Council tax refund

KevIrving

We moved into our home a few years back, and as the previous owner had extended it, the Valuation office came and revalued the house for council tax purposes. As a result, the property moved up a band. Not happy, but what can you do?

We recently reviewed all local properties of similar specification to our own using the www.voa.gov.uk website. We were able to see that better properties than ours were valued in a lower tax band, and that we were obviously in the wrong league. We wrote to the VOA asking how to challenge our assessment of some years back. In short, the answer was that we couldn't do this, however they did agree to come out and re-value the property again.

The valuation chap arrived, took a look around, and advised that if we wished them to take anything specific into account then we should do so in writing and it would be considered with the re-valuation. We wrote explaining the comparative specification and valuation of a property 2 doors away, which is a lesser band but more extensive property than ours.

Top result, they dropped our property band down a level. Even better, they made it effective from the day we moved into our house. We've now received £1800 in refunded council tax and are awaiting the results of asking for a Water Rates refund. :beer:

If you think your property is wrongly rated, give it a try, but do your homework using their website and local knowledge of comparable properties. Be careful though - you must ensure that your property is over rated - you don't want to be reassessed and find that your rating goes up - that'll hurt! :eek:

sjw7_2

good stuff. How does this work? I have just had a look and a house two doors away that is similar in size to mine is two bands below ours. The site doesnt give that house an effective date though wich seems strange.

KevIrving

You could be onto a winner, if there is no 'effective from' date then the property hasn't been re-valued, so is probably with its original valuation and condition. This property will likely be a good baseline to compare yours with, my situation was similar- I was able to put up a case based upon an unextended property with original valuation, and compare how my property was not as good as this one, even though work has been done on mine. Properties with a blue 'i' next to them are up for re-valuation when the owner changes - these are bad ones to compare with as they've probably been extended in some way, and will probably go up.

Good luck.

moonrakerz

Would be grateful for a bit more info on your case - VOA office etc.

I recently discovered that the (identically built) house next door, which has had several owners and has been extended in the time I have been in my house is one band lower than me, a house opposite of similar size but with much bigger grounds is THREE bands lower than me.
I wrote to my local VOA Office (Swindon) who basically quoted the "6 month" rule at me and said "tough".
I am actually in the process of writing back to them, if I could refer to a precedent that could help my cause no end.
I estimate that I could have paid more than £2000 than the house next door (£254 this year alone) since Council Tax was introduced, I am NOT amused.

littld

Just managed to get a comparison from the website, which is interesting.

I am in C band, whereas most in the street are B.

My house does have an extension to the kitchen downstairs, but the same number of bedrooms. I figure the valuation would be pretty much the same as the other houses in the street.

Is it based on comparative valuation, number of rooms or on square footage?

KevIrving

Littld: I'm not sure how they go about assessing a valuation, certainly they measure the floor area, I'm not sure whether they take into account number of rooms, use of rooms, or general condition. You should certainly check out the other properties if you're able to determine whether they have a similar size extension as yours.

Moonrakerz: I obviously wish to keep some anonimity from the net so can't give you further details of my specific case - but we're not Swindon if this helps. Yes - we were told the out of time excuse too - perhaps try asking them directly for a new valuation survey, rather than appeal - that was the basis of our claim - we were years out of appeal time. When checking nearby properties - do ensure the ones you're comparing to do not have the blue 'i' symbol indicating a re-evaluation is due.

Rikki

I was told a year after I had moved in I could not complain because it should of been done in the first 6 months of me moving in.
Now 12 years plus I complained to the council and asked for the telephone number of their valuation office. I called them voiced my concerns and they came out and revalued my property, lowered my banding and back dated it to the April 1993 when the council tax banding was introduced.

bunking_off

I appealed and lost and was completely demoralised by the process (they simply had to find 3 properties in the same band of equivalent size that had sold within the relevant bands back in 1990 - ok, apart from the ones they chose were at the posh end of town and one of them had patently been bought by a mug who'd paid 30% more than the market rate at the time). I'm left with a house which is a band higher than the rest of the 100+ house estate that I live on...the perils of housebuilders tending to do mixed developments rather than 100 identical houses as in the past.

However, others have clearly succeeded so it's clearly a roll of the dice issue. It costs nothing, so go for it!

moonrakerz

Further to my post of 01/03. I wrote back to my local VOA and appealed against his decision (6 month rule -too late !).
I have received a much more hopeful response this time, a form to fill in for an appeal to the valuation tribunal.
Hope yet !

smartie1976

Result for me - just had a reply back this AM confirming I am indeed in the wrong band and being reduced (the entire rest of the street is an A, whereas i'm a .

I didn't phone anyone, I just e-mailed VOA and they passed my case to the local council.

If you are not getting any joy with VOA, contact council directly, although I found VOA customer service team extremely helpful (Jacky Sargent).

For anyone needing a contact at MANCHESTER VOA office please PM me and I can provide you with the Customer Services Managers e-mail.

KevIrving

Nice one, Smartie1976. If they back dated the evaluation to the properties last re-banding, make sure the council give you a refund of the overpaid tax. If you're unsure of the date,the VOA website will show this; you'll see both your original banding and your new one effective from the same date. :dance: