I write this week with a personal victory! I have recently appealed our Council Tax band and won. We live in a farm bungalow with an Agricultural Occupancy Condition (AOC), also known as an ag tie. Our Council Tax bill has always seemed like it was a lot of money, so a couple of months ago I decided to look in to the banding of the property.
Some information below taken from the MSE website, that you can access in full by clicking here.
Many homes are in the wrong council tax bands, and have been since 1991. In 1991, in time for the launch of its new council tax system, the Government needed every property in the land to be put in a valuation band. But time was short, and the job large, so the people in charge asked estate agents and others to help. Yet even with all the estate agents’ help, they didn’t have time to get the detailed information together, so they set about doing it quickly by pairing up and driving down countless streets, allocating each property a band with just a glance.
Many years passed, and still nobody came to rescue the poor valuations in England and Scotland, though the Welsh Government reassessed all homes there. So the flawed old valuation still dictates much of the kingdom’s banding, which is why you could be paying more than your neighbour even though you live in exactly the same size property.
Whilst there are many houses in the wrong band, my story is specific to the reduction in value of the property because of an Ag Tie. I researched the value of the property as it is today, this is my job, but if you need help with doing this, please do get in touch. Then I looked at what the value of the property would have been in 1991 using industry data. I determined that if the property didn’t have an AOC, then the valuation would have been correct.
However, AOCs can reduce the value of a property by up to 40%, depending on the character and situation of the property. Generally a reduction of one third is commonly used to consider the reduction in value for an AOC on a property. This is of course a matter of opinion. Based on the reduction in value for the AOC I believed the banding was incorrect.
I applied to the Valuation Office (VOA) with all my supporting documentation and they determined that I was correct, and the property was incorrectly banded. Going forwards, we are in a lower band, so our monthly payments have decreased AND they have paid us a lump sum back payment for the 3 years that we have lived here and over paid.
Please note that with regards to back payments, strictly one has to apply within the first 3 months of living at a property to qualify for back payments, but in some situations, such as ours, they can use their discretion to make the back payment.
If you live in a house with an AOC and think that your banding might also be incorrect, do get in touch as we can assist with the valuation and procedural aspect of the application.
Blonde Ag Advisor 