What council tax band is my property?
Council tax bands are set by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) based on estimated property values as of 1 April 1991 — not current market value. Leeds City Council then sets the annual charge for each band.
Leeds rates for 2026/27#
| Band | 1991 value | Annual | Monthly (10) | Monthly (12) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Up to £40,000 | £1,514.34 | £151.43 | £126.20 |
| B | £40,001–£52,000 | £1,766.73 | £176.67 | £147.23 |
| C | £52,001–£68,000 | £2,019.12 | £201.91 | £168.26 |
| D | £68,001–£88,000 | £2,271.51 | £227.15 | £189.29 |
| E | £88,001–£120,000 | £2,776.29 | £277.63 | £231.36 |
| F | £120,001–£160,000 | £3,281.07 | £328.11 | £273.42 |
| G | £160,001–£320,000 | £3,785.85 | £378.59 | £315.49 |
| H | Over £320,000 | £4,543.02 | £454.30 | £378.59 |
These charges include the West Yorkshire police and fire precepts. Skelton Gate is in an unparished area, so there’s no parish or town council and no parish precept on top. Your local representatives are the three ward councillors for Garforth & Swillington, and your MP for Leeds East.
Leeds collects council tax in 10 monthly payments (April to January) unless you ask for 12 (April to March) — how to pay. Rates change annually — check Leeds Council Tax for the latest figures.
Check your band#
Our Property Data page lists the VOA band for every banded home on the estate. If yours isn’t there yet, use the government’s Check your Council Tax band tool.
Just moved in and no band yet?#
New builds often aren’t banded immediately — the VOA can take 6–12 months to assign a band after you move in. In the meantime:
- Register with the council anyway — register for council tax as soon as you move in; you won’t be billed until the band is set. If you’re moving from elsewhere in Leeds it’s a change of address rather than a new registration, and you can file it up to two weeks before your move-in date.
- Put the money aside — when the band arrives, your first bill is backdated to your move-in date. Check what identical homes pay on our Property Data page and set aside that monthly amount from day one, so the catch-up bill isn’t a shock.
- If it’s been more than a year, chase it — that’s outside the usual range. Contact the VOA through the Check your Council Tax band service, since the longer it runs the bigger the backdated bill when it lands.
Think your band is wrong?#
It’s worth checking, particularly for new-build properties, which are sometimes assigned a provisional band. The process is:
- Check comparable properties — our Property Data page includes the house model for each property. Filter by your model to see what band other identical homes on the estate have been assigned. If yours is higher than properties of the same type, you may have grounds to challenge.
- Contact the VOA — start a formal Check at gov.uk/challenge-council-tax-band. This is free and done online.
- Challenge and Appeal — if the VOA doesn’t agree after the Check stage, you can escalate to a formal Challenge, and beyond that to an independent Appeal.
Timing matters. If you’ve been paying council tax on the property for less than 6 months, you can submit a formal challenge outright; after that you’ll need supporting evidence for the Check stage — so if the band looks wrong, act soon after moving in. Decisions officially take around 28 days, but residents have waited up to a year, so don’t read anything into a long silence.
What happens if your band changes. Corrected down, you’re refunded what you overpaid. Corrected up, you pay the higher amount from then on only — unlike a new build’s first banding, it isn’t backdated.
Think about your neighbours first. A challenge can prompt the VOA to review similar properties nearby, and their bands can go up as well as yours coming down. On a street of near-identical homes, that’s worth weighing before you start.
MoneySavingExpert’s council tax band guide walks through the comparison checks in more detail.