Council Rates Rip Off?

I was having a whinge on Fa*****k about the extortionate council rates I was paying of nearly $300 (£150) a quarter which worked out at over $3 (£1.50) a day. It seems a lot to borrow a library book, go to a swimming pool, have someone collect your garbage and maintain the local roads.

My brother who lives in Macclesfield (someone has to ) chimed in saying he would pay my rates if I paid his. He said his rates worked out at £5.85 ($12) a day.

Is this true? are UK rates really that high?

We are always being told that economies of scale lead to cheaper rates and I suspect the UK councils have much bigger populations than here and perhaps some council business is carried on by the state government here (funded by GST revenue) but even so paying four times the rates seems unbelievable to me.

NB: I liked Macclesfield when I visited a couple of years ago

Re: Council Rates Rip Off?

In Mendip, ours is £50 p m, baring in mind I live in a tiny bungalow 53 sq metres with no parking.

Re: Council Rates Rip Off?

My rates are £99 a month and that is with a 25% single person reduction.

We have one street light the village, the road is a no through road and in very poor condition, there is no public transport but I do have a lovely view

Re: Council Rates Rip Off?

Meg, what a lovely view. I sympathise with you as our rates are the same with the discount too. People in the country areas here get much cheaper rates than we in the suburbs so you should get cheaper rates too.

Re: Council Rates Rip Off?

Mine work out at £3.04/day for a modest semi, but it's not about what we as individuals get it's about all that a council is legally responsible for.

Re: Council Rates Rip Off?

Ours work out at £5.49 per day, but we also pay a service charge which is £3 per day too so before we pay rent or mortgage just to live here we pay £8.49 a day. NMW is £6.31 per hour so that's more than an hours work just to hand to the council.

Re: Council Rates Rip Off?

Mine works out at 2.73p a day which isn't bad. I just remembered although I pay £99 a month it is by DD in ten monthly instalments .

So that isn't too bad really compared to others and includes a levy to the Hills Conservators who manage the hills and common land.
This entitles me to a subsidised permit to use the car parks on the hills but I don't get one preferring to go to the quiet secret areas where no one else parks .

Re: Council Rates Rip Off?

That is an interesting comparison Julie. I had to look up the minimum wage to see what it is here - currently it is $16.37 (a bit over £8 p/h) for full time work or $20.30 (£10) for casual workers. It is amended every six months I believe. It would therefore take 12 minutes work for someone on minimum wage to pay my rates.

Very few workers get the minimum wage because most jobs have an award which defines rates and conditions but unfortunately some do (mostly cleaners and casual labourers) .

Having read what people have written here I shall stop complaining about my rates (well, not for a while anyway ) though I have to say I don't understand why UK rates are so high.

Re: Council Rates Rip Off?

Because land, rent and mortgage rates are so high Bruce.

Re: Council Rates Rip Off?

My Rates (which includes water rates) works out at around £2.20 per day - I think that's quite good value for what we get.