Council Tax in South Ribble

[Spitfire]

Frank, South Ribble is nearly always a lower figure than Preston, that`s why I tend not to knock them. Considering the fiscal restraints put on them by Westminster - I think they tend to do a pretty good job.

[Spitfire]

I received my Council tax statement this morning and the amount requested bears out what I said in my previous posting. A £5 increase on my direct debit, considering the restraints placed on the council by Westminster, is - in my view, quite a reasonable increase these days.

[noel]

Mine was similar but it's still too much. My water bill is £561, so just over £2000 for the two bills.

[Ant]

Does anyone have a Band A home in South Ribble?
If so what type of a house is it?

Mine is Band B but I think it should be A. Its a small 2 bed mid terrace.

[Spitfire]

Hi Ant, A basic guide is as follows.

In England

Valuation band
Range of values

A
Not exceeding £40,000


B
Exceeding £ 40,000 but not exceeding £ 52,000


C
Exceeding £ 52,000 but not exceeding £ 68,000


D
Exceeding £ 68,000 but not exceeding £ 88,000


E
Exceeding £ 88,000 but not exceeding £120,000


F
Exceeding £120,000 but not exceeding £160,000


G
Exceeding £160,000 but not exceeding £320,000


H
Exceeding £320,000


I say `basic` because certain factors could cause the house to fall into an adjacent band. There is a case quoted concerning a pair of semi`s, where one had had an extra bathroom installed - causing the joined houses to be in different bands.

[Smithy]

Mine is Band A in South Ribble - rented one bedroom bungalow in a 'sheltered' complex for retired residents.

In reply to a query from Frank...Council Tax does depend on number of occupants to an extent, in that if only one occupant then there is a 25% deduction in Council Tax.

[noel]

Those valuations were made about 18 years ago I think.

[Ant]

Thanks for the reply on bandings, but it's really out of date.
That was the reason I asked about other peoples bandings.
Smithy, your home is exactly what I thought would class as Band A but I was wondering whether mine would creep in there!
The value of a house is completely wrong to the bandings they work off.

[anacortesdamp]

Despite all the initial claims that council taxes would not be based on property values, they obviously are.

In our county, we have a tax that is also based on value. The County Assessor's people go around every two years and re-evaluate the value of homes, including the land on which they sit. The tax the owner has to pay is then based on that value.

There are quite a few items making up the total - basic county tax, local hospital bonds, local "extra" school expenditures. In the counties immediately surrounding Seattle, they have extras for local transit agencies, major capital expenditures on new sewage processing plants and similar things.

Our house and the land it sits on are appraised at about £170,000. This year our "council" (actually the county) tax is £1200. In addition, we get hit by the City of Anacortes for garbage collection, recycle collection, water (metered), sewer flow (based on the water consumption) and street lights at about £38 a month. We also have our garden waste picked up every week for about £12 a month.

Rather than using "bands", they actually calculate the tax, down to the nearest dollar, based on the assessed value of the property.

A relatively rare feature in our county is that, whenever a house is sold or re-financed, whatever the appraised value for sale purposes is recorded with the county auditors becomes the value for tax purposes.

We've refinanced our present house twice in the 8 years we've been here. The first time was to extract some of the equity realised by rapid escalation in house values. The second time was to take advantage of very low interest rates. We have a mortgage with a 4.875% interest rate that was fixed for 30 years. I was 64 at the time, but that wasn't an issue with US lenders, as they are the prime debtor in the event of the death of the borrower, and the property is usually worth a lot more than the outstanding debt.

Not being able to get similar financing in the UK is a major drawback to repatriation.

I guess we're pretty fortunate compared to current UK lending practices.


Frank

[Spitfire]

quote:

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Originally posted by anacortesdamp

.

Not being able to get similar financing in the UK is a major drawback to repatriation.

I guess we're pretty fortunate compared to current UK lending practices.

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Frank, I`m not sure what information you base that on. Marjorie and I did just that when we were into our mid 60`s. The value of the property far outweighing anything that we owed.
I have to add that the current climate may well have changed considerably since the problem of sub-prime lending in the States has affected our mortgage industry.