Appealing a Council Tax Band Decision: Evidence to Provide

GOV.UK says you can challenge your Council Tax band if you have a legal right to challenge, known as making a proposal, or if you think it is wrong and you do not have a legal right to challenge, known as a band review.

• Band challenge: for properties in England and Wales you submit your challenge to the Valuation Office
• Bill dispute: tell your council if your home should not be charged Council Tax, the bills are being sent to the wrong person, the amount is wrong, or it has not reduced the bill even though you think you should get a discount or exemption
• Appeal to the Valuation Tribunal: for a band decision, only if you had a legal right to challenge
• Appeal to the Valuation Tribunal: for a bill, if you disagree with the council's decision or do not hear back within 2 months

Not a ground for appeal:

• ✗No: You cannot appeal just because you think your Council Tax bill is too expensive.

You have a legal right to challenge your Council Tax band, known as making a proposal, if you think your band is wrong and you have been paying Council Tax on your property for less than 6 months, or the Valuation Office has changed your band in the last 6 months.

• ✓Yes: A change that affects the property: your property has changed, for example it has been split into multiple properties or merged into one
• ✓Yes: A change of use: for example, part of your property is now used for business
• ✓Yes: A physical change to your local area: for example, a new supermarket or main road has been built
• ✓Yes: Removal from the Council Tax list: if the property has been demolished, is derelict or in a state of serious disrepair with a number of serious structural problems, is undergoing major renovation work affecting all or most of it, or is now being used as a business

Not enough to have a property removed from the list:

• ✗No: You cannot have a property removed just because it is in poor repair

Our council tax bands guide explains how bands work and how to check yours. The Valuation Tribunal for England says the Valuation Office sets your council tax band and decides if your property should be shown in the valuation list at all. GOV.UK says Council Tax bands are based on how much a property was worth on 1 April 1991 for England and 1 April 2003 for Wales.

• The Valuation Office assesses properties to ensure they are in the correct Council Tax band
• It assesses some automatically, for example when a property has been made smaller or is newly built
• It also assesses properties when asked to do so, such as during a Council Tax appeal or band review
• You can check your Council Tax band in England or Wales on GOV.UK
• If it cannot get enough information to band a property it will arrange a visit, usually getting what it needs from outside, and photographs of the inside will not be taken without your permission

• New taxpayers: a person who becomes the taxpayer for a dwelling may make a proposal to alter the list, but not once six months has expired since the day they first became the taxpayer
• GOV.UK says you have a legal right to challenge if you have been paying Council Tax on your property for less than 6 months or the Valuation Office has changed your band in the last 6 months
• After more than 6 months with no recent change to the property, you can ask for a band review, which does not carry a right of appeal
• The listing officer must decide a proposal within four months beginning on the date it was served
• An appeal against the decision must be made within three months beginning on the date the decision notice was served, though a later appeal can be authorised where the delay arose from circumstances beyond your control
• GOV.UK says you normally need to appeal within 3 months of getting the decision in England or 4 months in Wales, and you may be able to get the time limit extended in some circumstances
• An alteration to correct an inaccuracy in a list as it was on the day it was compiled has effect from the day the list was compiled, except that where the band shown was lower than the one that should have been shown it has effect from the day the alteration is entered, and an alteration reflecting a material reduction in value has effect from the day the circumstances which caused the reduction arose

After a proposal, the listing officer decides whether the whole of it, only part of it, or none of it is well-founded, and if only part or none is, the listing officer may reach an agreement with you on an alteration in terms partly or wholly different from your proposal, or decide whether or not to alter the list.

• The Valuation Office assesses properties when asked to do so, such as during a Council Tax appeal or band review
• If a property has increased in size since it was first assessed, it may move to a higher band when it is next sold
• In Northern Ireland, an application for a valuation review may result in the valuation of your property increasing, decreasing or remaining the same

• Addresses for up to 5 similar properties in a lower band than yours, which should be the same as your property in type, size (number of bedrooms and total area), age, and style and design
• The similar properties should be in the same street or estate if you live in a town or city, or in the same village or area if you live in the countryside
• Sale prices of your property or similar properties, if the sales were between 1 April 1989 and 31 March 1993 for a property in England, or between 1 April 2001 and 31 March 2005 for a property in Wales
• For sales evidence you need to give the addresses, the sale prices and the dates sold, and the closer the sale is to the valuation date the more likely the Valuation Office will be able to use it
• For an appeal, normally the Valuation Office sends its evidence to you 6 weeks before the hearing, you must send your evidence to the Valuation Office 4 weeks before the hearing, and the Valuation Office sends both sets of evidence to the Tribunal 2 weeks before the hearing

Not strong evidence:

• ✗No: Average house price information from websites such as Nationwide House Price Index, Nethouseprices, Rightmove or Zoopla

GOV.UK says to tell your council immediately if you think your home should not be charged Council Tax, the bills are being sent to the wrong person, the amount being charged is wrong, or the council has not reduced the bill even though you think you should be getting a discount or exemption.

• The Valuation Tribunal for England says you can only appeal about your liability if your name appears on the Council Tax bill, and you can appeal if you disagree with the council's decision that your name should not be on the bill, that it has refused to reduce the amount you have to pay, or that it will not apply an exemption
• If you think the council's decision on council tax reduction is wrong, you may be able to appeal

Not something the Tribunal can decide:

• ✗No: The fairness of the council's council tax reduction scheme: the Tribunal can only decide if the council has applied its scheme correctly in your case

• Wales: Council Tax bands are based on how much a property was worth on 1 April 2003, and challenges go to the Valuation Office
• Wales: you normally need to appeal within 4 months of getting the decision, to the Valuation Tribunal Wales
• Scotland: you submit your challenge to an assessor based in your local Valuation Joint Board or council, and you can find a Scottish Assessor on the Scottish Assessors Association website
• Northern Ireland: your domestic rate bill is based on the capital value of your home on 1 January 2005, and you can apply for a domestic valuation review if you believe the valuation is incorrect and it has been more than 28 days since the property was last valued
• Northern Ireland: if it has been less than 28 days since the property was last valued you can appeal to the Commissioner of Valuation using an appeal form