Council Tax Band Challenge

[cwhaley]

How successful are these challenges? My house is band B which according to the range is any house worth between £40,000 and £52,000 in 1991. I don't believe my house was worth anywhere near that in 1991 so I believe it should be reclassified.

My house is a semi-detached, 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom. Large garden but no extensions or additional space. It sold for £26,000 in 1996 well below the £40k range. I looked up other sales for the same era and same street and got the below -- all houses are semi-detached of a similar style. Most have had extensions and we're one of the few who haven't.

House 1 - £33k in 1998
House 2 (3 bed) - £18k in 1998
House 3 - £32.5k in 1997
House 4 - £35k in 1998
House 5 - £39k in 1997
House 6 (3 bed) - £38k in 1997
House 7 (3 bed) - £29k in 1998
House 8 (3 bed) - £41k in 1996
House 9 - £32.5k in 1995

I phoned the valuation office to discuss this and they first asked me to provide 5 examples of houses like mine in a lower band (band A). I said I don't have this information -- I'm just trying to prove my house wasn't worth £42k in 1991. They then said I need to provide a bill of sale for similar houses proving this so I presented above evidence. She said it needs to be for sales 2 years either side of 1991 (not available online) which I understand, so I was directed to contact an e-mail address and ask. I'm waiting for a response.

I don't think there's much difference in average house prices between 1991 and the dates above, so surely any sale data will back up my claim? As I've said my house structure is the same as it was in 1991 (which I know from satellite pictures).

 

[Mottie]

I think things did go down from 1990 onwards. All I can remember about it was that we moved house in March 1990. We sold our old house for £72k and paid £105k for our present one - it was up for much more than that for some time but nothing was moving. Our old house was sold 4 years later for £42k and around the same time an identical house next door but one from us was sold for £71k so things were on the slide in the early to mid nineties. I think it took about 7 or 8 years for our house to get back up to the value we paid for it - if only they’d valued them in the mid nineties! We're band E and our house is just a standard sixties 3 bed semi.

If figures moved around the same amount in your area as they were down here, £26k in 1996 could be at or very near £40k in 1991. It’s certainly worth appealing.

 

[cwhaley]

Thanks for the context. I did look at graphs from sales data as a general guide and yes I can see a dip beginning in 1990, a bit of a trough in 1993 and then the prices seem to have mostly recovered by 1996. As you say though it does vary geographically and only the actual sales data I get back can help. I just hope they don't stand by this "compare to a lower band" thing.

We bought ours' for £150k in 2016 which is an increase of nearly 480%! Just goes to show how much they really did shoot up after.

 

[Ihavenojob]

Martin Lewis's money saving expert may be a good place to look for information.

 

[cwhaley]

That was the first hit on Google when I originally started looking at it. I decided to go for it but just wondered how successful the challenges are and if anybody has gone through with it.

 

[Ihavenojob]

That was the first hit on Google when I originally started looking at it. I decided to go for it but just wondered how successful the challenges are and if anybody has gone through with it.

It can go the other way, ie, raise you band, along with every other house in the street. Could cause unease.

 

[cwhaley]

I did consider that, but at least if I get hold of all available house sale data from the time it should be indicative of what the houses were really 'worth'. If it's a close one and the prices straddle the band A band B border I won't go ahead with the challenge -- I'm just information gathering at the mo. It's just that from what I've seen so far of every sale in the 1990s on the street, no house of a comparable style/size sold for £40k or more.

 

[Ihavenojob]

I did consider that, but at least if I get hold of all available house sale data from the time it should be indicative of what the houses were really 'worth'. If it's a close one and the prices straddle the band A band B border I won't go ahead with the challenge -- I'm just information gathering at the mo. It's just that from what I've seen so far of every sale in the 1990s on the street, no house of a comparable style/size sold for £40k or more.

If you have proof of the value of your house in 1991 (I think) then you should be on to a winner, as not only will they reduce your tax, you can claim all overpayments back.

 

[cwhaley]

I hope so!! Based on the 1995-98 sale prices they are all below the band B range but as @Mottie says above house prices may have been higher in 1991 so need to see what the GSI come back with as you can only view sales to 1995 or after online.

Fingers crossed. I'll share my experience on here.

 

[big-all]

round here live in a 3 bed 1907 mid terrace and we are in band d like the rest n the road
and dont forget the council will virtually always refuse by default so you have to apeal
and by logging into my local council get get all the band off houses in my road

 

[cwhaley]

Yes but you live in posh Surrey House prices in our area are currently £60k lower than the UK average.

I was actually born a few days into 1991 and I've just remembered I have a bag of 10 local papers all bought the day I was born which will have house sales in there. I'll have a look this evening.

 

[motorbiking]

How much saving would you make a year if you were successful?

 

[cwhaley]

How much saving would you make a year if you were successful?

For our parish the difference between the two bands is about £250.

 

[IT Minion]

You can find the band of a property using the address quite easily. Can you find any other properties similar to yours in the same area that are Band A? Ignore any Bs or C's for obvious reasons.

 

[Ihavenojob]

For our parish the difference between the two bands is about £250.

And back dated to '91