FINANCE
Know your band
EXPERT COMMENT
Councils are having a tough time of it at the moment with many on the brink of bankruptcy. Increasing council tax is one way in which they can try to keep their heads above water, but during a cost-of-living crisis it’s a bitter pill to swallow for residents. There’s also such a vast discrepancy between one area of England and the next. A true postcode lottery. We have to feel for the people of Croydon, for example, who are facing almost a 20% tax increase in just two years. In the past year, the borough’s average rate has risen by a staggering 13.9%, or £273.90, bringing the current price up to £2,240 and councillors are considering another 5% increase for the year 2024/25. Thurrock in Essex has seen a rise of 9.4%, and Slough an increase of 9.3%. Anyone who is worried about being able to afford rising taxes at a time like this might want to consider checking whether or not they’re eligible for a tax refund. It’s not just the self-employed who could be owed money by HMRC, and you can back-collect for up to four years, so it’s well worth checking out. You could be entitled to hundreds of pounds.
Council tax can be an overlooked price of homeownership and can cost you hundreds of pounds every month. Kay Hill looks at the ins and outs of this property tax
up more steeply for bands E to H. Wales revalued all its properties in 2003 and has nine bands, and is about to revalue again. For existing homes this is publicly available information, so you can look it up at tax.service.gov.uk/check-council-tax- band/search rather than relying on what an estate agent or homeowner tells you. Make sure that you click through to the full entry for the exact home and check “improvement indicator”. If the entry says “yes” that means that the property has been improved while the previous owner has been living there and it will be automatically revalued when the home is sold, usually going up to a higher band. If you are buying a new home, or buying off-plan, you will need to ask the developer to provide you with this information in writing. The band letter is only half the story,
There are so many important things to think about when choosing the location of your first home, such as public transport and schools, that one really important factor that can make a big difference to the cost of your monthly bills can easily get overlooked – council tax. There are two things you need to know about council tax that determine how much it will cost you. The first is what band the home you are looking at is in. Every home in England is graded from A (the cheapest bills) to H (the most expensive), based on the amount the property was worth (or would have been worth if it had existed) back in 1991. This value takes into account not only the size and amenities of the property, but also the layout, general character and location. In Scotland there are also eight bands, but the cost goes
Bradley Post, Managing Director, RIFT
98 First Time Buyer February/March 2024
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