Flats or Houses to rent or buy in the London Borough of Bromley

For specific information on this borough, or to contact individual departments please click here to visit their website.

London Borough of Bromley: http://www.bromley.gov.uk

In General:
The London boroughs are administrative centres responsible for collecting local taxes (Council Tax and Business Rates) and then spending the funds received on local services. They are run by Borough Councils who are elected by borough residents on a four year cycle. The totals that they spend will depend on the rates of tax that they levy plus funds allocated from central government and other sources.

While many of the services (schools, roads, planning, rubbish collection and social services) are standard, levels of provision will vary according to the overall political will as expressed by the voters.

Your tax liability (as a resident) will be based on the council tax band of your home. These bands are set by Valuation Officers and there is scope for appeal. The rate bands are then used to determine the amounts of tax levied. So, while the bands will remain largely constant the levels of tax can go up and, in theory, down.

You may claim discounts or exemptions based on your circumstances. For example, as the only adult in a property you can get a 25% reduction on your bill. Other reductions are available for qualifying second adults and Council Tax Benefit claimants.

There is more information available at the HM Customs & Excise website.

Bromley is London's largest borough, its affluent authorities have frequently sought to be recognised as part of Kent, not as a suburb of greater London. To the north of the borough is Crystal Palace Park and the once fashionable Victorian villas and terraces of Anerley and Penge. Detached 1930's houses with gardens start to take over further east on the outskirts of Bromley and Beckenham, giving way again to handsome Victorian houses and stockbroker-belt mock-Tudor around Chislehurst. Further south, roads of well-kept semi-detached and detached houses in Hayes, Petts Wood and Orpington are fringed by the woods and commons of the villages of Keston and Farnborough.