What evidence the VOA accepts (and what it ignores)

The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) bands your home on its value on 1 April 1991 in England, or 1 April 2003 in Wales, so the evidence that helps is evidence about that date. GOV.UK asks for two kinds: similar homes nearby in a lower band, and sales from around the valuation date. Online estimates and house-price indexes carry little weight.

What GOV.UK asks for

• Similar homes in a lower band. For a band review, the addresses of up to five homes similar to yours in type, size, age and style, on the same street or estate (GOV.UK). How to choose comparables explains what counts as similar.
• Sales from around the valuation date. The address, price and date of sales between 1 April 1989 and 31 March 1993 in England, or between 1 April 2001 and 31 March 2005 in Wales. The closer to the valuation date, the more useful. A sale of your own home in that window counts.
• Changes to the property or the area, with dates: part of the home demolished, or a physical change nearby such as a new main road.

Plans, surveys and photographs help where the question is about the property itself. If a case reaches the Valuation Tribunal, it also asks for external photographs of the comparables.

What carries little weight

• Online estimates from Rightmove, Zoopla and similar sites. They're today's prices. GOV.UK says the VOA won't treat average house-price information from such sites as strong evidence.
• House-price indexes and calculators, including Nationwide's. The VOA says it "does not use property price indexes for information or valuations". An index can put a later sale in context, but it isn't evidence of value on its own.
• Sales outside the window. A 1997 or 2015 sale is further from the valuation date than the sales GOV.UK asks for, so expect it to count for less.
• What you've spent on the home, or what the bill costs you. The band is about the value in 1991. If the bill is unaffordable, Council Tax Reduction is the route.

Putting a bundle together

A clear submission usually has:

1. a short letter giving the address, the current band, the band you're asking for, and why;
2. a table of up to five comparables, with address, band, type, age, floor area and why each one matches;
3. any sales from the valuation window, with where you found them;
4. a note of any differences, such as an extension on one comparable, and how they affect the comparison.

Label anything that's an estimate as an estimate. The form guide covers what to send it with, and our £39 challenge writes this evidence into the email you send the VOA, from the data for your postcode.