RESIDENTS of a retirement home complex in Emmer Green say they have been overpaying council tax to the tune of thousands of pounds.
Lyefield Court, off Kidmore End Road, comprises 30 two and three-bedroom apartments and was valued initially in council tax band C, before being moved to band F in 1995. An appeal was launched in 2007, but rejected by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) of His Majesty’s Revenues and Customs.
The current band F rate set by Reading Borough Council is £2,774.81, while band C is £1,707.57 – a difference of £1,067.24.
Malcolm Geater, 88, who lives in Lyefield Court with his wife, said: “It’s crazy, all the properties around us are all lower than us. There are homes that are newer and larger than ours which are in the lower as well. All these [in Lyefield Court] are flats. It’s outrageous.”
He said a merger of two properties was undertaken in the 1990s, creating a six-bedroom home, and this could have triggered the re-evaluation which neighbours in smaller properties have been stuck with.
Mr Geater said: “I appealed against the judgment, and they asked questions which I could not answer at the time. They sent someone up to measure the property but that didn’t change their minds.
“Another person appealed but they got turned down as well.”
The two properties merged in the 1990s have since been divided again.
The issue was raised to the Local Democracy Reporting Service by Cllr Simon Robinson (Conservative, Emmer Green).
He said: “Any idiot could tell there’s an issue here. It’s unfair, it’s unjust and it has cost an awful lot of money for the residents. It’s time the council tax band was changed.
“It is the valuation office that is responsible but they are proving a bureaucratic nightmare refusing to admit a mistake was made.
“This has not only cost the residents a great deal in paying much more than they should have done it has also severely impacted the ability to sell their properties with such a high council tax evaluation.”
Cllr Robinson has called for the VOA to apologise, re-evaluate the tax band down and provide compensation to residents.
A VOA spokesperson said: “We carefully consider various factors including a property’s size, character and location when determining the appropriate Council Tax band. Each valuation depends on the facts of the individual case, and we explain the reasons behind our decision to the customer.
“We assess properties to place them within a Council Tax band. As each band includes a range of values, a range of different properties can fall within the same band.
“All the information about how Council Tax banding works and how to challenge your band can be found online at https://www.gov.uk/council-tax-bands.”
Neighbours can challenge their tax band if they think it is incorrect. Challenges have three outcomes, resulting in the tax band going up, down or staying the same.
