Domestic rateable values

Does such a thing exists since Council Tax came in .?

Stuart

Yes. According to my water supply company, for properties that were built before 1989 and do not have a meter then charges for water supply, wastewater and highway drainage are based on the rateable value existing on March 31st 1990. The rateable value for my property is 125 GBP.

Phil A.

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My property was council tax band C when the council tax was introduced a few years later. The water board reckon the rateable value is 306, which seems very high for a band C property.

I know the council tax is based on the value and the rateable value is based on what rent you get for it, but it seems other similar band C properties round here have much lower rateable values.

If the ratable value is the same as used in 1990, then that 1990 value would have been notified at the time and subject to appeal then. If no appeal made then, it stands. You knew or could have found this out when you purchased and adjusted your offered purchase price accordingly if appropriate.

If the valuation is excessive compared with similar properties, you can probably save money by having a water meter installed.

I know I can't appeal against the rateable value set by the valuation office.I just want to make sure the water board are using the correct rateable value.

Which is why I want the valuation office, the council, or someone other than the water board, to confirm what the rateable value was.

Does the valuation office or council not have to keep archives going back to

Probably not. No reason for the Council to keep them. Valuation Office would probably need to retain them for several years, but is unlikely to be obliged to keep them for 15 years.

Well, *someone* must be obliged to keep them *forever*.

For instance it is customary in Scotland for the title deeds to flats to stipulate that the cost of common repairs be divided up amongst the individual flat owners in the proportion which the rateable value of each flat bears to the sum of the RVs of all the flats in the block.

The councils still have microfiches which can be consulted by the public, which hold the Rvs since the last time they were updated, i.e. just before the poll tax came in.

As an aside, it's interesting to note that in the case of blocks in which the ground floor "flats" are actually shops, the RVs of the shops are disproprtionately large compared to the domestic properties in the block. So if you live in a block with shops, your roof repair bills will be much lower than if you lived in an otherwise equivalent flats-only block, because the shops will carry the lion's share.

The Councils in question probably recognised a continuing public need for this information so may have kept it. It may only however be a moral, not a legal obligation. Just because some title deeds refer to RV's would not seem to impose an obligation on an organisation not concerned with the titles to keep information for ever. In the absence of RV's, the title is not frustrated, the owners would have to agree among themselves on how to split the bills up, if need be obtaining mediation or even going to court. In any event, 15 year old RV's may be regarded as no longer relevant especially if major renovations, etc havebeen done.