we bought an extended house thinking the council tax would be x, almost immediately after moving in we get a letter saying its being reviewed, lovely..
I live in Greenwich and I extended my house massively in 2005 but my council tax has never changed
I've done the same, but the point is that there has been no "relevant transaction" to trigger the review. When/if you move, the purchasers will get hit with a banding review.
The rules regarding no increase in rates banding due to improvements until you sell your house has been on place for years. I'm surprised your solicitor didn't ask about any improvements and the effect it may have on the rateable value. In any event the solicitor should have made sure the relevant planning and building regs had been met and there were certificates from the council confirming everything about the extensions was kosher.
yeah all that done, just no one flagged the council tax would likely be reviewed, I will tell them to eff off of course if they up it and go through that review procedure for the whole neighbourhood but i doubt it will make much difference
You could ask your solicitor for some money back on the grounds that you may not have bought the property if you had known the rates would be reviewed, and possibily increased substantially. The fact they did not tell you of this indicates they weren't worth the money they charged, as they did not look out for your best interests.
Same here. Moved to a property that had a big loft conversion about five years ago. A week after moving in got a letter saying our council tax will be reviewed. Filled in forms, waiting response. Find it ridiculous that someone can add a two story extension creating extra rooms, live in it for twenty years getting the benefit of it but not have to pay for that extra space.
It's all to do with the original valuations and then following governments (of all colours) bottling reorganising the banding of homes.
If you have any work done on your property, the authority will be aware.
I think of you look on the valuations website you can see how the houses in your area are banded and I think, I may be wrong, there is something on there about a change in band if the property is sold.
EDIT yep, it's on the VOA website and has an indicator against any improvement.
This happened to me, moved up a band :-( Contested with VOA and independant tribuneral. Lost on both counts. very close call between D and E bands. Who did they favour? You guessed it.
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I had to fill out a form on how many rooms we had etc and was worried and then it came back and no change.
No idea what the Council Tax band is as yet as it's a new house.
If you have any work done on your property, the authority will be aware.
I think of you look on the valuations website you can see how the houses in your area are banded and I think, I may be wrong, there is something on there about a change in band if the property is sold.
EDIT yep, it's on the VOA website and has an indicator against any improvement.
http://www.voa.gov.uk/cti/InitS.asp?lcn=0
Contested with VOA and independant tribuneral.
Lost on both counts. very close call between D and E bands.
Who did they favour? You guessed it.