Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many times the Valuation Office Agency has refused a request to change the council tax banding of a flat where the resident has compared their home to a lower council tax banded house of greater value, in each of the last five years.

The Valuation Office Agency does not centrally aggregate and record the data in the form requested.

When assessing a home for Council Tax banding purposes, the VOA will refer to relevant sales of comparable properties, look at the bands of other comparable properties in the locality and, when appropriate, consider any Valuation Tribunal decisions made on similar properties.

If there are very few comparable properties in the immediate locality, the VOA will consider comparable properties from a wider area, or properties which are similar in character but have some differences.

More information on how the VOA values and bands domestic properties can be found in the Council Tax manual which is published on GOV.UK. Statistics on Council Tax challenges and changes made to the England and Wales Council Tax valuation lists are published annually and can also be found on GOV.UK.