Your house, when completed and assessed for council tax would have its value back dated to 1991 to put it into the correct band. That is, the VOA (Valuation Office Agency) if this house had been built in 1991, it would have sold between £88,001 and £120,000, therefore it is Band E.
The system has many flaws, including the fact that similar houses, even back in 1991, varied in price across the country so there is geographical discrimination. The vast majority of properties in Stoke-on-Trent are in Bands A-D so most households will receive the £150 big cash prize. I guess a much smaller proportion in London and the South East will receive it. Yay, levelling up.
Similarly, the assumption is that people living in a higher banded property are automatically wealthier. Generally that will be the case, particularly if they have recently bought the property (or even took on a lease/tenancy as rents reflect value). But an elderly person could have bought many decades ago, whilst earning a decent wage, but now struggling on just a state pension, or a reduced private pension due to pension fund scandals, or following a divorce where wealth including the pension may be split, or they inherited a large house but not cash wealth to go with it eg house to son, cash to daughter.
Band | Value at 1 April 1991 |
A | up to £40,000 |
B | £40,001 to £52,000 |
C | £52,001 to £68,000 |
D | £68,001 to £88,000 |
E | £88,001 to £120,000 |
F | £120,001 to £160,000 |
G | £160,001 to £320,000 |
H | more than £320,000 |