h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

And now they've decided to 'tax the rich' but re-evaluated house prices for the council tax. including new bands. And plans to re-evaluate the bands every 10 years or inline with increases. Thats means your poll tax, i'm sorry, coucil tax is going to go up. And of course, i bet they'll say, well, your house is now worth what a band D was worth when originally evaluated, so now you can pay the band D prices for a house that was band B.

I presume the idea is that if you have a house worth 75 grand (very common or so it seems looking at prices round here) then you is rich and can afford it. never mind you couldn't actually fit your family in a house worth less and have therefore HAD to mortgage yourself to the hilt.

Methinks they should have a look at what happened to heseltine before they go ahead with that one

Having read through this thread, all I can say is "thatnk Heavesn for living in Burton, which is Midlands enough for sensible prices, and grotty looking enough for cheap prices". I don't think I could afford to libe *anywhere* else- even with mine and the SO's wages....

A house worth 75 grand would be dirt cheap around here, in fact a 1 bedroomed flat would be too

At this rate my sons will never be able to afford to leave home!

I was gonna say, if I ever see a house round my neck of the woods fro 75k, I'm moving, instantly.

My two bedroom flat is estimated at 120,00 atm. But of course, no one would get a mortgage because of problems explained earlier...

I don't want them to reassess the Council tax! It's expensive enough as it is!

That is one of the reasons that a lot of my fellow council tenants will not take a new house - the council tax is very high! It pretty much forces people to not work.

Well i'd better not gloat that I got a detached 2 bed in the centre of town for that much then Did help the couple I was buying off were emmigrating to Canada (damn good idea, plan on doing it myself at some point) and had had a sale fall through so practically ripped my arm off when I offered them less than the asking price!

I think the council tax thing is gonna be a MAJOR isssue, it seems it is just 'leaking' out now. Anyone who commutes by train in the UK, it was in yesterdays, or the day befores, Metro paper.

It'll probably be in the Daily Mail then, I'll ask my mum.

I thought that council tax was based on the rateable value of your home, ie what you could get for it if you rented it out, rather than the absolute value of it - is that right?

And the bandings are relative to your area only so if you live in a lucky tory borough (like westminster) your cc will be really low even if you live in a band F property worth a million quid - while the folks up the road in a labour borough with a band c tiny box worth a quarter of the westminster place could actually be paying more.
Who said life was fair?

From the govt. Website
http://www.voa.gov.uk/council_tax/how_your_property_is_valued.htm

Quotes
"The basis of valuation for a dwelling which is not used for any business purpose is the amount which, subject to certain assumptions, it would have sold for on the 'open market' by a 'willing vendor' on 1 April 1991."

and

"England
Band A ... up to £40,000
Band B ... £40,001 to £52,000
Band C ... £52,001 to £68,000
Band D ... £68,001 to £88,000
Band E ... £88,001 to £120,000
Band F ... £120,001 to £160,000
Band G ... £160,001 to £320,000
Band H ... £320,001 and above "

Wales is different.

You should be able to see the valuation of your residence on the details if you bought after 1991, thats where i got mine from. It was valued / sold for 50 something and is thus a Band B, even tho it's current price would move it to the Band D. This is why i'm worried they will re-evaluate but not move the bands (how many will be in the band A then? Moss Side anyone?)

I am not convinced, because Westminster has the lowest council tax in London and yet it is one of the most expenses to buy a house. According to those numbers they would all be in band H. I am pretty certain the banding is specific to your area...

No the banding is universal - the amount each council charges for each band is what changes.

So Westminster and Wandsworth are able to set low values for each band as they do not substantial funds on top of the central government grant because they have sold off the majority of their services to minimum wage rate or worse employers so keeping the costs to the council low. They also have a significantly lower level of social problems because of the demographics of their areas and require much lower levels of the labour intensive services.

That would explain it then.

So in most areas in the south east bands A to D will cease to exist if they re-evaluate the houses there. Will we see a massive improvement in services for the massive hike in prices? I doubt it

Looks like my tiny flat (no garden, kitchen I can touch both side walls at once in, 1 and a half bedrooms, small small small) will be in band F. How do continue to work in and around London while commuting from cumbria every day (and paying road tolls and fuel tax or excessively high rail fares for unreliable services).

That is ludicrous!

That's what got me worried. I HOPE they will see sense and re-adjust the banding as well. But then that would mean having a government thatsees the population of this land as people and not a cash cow. Fat Chance is, i believe, the correct term.

I really am starting to wonder when the crunch will come. We seem to be having increasingly more of a load to bear, but see nothing for it. I wonder where it's all going.....

Dont want to worry you any more, but the likelyhood is that before the end of the year we will also see interest rates rising!

The economy has to start slowing down. Of course this not only means problems for those lucky enough to be on the property ladder but also those who have been spending on credit.

isn't something like the average debt is 15K? seems very high to me but I guess that includes those on massive saleries who borrow huge amounts? Oh, and apparently the highest borrowing group is the late 20s / 30 something carear woman. However, I get the feeling that these stats are london biased.

I'm very glad that I've got used to saving for most of what I want!

And the sooner the prices come crashing down, the better. Let's leave another round of young yuppies with negative equity.

Glad I did the sensible thing when I bought and didn't over extend myself. That was a few years ago too so (fingers crossed) will be ok. I hve some friends that really pushed themselves to get bigger places in better areas but they must be really worried now.

When you get a mortgage the advisor always fills out a projection of what you will pay at the current rate but I really think they should be forced (by law) to demonstrate the effect of interest rises to several points above the current rate to make people really think about what they can afford. With prices so high first time buyers particularly are reaching further and further to get on the ladder and they will have real problems if they haven't planned for this.

With any luck rates won't go far past 7%. Really don't want to see the 15%+ nightmare again

"And the sooner the prices come crashing down, the better. Let's leave another round of young yuppies with negative equity"

Hoping you didn't really mean that Linda, not a nice thing to wish on anyone.

Yeah, thats why I got one them there flexible mortgages, I'm putting every spare penny i can into it so whent he hike comes I'll hopefully be able to tide myself over. With any luck I'll be able to re-mortgage at a fixed or capped rate as well. Still, clever plans usually have some fatal flaw in them, so we shall see.....