Two sides of same street, but one has twice the tax
MANy residents of Hazelbourne road in south-West London live in the same attractive Victorian terrace houses. But one side of the street pays £1,502 a year in council tax for a band D property — and the other just £824.
this is because the side of the street with odd numbers sits in the Lambeth local authority area, and the other side is Wandsworth.
Michael Carter, 28, and his flatmates have to pay £1,850 a year in council tax between them for the flat they rent on the Lambeth side of the street.
He says: ‘it’s a bit like cutting the last carriage off a train. you’ve got to draw the line somewhere.
‘However, i do think it could be more of a steady gradient rather than such a steep difference in cost.’
Wandsworth resident Josh Beebee pays just £792 a year for his two-storey flat.
He says: ‘it is bizarre that there could be a £700 difference on the same street.’
But he would happily pay more for the service residents on the other side receive from Lambeth council.
Josh, 32, says he had to buy his own bins at around £40 each. And he says his side of the road often looks less well-kept.
Josh, who works in commercial property, says: ‘When i first moved here, i saw the saving as a real bonus.
‘But now, i’d much rather pay £300 or maybe £400 more to have the better service the other side of the street has.
‘some days our side of the road is just filthy with litter and they don’t empty our bins properly.’
Another resident told Money Mail it was ‘wrong’ that he should have to pay so much more than his neighbours.
the pensioner, whose council tax is £2,170 a year, says: ‘it’s illogical that one side of the road should pay so much more than the other. i’m sure they could have divided the boundary in a more sensible way.
‘i don’t see why they had to split it down one road.’
Michael, from Melbourne, Australia, who has lived in the UK for six years, also believes property owners should pay the tax and not tenants. He says: ‘in Australia, it is the landlord who pays the tax — and i think that makes more sense because they own it.
‘it’s just another cost stopping renters like me from being able to buy a place of their own.’
Meanwhile, finn smart, who has been renting a flat since september, did not realise that residents on the other side of the road paid less council tax.
finn, 22, did not know his council tax bill because it is included in his rent.
the finance worker says: ‘i just had no idea that the other side of the road paid less than us.
‘it’s just not something you would ever expect, for households on the same street to pay different rates.’