Council Tax appeals
Challenging your Council Tax property banding
Each property has been allocated to one of eight bands according
to its open market capital value at 1 April 1991. This affects the
amount of Council Tax paid on the property. 
Council Tax
bandings are not set by Allerdale Borough Council, they are set by
the local Valuation Office in Carlisle.
There are only limited occasions when taxpayers can
challenge their banding and these include:
- Where there has been a material increase or
material reduction (explained below) in the dwellings value
- Where you start or stop using part of your
dwelling to carry out a business, or the balance between domestic
and business use changes
- Where the Listing Officer has altered a list
without a proposal having been made by a taxpayer (your appeal must
be made within six months of the change being made by the Listing
Officer)
- Where you have become the new council tax payer
for a property and you disagree with the valuation list entry (your
appeal must be made within six months, but if the same appeal has
already been considered and determined by a Valuation Tribunal, it
cannot be made again.)
A material increase in value may result from building,
engineering or other work carried out on the dwelling. In these
cases revaluation does not take place until after the sale - so the
person appealing would usually be the new owner or resident.
A material reduction in value may result from the demolition of
any part of the dwelling, any change in the physical state of the
local area or an adaptation to make the dwelling suitable for use
by someone with a physical disability. In these cases revaluation
should take place as soon as possible.
If you wish to challenge your banding or for more information on
the process, please
contact the local Valuation Office (external link).
Appealing against your liability to pay Council Tax
You may also appeal if you consider that you are not liable to
pay some or all of your Council Tax bill.
Examples might be because you are not the resident or the
owner, because the property is exempt, or that there has
been a mistake in calculating your bill. If you wish to appeal
on these grounds, please use the convenient
council tax liability appeal form (preferred method),.
Alternatively contact us using one of the methods to the left
of this page or write to us at Allerdale Borough Council,
Allerdale House, Workington CA14 3JY so that your case may be
reconsidered.
Making an appeal does not allow you to withhold payment of tax
owing in the meantime. If your appeal is successful you will be
entitled to a refund of any overpaid tax.