Appealing the Valuation Office Agency

[willbish]

Looking for any advice on challenging the Valuation Office for Council Tax banding.

I had a call back from the valuer who dealt with my property this morning, I asked a lot of questions...

Was told to just submit an appeal, no evidence needed as it is a recent valuation and so it would get looked at again. In more depth.

Was told EPC's are not an accurate way of determining size of property and so are not used

Google maps are not used to determine size of dwelling or scope of alterations

No site visits are made 

Despite each tax band having a very specific property value, eg Band F £120k - £180k . No figure is reached when determining the value of the property.
So not possible to know if you are just inside the band, or comfortably in the middle.

From what I could find out, only 2 forms of information are used:

- plans from the planning portal, in my case hand drawn and although beautiful the accuracy cant be anywhere near as good as CAD.
- sold prices 

No consideration is given to adjoining property, in my case semi detached neighbour is Band B, Ive just been given F
 

 

Unfortunately the gentleman I was speaking to made his excuses to end the call, with many questions unanswered

Is the curtilage of a property considered?
eg Small house, large curtilage with outbuildings etc could that have a similar value to a large house on a tight plot. 

When looking at local houses to demonstrate Im in the wrong band, is it a waste of time looking at houses that haven't been valued recently and have had lots of extensions?
Should I just be looking at new builds and newly valued?

 

I read on the forum previously that highly insulated properties with thick walls, mine nearly 500mm, was a good point to raise as floor area is reduced compared to older style build methods, is this still true?

 

 

Edited November 8, 2022 by willbish

[nod]

They normally just go off the market value 

[ProDave]

Our first house I appealed the valuation.  I was asked to "provide some evidence" so I scoured recent estate agents adverts for similar sized properties and submitted several examples of similar sized houses in a lower band.  the VOA countered by submitting several similar sized properties on the register in the higher band.  I agreed i would go to appeal.

 

I had my case prepared and was ready to stand up and present my evidence.  The day before the hearing the VOA phoned me to offer me a lower band.  they clearly did not want to attend.

[billt]

Council tax bands are rated on the deemed property value in April 1991. (They were supposed to be revalued avery 10 years, just as the rates were, but haven't been in 30 years - too much of a political hot potato.)

 

To get an idea you need to find properties of a similar market value to yours and compare. Council tax valuations are full of inconsistencies.

 

(Market value has no particular relationship with size, energy efficiency etc although the area around the property and outbuildings could affect the value.

[dpmiller]

can't say for GB but the Rates valuation in NI goes by floor area *including outbuildings*. I'm paying dearly for a shed...

[Susie]

outbuildings do count as does amenity land which is a vague description of in my case a field I can use for exercise or growing produce etc as opposed to general gardens. you are assed on internal useable sq feet so yes thickness of walls should be taken into account. 
Comparing with similar properties is useful but beware it is difficult for example a house with a large extension should only be reassessed when sold, not when the extension is completed hence why estate agents don’t all say the council tax band or put a caveat in the wording. 
 

some use full links below. 

 

https://www.gov.uk/challenge-council-tax-band

 

https://www.n-kesteven.gov.uk/_resources/assets/attachment/full/0/4717.pdf

[Gone West]

I have twice successfully challenged a Valuation Office banding. The first time I was prepared to go to appeal and then received a letter, few days before the appeal date, agreeing my banding request. The second time I wanted a banding two below their decision, and we compromised on one below.

[bmj1]

We challenged our council band successfully, here is how we did it:

 

1) We scoured for sold comparables using propertydata.co.uk (Evaluate > Comparables). £14 for a 1 month subscription

2) We used Zoopla to check specifics of the property (bedrooms, bathrooms) to see if it was a suitable one for our challenge (it took some trial + error, but we eventually narrowed down to a few good examples)

3) Through trial + error we found 7 examples of properties within a 2 mile radius of our house that had sold for more than we bought our house for (implying a higher valuation was likely in 1991), that had a lower council tax band. We also ensured that they met the following criteria:

a) Same type of house (i.e. detached)

b) Internal Area in sq meters equal to or higher than ours

c) Number of bedrooms equal to or higher than ours

d) Number of bathrooms equal to or higher than ours

e) Parking equal to or better than ours

f) Plot size equal to or better than ours

 

It was actually very straightforward, and by presenting the data clearly in a table (see below), it was easy to make the case that our house was misbanded..

 

I hope this helps. Good luck