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Completion Notices

Council Tax Completion Notices

Councils are required by law to issue completion notices in order to identify the day when the work remaining to be carried out on a new building (or a conversion) could be completed, and it becomes a dwelling for Council Tax purposes. A new or altered dwelling does not require a completion notice once someone starts to live there.

Where the work on a property is not yet completed, the completion date will be the date that Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council considers the work will be substantially complete. It is then entered onto the Valuation List maintained by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) with effect from that date.

Further information can be found on the VOA website www.voa.gov.uk

The process often involves site visits and the notice may be served up to three months in advance of the anticipated completion date with forming an opinion as to how long any outstanding works should take.

It is not necessary for such works as final installation of sanitary fittings, kitchen units, central heating boiler, internal decorations, fences, paths, road works and footway to be finished in order for us to consider the property to be substantially complete.

The process often involves site visits and the notice may be served up to three months in advance of the anticipated completion date with forming an opinion as to how long any outstanding works should take.

The Valuation Officer will enter the property on to the valuation list with effect from the completion date provided to him by WHBC.

How is a Completion Notice Served?

• By post, either registered or recorded delivery to the owner at his usual or last known address, or to an address supplied by the owner where mail should be sent or :
• In the case of an incorporated company or body, by delivering it or sending it by registered post or recorded delivery to the secretary / clerk at its registered office / main office or:
• Where the name or address of the owner cannot be found after reasonable enquiry, the letter can be addressed to "the owner", describe the building and be fixed to a conspicuous part of that building.

What is meant by "the owner"?

The owner in this case is the person entitled to possession of the building.

What can I do if I disagree with the date shown on the Completion Notice?

In the first instance, the officer who issued the notice should be contacted to discuss the situation, in particular why it is felt the outstanding work will take longer to complete than the date shown on the completion notice.

If after this you still do not agree that the outstanding work can be completed by the date shown in the notice, you may appeal to the Valuation Tribunal Service. The Valuation Tribunal Service is independent of the Valuation Office Agency, whose staff value homes and business properties for council tax and business rates. It is also independent of Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council.

Further information can be found at the Valuation Tribunal Service website.

The completion notice will normally state the date by which you should appeal. That will be within four weeks from the date the notice was sent. Appeals should be made to the Valuation Tribunal Service at:

Second Floor,
Black Lion House,
45 Whitechapel Road
London
E1 1DU

Telephone: 0300 123 2035
Fax: 020 7247 6598
Email: vtwhitechapel@vts.gsi.gov.uk

It must be made in writing stating the grounds for the appeal and should be accompanied by a copy of the Completion Notice that has been issued to you.

What is the position with the Council Tax Charge?

New properties, whether new or a conversion from an existing property which are unoccupied and substantially unfurnished are exempt for a maximum of 1 month from the completion day shown on the completion notice . After that , council tax is payable at 100 per cent of the occupied charge.