I've just signed up for one of the 3 bedroom semis on Park Grange Mount at Norfolk Park. I've tried the council tax valuation people, the council tax office and the Norfolk Park sales office, but no-one has any idea what council tax banding will apply to the property.

Some of the same houses on the site are already occupied so if anyone can tell me the band it would be much appreciated.

Thanks

We live in one of the two bedroom apartments on there and we're tax band A. It took ages to get sorted out though because it's a new build so the property had to be added to the valuation list before we could be charged!

i'm of the view that they are Band A too

I dont get how this works, band A is upto £40K (ish), all the properties up there must cost more than £90K so how can they be in band A.

From what I understand, council tax bandings are relating to the value of the property in 1991, when they were last valued. Therefore, a new build is compared to how much a similar size house/flat would have cost back in 1991. Our apartment is band A which like you said, means less than 40k because in 1991 that's how much you would have paid for a 2 bedroom flat.
You can see the problem with this method, which is why they are meant to be re-valuing properties again to bring things up to date.

Please someone correct me if I'm wrong, I was just as confused about it all!!

Council Tax Bands are based on what the property would have been worth at the time when council tax came into force (late 1980's, early 1990's?).

The bands are going to be re-valued in 2007- so enjoy the cheaper rates while you can!

Lib1

Thanks all - i'll hope for a band A then ! Thanks especially to LIB1 and BertieBasset who are keeping my interest in this forum.

Originally posted by Lib1
The bands are going to be re-valued in 2007- so enjoy the cheaper rates while you can!


The council will make a fortune, I bet most property is above £40K now, so if they leave band A ending where it does they can move everyone into band B/C and get more money from us.

Originally posted by Lib1
Council Tax Bands are based on what the property would have been worth at the time when council tax came into force (late 1980's, early 1990's?).

The bands are going to be re-valued in 2007- so enjoy the cheaper rates while you can!

Lib1

We were told that our house would only stay in band A for 3 years and this was the case with any new build. We have just entered our third year so we have been expecting the dreaded letter arriving.
I hope your right Lib1 :)

See the link below for details of the council tax revaluation:

http://www.voa.gov.uk/council_tax/ct-reval-2007/introduction-nov04.htm

I've been told that my new build wont be re-valued till 2007, but my place hasn't finished being built yet, so I'm in a diff situation to Vidster.

What is Norfolk Park like, we are thinking about going looking at one of the 3 bed semi's.

Why did you choose Norfolk over any where else???

Whats the area like??

Slightly off topic, but:

While I believe that the Council will take advantage of the situation to claw more money out of us, it is not automatic that re-banding will mean an increase.

The Council has a budget for £X million from Council Tax and it is distributed proportionally according to banding.
Moving everybody's value up by £20,000 does not suddenly entitle them to a budget of £X + 10 million.
In fact if everybody's valuation went up by exactly the same amount, our bills should not change.

What is possible, though, is that bigger properties will be increased in value by a higher percentage than smaller properties which will result in the Council Tax burden being heavier on the higher banded properties.

Sheffield has lots of green spaces and years ago the Duke of Devonshire used to own large parts of Norfolk Park, a lot of the large industrialists used to own very grand properties and the area was highly regarded....

That said, during the 1960s the council decided to build around 14 tower blocks in parts of Norfolk Park. During the 1980s and 1990s Norfolk Park had a bad reputation for crime etc because of the problems of Tower Block living.

A few years ago Sheffield Council decided to regenerate the area, they demolished all but one tower block, which is due to be demolished in April of this year, apparently in the last two to three years crime has fallen by 99% since the demise of the high rise flats.

Gleesons in association with a housing association have built a development off Park Grange Road. The council have also bought up ugly looking buildings like the Jervis Lum pub, and some old shops, as they plan to create a new shopping centre.

Norfolk Park is very close to the city centre of Sheffield, 3 tram stops, less than 5 mins by car. There are also some terrific views across Sheffield from Park Grange Rd, you see a birds eye view of everything in the city centre, places like Bramall Lane look awesome from Park Grange Road.

The area is on the up, other regeneration areas like Firth Park, Burngreave, Pitsmoor etc still have very high crime rates, however Norfolk Park seems to have got rid of its.

The council have recently built a new school and a retirement village further up the road.

One really interesting barometer for the area is that there used to be something called Queens Tower Squash Club. A developer bought this a few years ago, it was a listed building and he's spend shed loads refurbishing it and adding to it. If people needed any convincing about the direction of Norfolk Park's recovery they should look at what he's renting 1 bed flats out for.... £500 a month.

I understand Vidster and EmanGroovin live on the Gleesons development (hope they wont mind me saying this), but they'll probably be able to let you know more about what it's like to live on that development....

I saw in the Telegraph that they may offer incentives to purchase the last couple of plots.....Good luck with it, I've tried to a brain dump, but may have missed a few things.

Rgds

Originally posted by BertieBasset
I understand Vidster and EmanGroovin live on the Gleesons development (hope they wont mind me saying this), but they'll probably be able to let you know more about what it's like to live on that development....


For the last couple of weeks, I've lived on the Gleesons development too. I chose to move here for a number of reasons including price and ease of access to the city centre where I work.

One of the main benefits of living here is having the tram right outside, and being about 5 minutes ride away from the city centre. Since I moved here a few weeks ago, I've only used my car three times.

The area did have a bad reputation, but I don't think it's justified - while I've been here I've not seen any trouble or heard of any from my neighbours. This is deffinatly an area that's on the up.

PM me if you want more information - also so a search for Norfolk Park as there have been several other threads about this area.

There were several reasons why I chose Norfolk Park;

1. Price/value for money
2. House style
3. Location - near city centre/near friends family
4. Improvements to the area

I think the thing that swung it for me was the regeneration of the area. I've known Norfolk Park for years and it used to be a hell-hole, but it really seems to be a different place now they've demolished the high-rise flats and a lot of the old council houses. Norfolk Heritage Park is, in my view, the nicest Park in Sheffield now and clearly work to improve the area is ongoing and costing a lot of money.

I spent a few evenings walking around at 10pm at night and the area was quiet - certainly no dodgy characters around. I've also been there several times during the day and the estate looks relatively quiet and tidy (there seems to be a lot of nice cars on drives too).

I signed up about 3 weeks ago and there were only a few houses left then so my advice, if you are interested would be to go and see them sooner rather than later. I've bought one of the semi's so if you do buy one we'll be neighbours!

If you need anymore info then just pm me. I got a reasonable deal for signing up so if you are seriously considering buying one then try and negotiate.

Good luck with whatever you do,