Listing Officer for Cornwall v Dannhauser

A listing officer may correct a council tax valuation band under regulation 3(1)(b)(i) where, on the evidence available when the decision is made, the dwelling’s correct statutory value indicates that a different band should have been determined. The evidence is not confined to material available to, or actually used by, the officer when the dwelling first entered the valuation list. It may include later sales and the tone of the list, provided it is capable of establishing the statutory value at the relevant valuation date. The power is constrained by the statutory valuation rules and is not a general power to alter a list on grounds of fairness.

The Listing Officer appealed on a point of law from the Valuation Tribunal for England’s decision allowing Michael Dannhauser’s challenge to the alteration of his property’s council tax band from C to D. The Tribunal considered that the listing officer had to establish that the original banding was mistaken by reference to evidence available to, or actually used by, the officer when the property entered the valuation list on 1 April 1993. It therefore directed that the property remain in band C.

The central issue was the evidence that may be used under regulation 3(1)(b)(i) of the Council Tax (Alteration of Lists and Appeals) (England) Regulations 2009 to determine whether a different band should have been determined.

1. Appeal allowed and matter remitted. The VTE applied the wrong legal test. The High Court could not determine the underlying banding appeal on the material before it, so the matter was remitted to the VTE.
2. Regulation 3(1)(b)(i) gives a listing officer power, and in the context of the continuing duty to maintain an accurate valuation list a duty, to alter a band where the officer is satisfied that a different band should have been determined. The decision must be rational and based on evidence.
3. The relevant inquiry is the dwelling’s value under regulation 6(1) of the Council Tax (Situation and Valuation of Dwellings) Regulations 1992, including the statutory assumptions and the relevant valuation dates. The officer must determine that value and identify the band into which it falls.
4. The officer may use any evidence available when the later decision is made that is capable of establishing the regulation 6(1) value. This is not limited to evidence actually used, or reasonably available, when the dwelling entered the list. It may include post-dating sales and evidence of the tone of the list. The passage of time may affect the weight of such evidence, but not its admissibility.
5. The reason for the original error is irrelevant. The power is not a broad fairness jurisdiction and cannot be exercised on grounds that an alteration is simply the right or proper thing to do.
6. On the remitted appeal, Mr Dannhauser bore the burden of showing that the listing officer could not properly be satisfied, by reference to the evidence available when the LO Decision was made, that band D rather than band C applied.

• High Court (Administrative Court): appeal from the Valuation Tribunal for England allowed; the matter was remitted for determination in accordance with the guidance in [2018] EWHC 3162 (Admin).