Council tax oddities

[bergclimber34]

Am looking at buying, rented for far too long sadly.

Am very confused and alarmed by the variance and apparent randomness of council tax banding. It seems to make little sense.

I rent a large 2 bed flat with a garage in a nice area, band A lowest band..

Looking at a flat today 50% share, basically a flat in a huge flat complex, band B, half the size living space.

Have seen 1 bed flats to rent band C even, that is craziness.

Do you think there was collusion between builders and councils in some cases, as some of it has no relevance to location, size of flat etc, I know you can challenge it, but you will only win if it is obvious your band is different to others nearby, hence the collusion query.

[smokey mow]

No

Council tax is primarily calculated on market rate so a developer would need to be underselling at below market rate for there to be any adjustment in the band.

It’s not in the councils interest to undervalue as any shortfalls in payments would need to be found elsewhere in their budgets.

[bergclimber34]

So, how does one explain why a 2 bed flat with a garage in a more affluent area outside town, is a lower band than a 1 bed basically what would have been hi rise 30 40 years go, less affluent area. Makes no sense to a layman sorry, unless you are trying to make as much money out of owners as possible, aha, there we have it, regardless of our st guidelines, all the 500 flats here are band B, or you don't build them

[ARH]

bergclimber34 said:

So, how does one explain why a 2 bed flat with a garage in a more affluent area outside town, is a lower band than a 1 bed basically what would have been hi rise 30 40 years go, less affluent area. Makes no sense to a layman sorry, unless you are trying to make as much money out of owners as possible, aha, there we have it, regardless of our st guidelines, all the 500 flats here are band B, or you don't build them

Because of the value of said property when it was valued. If it was valued when flats were cheap compared to houses that may explain it.

Also if a property has been extended it will not be subject to a new valuation until it is sold, It could then be subject to a big increase if it was doubled in size.

[C Lee Farquar]

Mine was dealt with by the Valuation Office, nothing to doing with the District Council who dealt with the planning.

[The Three D Mucketeer]

The whole of Council Tax is a complete cock up.. based on house valuations of 1991 ..... Maggie Thatcher had it right with POLL Tax paid on an individual basis ... since individual use services .... but tossers objected

[borcy]

Yes i think it's the valuation office that set the value. The councils collect the money.

[tim0409]

In Scotland (where I live) new builds are being hit with really high bandings compared to similar older properties. We recently sold a new build (we hated it), which was the second highest band (G) despite it being a fairly run of the mill four bedroom box, albeit in a nice area, and the combined CT and water was nearly £4k per annum. We built our last property before that, which was in a really nice area and worth considerable more than the new build when we sold it and it was band F. It was assessed when we built it in 2009.

[RacingStripes]

Its all to pot, I bought an extended 3 bed semi and it was band A. Put 2 extensions on it, one out the back and one above the original extension to add a 4th bed and en-suite. Sold it in 2024 and it was re valued at.........band A.

[bergclimber34]

That is absolutely insane it really is. Not because of the luck you had, but the size of the house,I have seen one bed apartments in a grotty sthole part of town at Band C ffs