Council Tax Cost Cutting: reduce your band and grab any discounts Discussion Area

Cheryla · 24 October 2017 at 10:43PM

I have recently asked for my council tax banding to be looked at. I am the only one that is an F (all the others are Es with a few Ds in my post code. All the properties are identical or very similar to mine. I have evidence that my property sold for under £120k in 1993 along with a property 2 doors away (identical to mine) having there banding dropped from F to E in 1993. The VOA officer hastened my banding is correct given house prices were on the decline form 1989 so mine would have been worth over £120k in 1991 for which he has no sale to support. I therefore asked for a case number so could appeal to which he replied I could not appeal as I had paid tax on the property for over 6 months. I am going to complain to the VOA and write to my MP but wondered if anyone could tell me is this correct regarding the appeal as I am aware of the people who have appealed that have been in their properties over 6 months. (i have lived in mine since 2006) Thank you

lincroft1710 · 25 October 2017 at 1:49PM

sirmixalot wrote: »

Hello, my property is a new build which I brought for 368k in November 2005. The older property has a much larger garden and went for 440K In December 2006. Sorry it's a bit over a year as I reserved it while it was being built (I was thinking of the moving in date). I'm not to fussed about the price difference. - I am glad it's more obviously - but I'm more interested in the fact that it's a very good match for the number of rooms and size ( 10 square metre over two floors so around five square metres per floor) and it's in the lower band.

Prices were on the increase in that period of time. But what is concerning me more is the fact your band was increased over 10 years after you bought the house. Bands aren't normally increased unless there is very good (possibly exceptionally good) evidence for such an increase. Did the VOA say why they had increased the band.

Finally, 10 sq m difference can easily bring 2 houses into 2 different bands, e.g 155 sq m house sells for £155,000 in Apr 1991 = Band F, 165 sq m sells for £165,000 also Apr 1991 = Band G. I should also point out that VOA attribute very little value to large gardens.

lincroft1710 · 25 October 2017 at 2:05PM

Cheryla wrote: »

I have recently asked for my council tax banding to be looked at. I am the only one that is an F (all the others are Es with a few Ds in my post code. All the properties are identical or very similar to mine. I have evidence that my property sold for under £120k in 1993 along with a property 2 doors away (identical to mine) having there banding dropped from F to E in 1993. The VOA officer hastened my banding is correct given house prices were on the decline form 1989 so mine would have been worth over £120k in 1991 for which he has no sale to support. I therefore asked for a case number so could appeal to which he replied I could not appeal as I had paid tax on the property for over 6 months. I am going to complain to the VOA and write to my MP but wondered if anyone could tell me is this correct regarding the appeal as I am aware of the people who have appealed that have been in their properties over 6 months. (i have lived in mine since 2006) Thank you

VOA are correct that you are well out of time to appeal, it is pointless writing to the VOA or your MP to complain about this. In the area I worked prices dropped by about 20% between 1991 and 1993, so if yours had sold for £100,000 in 1993, it would still show a value in excess of £120,000 in 1991.

I would suggest you ask VOA why they have reduced the identical house and why they will not reduce yours similarly. However I suspect the answer you will probably get is that the other house was reduced in error. The answer to your next question is that bands reduced in error are sometimes not increased back up to their original band.

sirmixalot_2 · 26 October 2017 at 11:20AM

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Prices were on the increase in that period of time. But what is concerning me more is the fact your band was increased over 10 years after you bought the house. Bands aren't normally increased unless there is very good (possibly exceptionally good) evidence for such an increase. Did the VOA say why they had increased the band.

Finally, 10 sq m difference can easily bring 2 houses into 2 different bands, e.g 155 sq m house sells for £155,000 in Apr 1991 = Band F, 165 sq m sells for £165,000 also Apr 1991 = Band G. I should also point out that VOA attribute very little value to large gardens.

Hello, the reason for the re-banding is strange as some properties have been re-banded up, some larger have been re-banded down. I can't say too much as I suspect that will identify the development and feelings around here are running quite high sadly.

lincroft1710 · 26 October 2017 at 1:57PM

sirmixalot wrote: »

Hello, the reason for the re-banding is strange as some properties have been re-banded up, some larger have been re-banded down. I can't say too much as I suspect that will identify the development and feelings around here are running quite high sadly.

Sounds as if someone was either using a builder's siteplan which had been superseded or had wrongly identified the different house types

sirmixalot_2 · 26 October 2017 at 8:59PM

Not quite - it's a case of larger, more expensive properties going down a band and smaller properties going up a band if that makes sense!!!

lincroft1710 · 27 October 2017 at 2:00PM

I understand what you are saying, but there has to be good reason for the VOA to have done this which is what you need to ask them.

Cheryla · 31 October 2017 at 2:23PM

Thank you for your response, My MP is being very supportive and I am still pursuing this as I feel its just so morally wrong given all the compelling evidence I have to support my case. I will update you if I have any success

lincroft1710 · 31 October 2017 at 3:12PM

MPs will be "supportive", they want your vote at the next election.

Your MP will write a letter to the VOA and will receive one of 2 replies which can be paraphrased either as

1. The matter was under consideration and it had been decided to reduce the band

or more usually

2. The time limit in law for an appeal is well past. However I have again reviewed the band, but remain of the opinion that it is correct

If you think I am being cynical, I have actually replied to MP's letters when I was in the VOA. They don't know CT legislation or its machinations so when you reply quoting said laws, they don't pursue the matter.

Did you ask the VOA why they won't reduce your band in line with the other house?

Cheryla · 14 November 2017 at 9:16AM

I have asked them to look at the evidence that resulting in them dropping the banding in 1993 of the identical property to mine (2 doors away) as this would be relevant to my case. That was some two weeks ago and I'm still awaiting a response from the VOA and my MP. Interestingly my Mp sent a copy of the letter he received from the VOA that stated property indexes could not be used as evidence as they were too generalised and not region specific......that however is the only evidence my local VOA officer is using to support his case. Needless to say I have pointed this out to them in the email i sent 2 weeks ago. Lets see what happens

Council Tax Cost Cutting: reduce your band and grab any discounts Discussion Area

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