Council Tax valuation

Council Tax valuation bands, new properties and completion notices.

Find out about how Council Tax bands are decided, how to register a new property for Council Tax and how and when we issue Council Tax completion notices.

Council Tax Valuation Bands

Uttlesford District Council is a billing authority which means that although we are responsible billing you and collecting your Council Tax, we don't set the Council Tax bands. All Council Tax bands are decided by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA).

Could Tax began on 01 April 1993 and there has never been a Council Tax revaluation in England. Therefore, Council Tax bands in England are still based on property prices as at 01 April 1991. The valuation bands of properties that entered the Council Tax list at a later date are based on what the property might have been worth if it had been in existence on 1 April 1991.

Band	Valuation as at 1 April 1991
A	Not exceeding £40,000
B	£40,001	to	£52,000
C	£52,001	to	£68,000
D	£68,001	to	£88,000
E	£88,001	to	£120,000
F	£120,001	to	£160,000
G	£160,001	to	£320,000
H	Exceeding £320,001

Any rise or fall in the property's value due to general changes in the property market will not be a reason for changing your band, so the listing officer will not accept an appeal purely on this basis. Recent purchase prices are not necessarily adequate evidence for appeal.

View current and past valuation bands by parish

Appealing a Council Tax band

If you think your Council Tax valuation band is wrong, you need to contact the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), not Uttlesford District Council.

Appeal your Council Tax band (external link)

Whilst you are making an appeal against your valuation band you must continue to pay your Council Tax as it is currently set. If your appeal is successful, you will be entitled to a refund of any overpayment.

New Build Properties

Local authority revenues teams have a duty to refer properties in their area to the VOA to be entered on to the Council Tax valuation list. Once this has happened, the VOA make an assessment and assign a valuation band although they sometimes make an assessment without a referral from the council.

While we wait for the official banding, we will issue you with a provisional Council Tax bill based on a provisional band. This means that you can start making Council Tax payments sooner and avoid getting a large bill once you receive the official banding notification. The provisional band is an estimated band based on the market value.

Once decided, if the official band is different to the estimated provisional band, we will adjust your Council Tax bill and instalments accordingly. If you would prefer to wait for the official band before making any Council Tax payments, please email us at valuationteam@uttlesford.gov.uk and we will remove the provisional charge.

If you have purchased, rented or occupied a new build in the Uttlesford District Council area, please complete an online form to tell us that you have moved into or within the district.
If you are a developer and have completed or sold a new build property, please email us at valuationteam@uttlesford.gov.uk to provide the address, completion date and market value. If you have sold the property, please also provide the names of the new owners and the date that the sale completed.

Council Tax Completion Notices

A Council Tax completion notice is served when the local authority identifies that a newly constructed or converted property is either already complete or believe that the outstanding works can be completed within 3 months. For the purposes of a completion notice, the new property can be either newly constructed or created by conversion or alteration.

The completion notice is served on the owner and the date provided on the completion notice is the date that the property will be entered into the valuation list. Council Tax completion notices are issued in accordance with Schedule 4A of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 and Section 17 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992.

A completion notice must always be served in advance and no more than 3 months prior to the completion date set by the council. This means that the property may not already be complete on the day that the completion notice is served but it is capable of completion by the completion date.

A completion notice cannot be backdated, even if the property has been complete for some time.

A new, converted or altered property does not require a completion notice to bring it into the Council Tax valuation list once it is occupied and these cases, the date of occupation will be used when referring the property to the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) for entry onto the Council Tax list.

If you disagree with the completion notice, your right of appeal is directly to The Valuation Tribunal Service (VTS) and you must appeal within 28 days of the date of service.

Completion dates

To ensure that we make the right decision case by case, council officers carry out periodic site visits to review the progress of building and alteration works. During the site visit a report is completed and anything of note is photographed.

The council consider a property to have reached a stage of substantial completion when it meets the following criteria:

The basic structure is complete with all external walls and roof in place.
Internal walls are built but not necessarily plastered.
Floors are laid although the screed or topcoat of concrete need not have been laid.
Services such as water, gas, and electricity should be laid to the site.

In these circumstances a completion notice will be issued with a completion date set for within 3 months of the date of issue.

In cases where properties have reached an advanced level of completion, for example where ceilings are in place, walls have been plastered and the second fixing may have commenced, the completion date will be shorter than for properties that we consider to be substantially complete.

For properties that are clearly complete and capable of habitation, the completion date will be set for a matter of days allowing only for the correct service of the completion notice either in person or through the normal course of the post.

No consideration is given to the following works when considering if a Council Tax completion notice can be issued:

Internal decoration of the property, including the fitting of internal doors.
Final fitting of bathroom and kitchen units.
Final fitting of electrical fixtures, plug points and switches.
Final connection of water, gas, and electricity.

The criteria for determining completion for the purposes of Council Tax are substantially different to those required to achieve building control completion so the absence of a final building control certificate is irrelevant when considering whether a Council Tax completion notice will be issued.

Appealing a Council Tax completion notice

If you disagree with the completion notice, your right of appeal is directly to The Valuation Tribunal Service (VTS) and you must appeal within 28 days of the date of service.

Council Tax bills and discounts

The date shown on the completion notice will be the date used in calculating any Council Tax charges and a Council Tax bill will follow shortly after the completion date has passed.

If the property will be unoccupied and unfurnished on the completion date, you can apply for a 50% discount for a period of up to six months. In some cases, the discount may have already been awarded on the assumption that this will be the case. You must always tell the Council Tax team at Uttlesford District Council of any changes or as soon the property is sold, let, occupied or furnished.

Should you choose to appeal the completion notice to the Valuation Tribunal Service (VTS), you must pay in accordance with Council Tax bill issued to you until the outcome of your appeal is known.

Penalty

If your Council Tax bill indicates that an exemption or discount has been granted and you think it is incorrect, you must contact the Council Tax team at Uttlesford District Council within 21 days of when the bill was issued to tell them. You must also tell us about any change of circumstances that may affect your eligibility to claim the exemption within 21 days of the change. If you fail to do so, you may be issued with a penalty of £70.

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Council Tax valuation