banding’s likely to be more accurate.
If you live by yourself (or with a student(s)) you pay less
Do remember those people living alone are entitled to the single person discount of 25% off their council tax bill. Also students don't pay council tax, thus two students together don't pay. If a student lives with a non-student, then as the student doesn't count the house's council tax bill is reduced as if its just a single person living there.
How to challenge your banding
This handy website allows you to check which bands your neighbours are in; if they’re all on a lower banding yet have similar sized houses, they may be a chance you can appeal.
Simply go here and click “go” to start. If you feel that your property band’s unfair the first step is to call your local listing officer, who will explain how the band was decided.
Finally, you can appeal online to the Valuation Office Agency to get your band changed.
If your case is rejected and you bought your house less than six months ago, then you have right of appeal to the independent Valuation Tribunals Service.
For the scottish version of this service see the Scottish Assessors site
Back to the original post..................
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Are you paying more council tax than your neighbours?
Check it out at www.voa.gov.uk
Best answers:
- Thanks for that. Looks like when the council gets round to revaluing all the properties, my band is going to rise as my neighbours who have extensions are a couple of bands higher
- I have just looked at the other 4 houses where I live they are all banded G like me.
I am only a 3 bed house and all the others are 5!!!!!
If I come out the same as them after review I think i will apeal - Thanks for a great link Maisie
cheers ;-)
Col - wow thanks for that - just noticed that all my neighbours with the same size house are a band C and I am a band D - I have appealed online (can do this as have been in the property for less than 6 months) - my house has no extention or anything and some of the houses in the road have and are still a band lower will let you know of the outcome.
- I have just heard back from the council -they are lowering my band from a d to a C - they said they will back date to 1993 - shame ive only been here since march - how will they get hold of the previous owners/tennents to refund there overpayment?
- Just wanted to share with you all my successfull appeal against my council tax banding :-
After reading a thread on here about appealing against your council tax banding I thought id give it a go - I was in a band D and thought it was excessive - I called the local valuer and we had a long discussion about why I thought it should not be a D - Then he just said yep I agree with you and said you are now a C - Cant believe how easy it was - He even said it would be back dated to april 1993 - shame ive only been here since march - He also said my next door neighbour is being down graded too - they have been there for 15 years - Havent told them yet though not sure how happy they would be (the snotty type). - I think it is most unfair that we cannot appeal on the grounds that we've only just found out that most of the neighbouring houses are on a lower band. They don't exactly make this information readily available, do they? We've been here 17 years and just assumed that the road, which has only 30 houses anyway, would all be on the same band.
Our dormer bungalow with one small (only just a double, minus clothes storage) and two tiny "bedrooms" is band E, same as the house opposite which was sold a few years ago as having five bedrooms. Next door have extended and now have four bedrooms plus an en-suite, but are only band D. All the houses at the bottom of the cul-de-sac are band C. It's ridiculous . - Hi, yep, feel kinda guilty for not having thought to tell of my recent experiences I stumbled across the voa site getting on for 2 years ago, noted some anomalies re my banding and others locally and then I found the grounds to appeal based on the info provided by voa. I was taken to the day before an appeal hearing and then, via a 'phone discussion negotiated 2 bands lower resulting in me paying nothing this year and getting a few 000s returned! I guess the big thing I learnt is to keep going and not to accept the doubts etc created by the civil servants in their communications.
- Anyone able to clarify what they mean when they say "physical changes to the area"?
Equally, I know of several properties in our location which have had extensions .. yet they remain the same :confused: Would that make a difference to our banding?
The other thing I'm a bit peeved about ... in recent years, a number of the houses in our location have been sold and are now owned by HA's .. would this have any bearing? Would "new builds" have any bearing?? (Been a lot of that recently too, LOL )
This is one area I am completely clueless, so any extra info anyone can provide will be most appreciated.
Maisie! You are a star for providing the link!!!! - Mine looked ok, so I thought I would check my Dad's out who was complaining how much he paid at the weekend. Noticed that his is down as a composite rate (business/personal use), as it used to be a working farm. It has only ever been a non working property whilst he has lived there so it looks like he will be in for a reduction and hopefully a rebate for 7 years. Many thanks for the link,
Rob. - Very interesting... I'm in the middle of a bank of three (8yr old) houses, so I'm classed as a 'terrace' (whilst they're both end-terraces), one has a conservatory but other than that both are the same size as mine, yet I'm band C whilst they're both B!
I've appealed too - on the grounds that my house is no bigger and certainly not worth any more than theirs!!
Many thanks to Maisie for raising this, most useful. Fingers crossed that something changes for me! (even though I'm moving out soon...) - hopewer. Hope your dad gets the rebate sounds if it's overdue.
indiegirl. Hope you're lucky with your appeal.
Maisie
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