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

sail_away

Hi,

I checked our council tax band (C) and found that 5 other houses in our street were in a band lower (B), and the valuation in 1991 was high, based on the what we paid for the house in 1998. I appealed on the VOA website, and a few weeks ago received a letter from the council informing me we would be dropped into band B, and would receive a refund for all overpayments since 1998. £1000+

SO IT'S WELL WORTH CHECKING!

Dribble_2

Zebedeee wrote: »

Hi chocogirl,

Sadly, the house price calculators hold no water with the VOA. You need to find actual house price sales for 1991. You can do this by going to your local newspaper's property pages archives, often to be found at a local library on microfiche. Sounds like hard work? It is, but its the only way. There was a house-price slump in the mid-90's and its hard to extrapolate where yours would have been in 1991, so you are going to have to find some hard evidence.

Hope that helps!

Zebedee

Quite right,Zebedeee....... but it's likely they would kick even these figures out as just 'asking' prices. To get ACTUAL sales figures from some dusty cupboard of a surveyor,solicitor,estate agent,neighbour etc would be the real meaty,debatable stuff.
Got to be a bit cheeky sometimes..... People can be surprisingly helpful,and personally,I would be willing to pay for this information if asked.(but amazingly noone HAS ever asked,so far) It would be worth a fee if you KNOW your argument is strong.

Regards

Dribble

Zebedeee

Dribble wrote: »

Quite right,Zebedeee....... but it's likely they would kick even these figures out as just 'asking' prices. To get ACTUAL sales figures from some dusty cupboard of a surveyor,solicitor,estate agent,neighbour etc would be the real meaty,debatable stuff.
Got to be a bit cheeky sometimes..... People can be surprisingly helpful,and personally,I would be willing to pay for this information if asked.(but amazingly noone HAS ever asked,so far) It would be worth a fee if you KNOW your argument is strong.

Regards

Dribble

How do you go about getting actual prices? The land registry either don't have or won't give figures for sales before 2000. Other than going out and knocking on the door of every house that looks like yours in the locality and asking if they bought in 1991 I don't know how you would find out. I believe the VOA have the actual figures (although not always accurate) but they won't tell!

Anybody got any good ideas?

Dribble_2

Zebedeee wrote: »

How do you go about getting actual prices? The land registry either don't have or won't give figures for sales before 2000. Other than going out and knocking on the door of every house that looks like yours in the locality and asking if they bought in 1991 I don't know how you would find out. I believe the VOA have the actual figures (although not always accurate) but they won't tell!

Anybody got any good ideas?

In my case a Chartered Surveyor simply accessed his company records on his database..... Gave me a dozen addresses,sale prices and month of transaction in four local poscodes within minutes. Records aren't restricted to Government departments....

Keep on truckin' !

Dribble

guppy

Dribble wrote: »

Quite right,Zebedeee....... but it's likely they would kick even these figures out as just 'asking' prices. To get ACTUAL sales figures from some dusty cupboard of a surveyor,solicitor,estate agent,neighbour etc would be the real meaty,debatable stuff.
Got to be a bit cheeky sometimes..... People can be surprisingly helpful,and personally,I would be willing to pay for this information if asked.(but amazingly noone HAS ever asked,so far) It would be worth a fee if you KNOW your argument is strong.

Great advice about blagging from surveyors/estate agents if you can get away with it but asking prices are still a useful.

Its unlikely someone would have paid more than the asking price in 1991 (when the market was falling). Also, assuming a house actually sold, the VOA will be able to look up the price, once you bring it to their attention.

The VOA will give you the prices they have used as evidence too if you push them. But not the exact addresses.

Maisie

sail_away wrote: »

Hi,

I checked our council tax band (C) and found that 5 other houses in our street were in a band lower (B), and the valuation in 1991 was high, based on the what we paid for the house in 1998. I appealed on the VOA website, and a few weeks ago received a letter from the council informing me we would be dropped into band B, and would receive a refund for all overpayments since 1998. £1000+

SO IT'S WELL WORTH CHECKING!

Sail away.

You were lucky your band was dropped so quickly and easily. Not as simple for a lot of us..

Everyone should check at https://www.voa.gov.uk.

Maisie

Dribble wrote: »

In my case a Chartered Surveyor simply accessed his company records on his database..... Gave me a dozen addresses,sale prices and month of transaction in four local poscodes within minutes. Records aren't restricted to Government departments....

Keep on truckin' !

Dribble

Dribble. Would your Chartered surveyor be interested in helping a few of us on this thread who are having a difficult time with voa?

Maisie

skcollobcat10 wrote: »

Just wanted to let you know that after I successfully had my banding reduced from F to E I telephoned the previous owners of the house who lived here from 1996 to 2002. They also got a rebate of £1,000 just by phoning up.

skcollobcat. Good to hear you got your rebanding.

That's great you informed the previous owners. Nice of you to share your good fortune.

True spirit of mSE.

Enjoy the rebate!


Maisie

Dribble_2

guppy wrote: »

Great advice about blagging from surveyors/estate agents if you can get away with it but asking prices are still a useful.

Its unlikely someone would have paid more than the asking price in 1991 (when the market was falling). Also, assuming a house actually sold, the VOA will be able to look up the price, once you bring it to their attention.

The VOA will give you the prices they have used as evidence too if you push them. But not the exact addresses.

Hi Guppy

I THINK we agree then.... Hit 'em with ALL the evidence possible. But with ADVERTISEMENTS the figures aren't actual SALES. (UNLIKELY isn't a word they take much notice of.)....and although they will give you THEIR figures,they won't give you ones to oppose their assessment without a battle.
The surveyors/estate agents/solicitors/builders/neighbour's deeds etc can be the real strength of your case.

When I proved my PRICE argument they hit me with a larger SIZE argument which proved to be ludicrous....and questionable in their rules for assessing 1991 values. (I even managed to obtain my old house plans with accurate floor area information from a developer)

The way I see it is - in many cases,they MUST try their best to defend their wrong decisions as there could be repercussions. Changing MY band could have a domino effect on a whole street with big pay-outs likely.(Somebody ain't going to be popular)

It appears some people have an easy time going through the process which suggests to me there ARE fleshy,air-breathing HUMANS in those VOA offices.They must see the OBVIOUS when it is presented to 'em and act accordingly. Unfortunately,on this board we hear of the borderline and problem cases which need a bigger push.

Thankfully,folk like Maisie dedicate a lot of their time to helping out and offering encouragement.

Dribble_2

Maisie wrote: »

Dribble. Would your Chartered surveyor be interested in helping a few of us on this thread who are having a difficult time with voa?

Hi Maisie

NO! He's all MINE!....His files are a goldmine.(Only joking ! - I wish he COULD help out)
Can't imagine a SOLICITOR being so helpful for free,but I must admit there are some very helpful people around if you knock on doors.

Regards

Dribble