Council Tax Banding Increase

[Thor]

The Valuations Agency - for 'tis they - have decided that my house, in which Mrs Thor and I have lived for 10 years, should be in band F and not band E.  And so we find ourselves suddenly paying several hundred quid more per annum 

Has anyone else had this happen?  Can they do this?!  Their view is that the house was wrongly rated when it was built and that other properties in the area have always been band F.

TIA

[robgul]

The VO seems to be a law unto itself as far as "valuations" are concerned ... I discovered that my house which is Band F appears to be wrong - within 50 yards there are 7 identical houses (and I mean identical, all built at the same time, all the same spec etc) and they are all Band E.

Working backwards to when we bought the house we appear to have overpaid in excess of £2,000 (i.e. the cumulative difference between E & F)

Correspndence is ensuing .....

Rob

[Thor]

See here for advice on your specific problem.  My problem would appear to be the reverse - i.e. I've been underpaying for years, so I suppose I may not have too much to complain about.

[vince]

I seem to remember a news report along these lines a couple of years ago. The couple who were out of pocket sucessfully persuaded the council to do a revaluation.

Unfortunately the council did so by revaluing the other houses on the street. I don't think he was very popular with his neighbours!

The VO seems to be a law unto itself as far as "valuations" are concerned ... I discovered that my house which is Band F appears to be wrong - within 50 yards there are 7 identical houses (and I mean identical, all built at the same time, all the same spec etc) and they are all Band E.
....
Correspndence is ensuing .....

Rob

[rafletcher]

We were one of two cottages in our terrace of 8 on a higher banding than the other 6. We appealed, nad VO agreed we were too high, but could have decided the others were too low.

On the bright side if you're "down-banded" you get the overpayment back for the period you've lived in the house. For us that meant a rebate cheque plus no payments for a year.

If you're "up-banded" they don't go after you for past underpayment AFAIK.

[Jasmine]

There was a mass revaluation in Wales about 2 years ago.  It was supposed to be a cost-neutral but I think significantly more houses went up than went down.  This was because they looked at the value of your house in 2004 and moved your band correspondingly.  The criteria for the band were unchanged so band A was still properties worth less than £44000 (in 2004!).  Most people I know went up at least 1 or 2 bands.  Seems bizarre that the house has been there 60 years but is now worth more in relative terms.     We were told in appeals that it was our hard luck.