How the garden charge is calculated
The garden charge is calculated in the same way as the main
Council tax charge. This means that the higher the Council tax band
of your property, the higher the gross garden charge (that is: the
charge before any discounts and such like) will be.
Council tax properties are valued in one of eight Council tax
bands from A to H.
These band values are assessed by the Valuation Office Agency of
the Inland Revenue based on what your property might have fetched
on the open market in April 1991.
The Council tax and garden charges for each band are worked out
as a proportion of the charge set for band D, which is the standard
band.
The following example shows how this works:
Table 1
| A |
up to and including £40,000 |
6/9 |
£719.42 |
£57.42 |
£776.84 |
| B |
£40,001 - £52,000 |
7/9 |
£839.31 |
£66.98 |
£906.29 |
| C |
£52,001 - £68,000 |
8/9 |
£959.22 |
£76.56 |
£1,035.78 |
| D |
£68,001 - £88,000 |
9/9 |
£1,079.12 |
£86.12 |
£1,165.24 |
| E |
£88,001 - £120,000 |
11/9 |
£1,318.93 |
£105.26 |
£1,424.19 |
| F |
£120,001 - £160,000 |
13/9 |
£1,558.73 |
£124.40 |
£1,683.13 |
| G |
£160,001 - £320,000 |
15/9 |
£1,798.54 |
£143.54 |
£1,942.08 |
| H |
over £320,000 |
18/9 |
£2,158.24 |
£172.24 |
£2,330.48 |
In order to calculate the band D garden charge, the charge from
which all the other charges are derived, the Council must first
calculate the number of band D equivalents for each garden.
The number of D band equivalents is calculated using a snapshot
of data for the garden area on a given date. This calculation takes
into account the total number of properties linked to the garden
within each Council tax band and then reduces this figure by the
number of discounts, exemptions and disabled reliefs that apply,
before adjusting the resulting figure for estimated losses on
collection and changes to the number of D band equivalents during
the year (for example bad debts and reductions and increases in
Council tax bands).
A simple example of how the band D equivalent would be
calculated for single band H property (excluding any allowance for
losses on collection) is as follows:
1 x band H = 18/9 = 2 band D equivalents
However, if this property had a second home discount (a 10 per
cent reduction), it would equal 1.8 band D equivalents:
1 X band H = 18/9 x 90 per cent = 1.8 band D equivalents
therefore, the more discounts, exemptions and disabled reliefs
applied to properties within a garden, the more the band D
equivalent figure will be reduced.
Once the levy amount is known and the total number of band D
equivalent properties has been calculated, the band D garden charge
and all other garden charge bands can be calculated. So if the levy
for the example garden was £18000 and the number of band D
equivalents was 209, the band D charge would be:
£18000/209 = £86.12 (as shown in Table 1 above)
Visit the Garden
Squares page or email us at: Ltclient@rbkc.gov.uk
for more information on garden squares.