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

guppy

mariecc wrote: »

thanks Guppy and Maisie

I re did the m/wide keyed in my house as bought in 1994 and the Q1 1991 only problem is my house came out at £10,000 more in 1991.

I will try the route of papers and similar houses. It's just so laborious.

Many thanks for your help

Good luck, Marie. I think you might have a difficult job convincing the VOA with that one, but you have nothing to lose by trying.

frugalpam

frugalpam wrote: »

Just re-posting this - this time hopefully in the right place

Well, I've today written to the VOA asking them if they will do a reassessment of my council tax banding. I'm hoping I have a good case, but am wondering if I need to be gathering any other evidence together incase they turn me down and I want to appeal.
I'm in Band C, and feel I should be in Band B. According to the table in Martin's article, Band B houses in 1991 were valued between £40,001 - £52,000. I bought the house 6 years later in 1997 and paid £55500, so reckon it must have been worth quite a bit less in 1991 and therefore have fallen into Band B
I've got evidence of what I paid - both a Solicitors letter and also a copy of the HM Land Registry 'Transfer of Whole' document which shows the price paid for the house.
I've just bought a copy online of the transfer document from June 1988 from HM Land Registry, which shows that the house was sold for £30,650 i.e. 3 years before the bands were set.
I do think I have a strong case for being into Band B - what does anyone else think?

thanks
Pam

**bumping up thread**

Ningaloo

I have sat and read most of this thread and I am still a little unsure of my next move, can someone please give me a steer.

My home was built in 1993 and banded E. All similar homes on my estate are banded the same. Estate size max 10 houses.

Similar house on the next road, though older properties are bigger with more land and sell today for more money, are banded below at D.

I have done my homework re Nationwide site and that agrees that we should be band D.

I have emailed Persimmon Homes who are the owners of Beazer Homes - this is the company that built my home- asking if they have the sale price of the property as marketed at the time.

My query is...Am I going to stand any chane when my neighbours are the same band as me?

I am in a village where our council tax is already one of the highest in the country and I have to pay towards to the Parish Council too. Would I be able to get refunds from both?

If I am in with a chance I work near to a major city reference Library and will hunt out sale particulars and attach there council bandings to prove my case.

My worry is I might be seen as setting a precedent and that may be a bridge too far for them.

guppy

frugalpam wrote: »

Just re-posting this - this time hopefully in the right place

Well, I've today written to the VOA asking them if they will do a reassessment of my council tax banding. I'm hoping I have a good case, but am wondering if I need to be gathering any other evidence together incase they turn me down and I want to appeal.
I'm in Band C, and feel I should be in Band B. According to the table in Martin's article, Band B houses in 1991 were valued between £40,001 - £52,000. I bought the house 6 years later in 1997 and paid £55500, so reckon it must have been worth quite a bit less in 1991 and therefore have fallen into Band B
I've got evidence of what I paid - both a Solicitors letter and also a copy of the HM Land Registry 'Transfer of Whole' document which shows the price paid for the house.
I've just bought a copy online of the transfer document from June 1988 from HM Land Registry, which shows that the house was sold for £30,650 i.e. 3 years before the bands were set.
I do think I have a strong case for being into Band B - what does anyone else think?

thanks
Pam

Difficult to try and estimate a 1991 value from those sales. Prices rose a lot up until 1989, then they crashed and fell until 1994. Could the house have been extended or improved between the two sales? The Nationwide calculator doesn't show prices rising that much between 1998 and 1997. Of course it partly depends where you live too. Your best chance of a reduction is if you can find sales of similar properties nearer 1991. Good luck!

guppy

deslorna wrote: »

...My home was built in 1993 and banded E. All similar homes on my estate are banded the same. Estate size max 10 houses.

Similar house on the next road, though older properties are bigger with more land and sell today for more money, are banded below at D.

I have done my homework re Nationwide site and that agrees that we should be band D.

I have emailed Persimmon Homes who are the owners of Beazer Homes - this is the company that built my home- asking if they have the sale price of the property as marketed at the time.

My query is...Am I going to stand any chane when my neighbours are the same band as me?

I am in a village where our council tax is already one of the highest in the country and I have to pay towards to the Parish Council too. Would I be able to get refunds from both?

If I am in with a chance I work near to a major city reference Library and will hunt out sale particulars and attach there council bandings to prove my case.

My worry is I might be seen as setting a precedent and that may be a bridge too far for them.

Hello,

You're right to suspect the VO will strongly resist reducing the band if the street is all the same. It would make them look very silly and mean a big liability for the council. The good news is since the houses were built in 1993 the value at 1991 should be quite clear cut.

Unfortunately since the houses were brand new at the time they probably would have attracted a premium over similar older ones. For council tax they'd be valued as they were at 1993, not as they are now.

If Beazer don't reply you could try the Land Registry as others have been able to get pre-2000 prices by asking them direct. The Valuation Office should have the 1993 sale prices too. Frankly if they haven't got the banding right on a house sold in 1993 then you'd be entitled to question whether they could value their way out of a wet paper bag!

Assuming they're not undervalued though, you have nothing to lose by trying.

rs82uk

Hi There,
I have recently tried to get my band changed however I have just got a letter back saying that my band is correct and I cannot appeal I am tempted to take them to court, as it seems to me to be a case that someone is too lazy to do the job they are paid to do and actually investigate this matter properly.

I live in a small terrace of 10 houses, these houses are identical 2 up 2 down houses, they are all owned by the same landlord and his family have owned them for 25 years, so the houses can't possibly have different 1991 values.
All of the houses in this small terrace are band B apart from mine and one other that are band C there is no justifiable reason for this.

Can anyone tell me what I can do from here I am very angry about this as I do not see why I am paying more than my next door neighbour for the same house.

plodder73

Helo I am new to this board, could I ask a question tht will have been asked before but it is a long thread!! I have just had my house revalued from band c to band b with effect from 1993. I have only been in the house for 15months my two qusetions are. 1. I presume I only get a refund for the time I have been there? 2. What happens to the other amount can previous council tax payers claim it back. Apolgies one more for being lazy and not checking the whole thread,

aimo

i checked my house value in 1991 and it was about £100 over the limit for band b, so i'm currently band c. My house is detached and the other detached houses in my street are all band c, but the semi's are band b. would it be worth my while to try to cut it down to band b (how likely am i to be successful?), and is there any chance that it will go up? Thanks!

Big_Banny_3

rsootarsing wrote: »

Hi There,
I have recently tried to get my band changed however I have just got a letter back saying that my band is correct and I cannot appeal I am tempted to take them to court, as it seems to me to be a case that someone is too lazy to do the job they are paid to do and actually investigate this matter properly.

I live in a small terrace of 10 houses, these houses are identical 2 up 2 down houses, they are all owned by the same landlord and his family have owned them for 25 years, so the houses can't possibly have different 1991 values.
All of the houses in this small terrace are band B apart from mine and one other that are band C there is no justifiable reason for this.

Can anyone tell me what I can do from here I am very angry about this as I do not see why I am paying more than my next door neighbour for the same house.

Your case sound very similar to mine as all the houses round me were B and even the attached semi next door was and I was C My result was this
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=4644783&postcount=917

guppy

rsootarsing wrote: »

Hi There,
I have recently tried to get my band changed however I have just got a letter back saying that my band is correct and I cannot appeal I am tempted to take them to court, as it seems to me to be a case that someone is too lazy to do the job they are paid to do and actually investigate this matter properly.

I live in a small terrace of 10 houses, these houses are identical 2 up 2 down houses, they are all owned by the same landlord and his family have owned them for 25 years, so the houses can't possibly have different 1991 values.
All of the houses in this small terrace are band B apart from mine and one other that are band C there is no justifiable reason for this.

Can anyone tell me what I can do from here I am very angry about this as I do not see why I am paying more than my next door neighbour for the same house.

Its probably just a standard letter. Phone up and ask to speak to the person that dealt with your case. Ask them to fully explain and justify your house being in a higher band than the others.

Making threats about court to them will be counterproductive. They will have heard it all before. I very much doubt someone was too lazy to look at it at all, though that's not to say the band is right.

Best bet is to stay calm and simply ask for a more detailed explanation. If the explanation doesn't satisfy you then ask to speak to someone more senior.

If you genuinely feel someone hasn't done their job properly after all that, you should put in a written complaint. Ways and means etc...