Many of us check we are paying the right amount of income tax and national insurance (and if you don’t, then you should!) but we don’t always think to check that our council tax is correct as well…
Contesting Your Council Tax Band
If there has been a change that affects your property, or you think your banding could be wrong, you can submit your challenge of your council tax band with the Valuation Office Agency (England and Wales) or to an assessor based in your local Valuation Joint Board or council (Scotland).
Change that Affects the Property
If one or more of the following applies, you can propose a new council tax band
- Your property must have changed, e.g, by being split into multiple properties
- Your property’s use must have changed, e.g, you now use part of it for business purposes OR
- Your local area must have changed physically, such as a new road being built
Removing Your Property From the Council Tax List
You can apply for your property to be removed from the council tax list if any of the following apply to it:
- It has been demolished
- It is derelict or in serious disrepair with serious structural problems
- It is undergoing major renovations which affect all or most of the property
- It is now being used as a business and is no longer a domestic property
If your property is removed from the council tax list, council tax no longer needs to be paid on it. If your property is undergoing major renovations, the property will be re-banded when this work is complete, and council tax payments will start again after the work’s completion date.
Incorrect Banding
You may also simply believe that your council tax band is wrong, even if there haven’t been any recent changes to the property. If you choose to challenge your council tax band, you will need to give supporting evidence of why you think it is wrong, such as details of properties that are a similar type, size, age and style as yours in the same area of yours, that are in a lower council tax band than yours.
You can check your neighbours’ council tax banding using the government website. Council tax bands are based on how much a property was worth on 1stApril 1991 (in England and Scotland) or 1st April 2003 (in Wales). Therefore, if you bought your house after 1991, you should estimate what it was worth in 1991.
Once you find out the rough worth in 1991, you can then compare this to the council tax bands at 1991 property value, helping give an idea of what band you should have been put in based on the 1991 value. Taking these types of steps can help give a rough indication as to whether you may be in the wrong council tax band.
Those living in England can check what information about your property the Valuation Office Agency holds, e.g, the property type, age, floor area, room number, number of floors, etc. Making sure this is correct can allow you to highlight incorrect information held about your property and also help identify any properties nearby that are similar to yours which you can then check the council tax banding on.
For more information on challenging your council tax, please visit the government website or check out Money Saving Expert’s guide.