Council Tax Valuations and Appeals

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The Valuation Process

The Valuation of Domestic Properties was undertaken by the Listing Officer in conjunction with private valuers appointed by the Inland Revenue.  Each domestic property is valued on a capital value basis as at 1 April 1991 ( the antecedent valuation date ), and placed in one of eight Valuation Bands.

All domestic properties appear in the valuation list with details of the Band in which they have been placed.  The Valuation List came into force on the 1 April 1993.

The Listing Officer is responsible for making alterations to the list, and for notifying Billing Authorities of any alterations.  Alterations can only be made to the list for:

• Material increases in value combined with a relevant transaction
• Material reductions in value
• The dwelling has become or ceased to be a composite hereditament
• There has been an increase or reduction in the domestic use of a composite hereditament
• A property has been placed in the wrong Band and it is within 6 months of liability and it has not been subject to a prior Appeal.
• A Valuation Tribunal or High Court orders a change in Band

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Valuation Bands

All domestic properties are subject to the Council Tax.  There is one bill per property, whether it is a house, bungalow, flat, maisonette or mobile home.
Each property has been allocated to one of eight bands according to its open market capital value at 1 April 1991.
  Your Council Tax bill states which band applies to your property.

The relevance of the Bands is:
- They indicate the capital value range of individual domestic properties, and
The Band in which a property is placed has a direct relevance to the amount of Council Tax payable by individual Taxpayers.

Number of properties on Council Tax Banding list: last year 40,818 - this year 40,961
Each £1 of Council Tax at Band D will raise: last year £28,875 - this year £28,865

Table of Council Tax Bands (based on 1991 property values):

The relationship between each Band is indicated by the proportions shown in column 3 in the table above.  The relevance of the proportions is that the Billing Authority will set a Council Tax based on Band D and Taxpayers with proportions in the other Bands will pay a proportion of the Band D charge.

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Appeals about Banding

All Council Tax valuations are based on the price at which a property might have reasonably been sold on the open market on 1 April 1991, so they may not represent the value of the property in the current market.

Appeals are only possible where one of the following applies:

• You are a new owner or tenant, etc., of a dwelling, and you believe it is in the wrong band.
• You start or stop using part of your dwelling for business purposes, or the balance between domestic and business use changes.
• You believe the banding should be changed because there has been a material increase or reduction in the dwelling's value.

Note:
A material increase in value may result from building or other work carried out on the dwelling. (In such cases the revaluation does not take place until after a sale - so the person appealing would normally be the new owner or resident.)
A material reduction in value may result from the demolition of part of the dwelling; or as a result of a change in the physical state of the neighbourhood; or because the dwelling has been adapted to make it suitable for use by somebody with a physical disability.

For help and information about banding appeals and the role of Valuation Tribunals, please contact the The Valuation Office Agency.

Please note:  Making an appeal does not allow you to withhold payment of Council Tax owing in the meantime.  If your appeal is successful you will be entitled to a refund of any overpaid tax.

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Other Appeals

You may also appeal if you consider that you are not liable to pay Council Tax.

If you wish to appeal on any of these grounds you must first notify us in writing so that we have the opportunity to reconsider your case.

For help and information about appealing against your liability to pay council Tax, please contact us.

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