newusername
Well-known member
They said that there are similar houses on a lower band, not that their property/area has changed.
Middlesbrough unpaid council tax
- Thread starter Johnnyweetabix
- Start date
The_Lizards_Jumpers
Well-known member
They didn't mention the area had changed, but given the suggested criteria many areas could be argued as "changed". However:-
If you think your band is wrong
You can also challenge your Council Tax band if there have not been any changes to the property recently but you think the band is wrong.You’ll need to provide supporting evidence showing why you think your property is in the wrong band - for example, details about properties that are similar to yours but in lower tax bands.
newusername
Well-known member
Yep, & you've got six months to lodge an appeal when you move into the property.
If they moved in in 2022 they are now out of time to appeal.
Juninhoburger
Well-known member
Yeah, looks like this is correct.
I'm in Band D whereas next door are Band C. Probably should have challenged it at the time tbh.
Checked with my wife and edited as I was sure we were in Band F. Obviously way overpaid for this house lol
TheLodger
Well-known member
You can challenge anytime. You can appeal within 6 months of a decision on your challenge.
newusername
Well-known member
You can challenge within 6 months of moving and then you've got 3 months to appeal their decison.
The information is on the link you shared.
ThatFragranceGuy
Well-known member
They will have to increase it pretty much every year, and probably the maximum until something changes.
The Tory's have underfunded councils for years - Stockton gets something like £100m a year less than it got in 2010, think what a council can do with 100m a year.
And it's not just reducing the funding - they added the adult & social care burden to councils, and when they set council budgets they build in an assumption that councils will max out the increase for social care in budgets so if councils don't increase council tax by that amount, they've got to fund it from elsewhere.
Then consider that inflation has been high, but even when it's 2-3%, if they increase by 5% that's only a 2% gain, but when inflation was 9%? It's going up but they're getting less spending power due to inflation, and their wage bill goes up as they're a big employer.
Posting executive wages is a red herring. These are large and complex businesses, you can't get someone in on 35k to run a council and be responsible for 300m spending. It's the same with charities, the responsibility and impact is huge, pay peanuts get monkeys. The 100k saving is swallowed up in 2 pothole repair schemes. It's much bigger than that. The good people would just leave and work for private firms with less responsibility and cash bonuses instead.
This is why we are seeing councils going bust or warning they are deleting reserves. And it's why places like Stockton are doing stuff like the globe and the Hilton, because once the costs are out of the way they should be annual income streams.
So don't be surprised when council tax goes up each year, because it will, it's been designed to and it's the perfect system because it deflected blame from the government itself and put not at the councils doorstep. Long gone are the days of 2% rises, and councils can rarely afford to do under 5% because they don't have the money to fund it. Anything above 5% requires a local referendum, and how will that go down? How many would vote for more council tax? Even if it's needed it would be rare. Yet everyone acts like councillors are rolling in it - they're treated worse than dogs online and get 7-10k depending on authority, plus expenses which no one dares claim due to scrutiny and the cost implication.
sadgit
Well-known member
When it was the poll tax my brother and I were left to live in a house in linthorpe, parents both left and went their own ways. d*ckhead father paid the mortgage, but we had to pay the bills. I was a student, brother on the dole. They were threatening to send the bailiffs round as we just couldn't afford it. It went to court and thrown out as the council had made a calculation error. I feel for people who genuinely cannot afford to live, been there.
ThatFragranceGuy
Well-known member
Check Rightmove sold prices on your street for floor plans etc and compare to yours - epc cert site also lists approx square meter size. Sometimes houses look the same but are bigger inside, wider or been extended etc
House next door to ours is about the same size and we are E, they are D but they've built a big extension and was originally smaller. Theoretically an improvement indicator is often applied which means when it is next sold it will be rebanded but not always. Beyond that it's down to what the value was when it was built which is then compared to market value in 1991 which is a barmy way to do it, so depends if next door was built at same time as yours or rebuilt or yours was rebuilt and so on. If next door challenged theirs the whole street would be rebanded if similar properties - but that has worked in the reverse direction too - imagine those people weren't very popular after kicking that off
Rofesleg
Well-known member
You might be in the right band and all the others are wrong, so they'll then move them all up the way.
Making you the most hated man on the street, but a legend within the Council's Finance Dept.
TheLodger
Well-known member
The basic councillor allowance in Middlesbrough is £7,600, the lowest in the country never mind the TeesValley. We have just refused another another "Independent" increase in allowances because the council don't have the money. No councillor claims expenses in Middlesbrough.
We are on our knees, we are slowly reversing the mess Preston left behind, but it means all the things we'd like to do for the people of Middlesbrough will have to wait and that includes work on paths, roads, the town centre, grass and green areas, it's just what it is sadly.
We are on our knees, we are slowly reversing the mess Preston left behind, but it means all the things we'd like to do for the people of Middlesbrough will have to wait and that includes work on paths, roads, the town centre, grass and green areas, it's just what it is sadly.
The_Lizards_Jumpers
Well-known member
Yeah yeah yeah, but when are we getting our monorail that Preston promised?
It put North Haverbrook on the map.
Unravel_Morrison
Well-known member
Thats about the laziest trope going. If you lost your job would you pay off your mobile contract?
I got made redundant in March last year but had only worked there for 18 months so didn't get any payments. I had been pretty comfortable paying my way, bills etc but because of the way the system works I didn't get any money for 2 months. I had to borrow money to see me through while I looked for a job and funnily enough having my mobile phone helped with that.
Unravel_Morrison
Well-known member
Apart from the built in unfair nature in which money is collected, finish the following sentence......
'Council tax bands in England (.......
'Council tax bands in England (.......
sherlock
Well-known member
Bargain. £243 a month for us!
Unravel_Morrison
Well-known member
That seems fair. Alan Sugar pays 30% more than you.
newusername
Well-known member
Just had a look on that jobs in middlesbrough link
I successfully appealed my council tax band about 20 years ago.
For some reason mine and another property in the street were on a higher band than the rest.
All the properties were identical so I dont know how this was originally assessed.
Anyhow I got all the over-payment back.
It was pretty easy to do if I remember rightly.
For some reason mine and another property in the street were on a higher band than the rest.
All the properties were identical so I dont know how this was originally assessed.
Anyhow I got all the over-payment back.
It was pretty easy to do if I remember rightly.