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

Maisie

A poster on the Success thread mentions HBOS and UCB home Loans to calculate 1991 prices. Can someone do the link for me?

Thanks. Maisie

sugarplum

guppy wrote: »

Hi sugarplum. Hope this isn't too late for you.

This is generally a good sign, means they think you may have a serious case. To come and visit is unusual (takes time and money) so they probably need to clarify something about the house before making a decision. This may well be its size, since they can check the other details over the phone. They may want to check there are no extensions they don't know about before reducing you.

If your case hinges on hard facts there's not much you can do to influence things really (hard to hide an extension!). Of course breaking out the tea and biscuits might not hurt

Good luck!

Thanks very much for the reply Guppy. There is a ground floor extension on the property but that was only done a couple of years ago so that shouldn't count should it? I've got photo's of the house when we moved in, before any work was done, maybe I should dig those out too?
Of course, it goes without saying that the chocolate hobnobs are ready and waiting

guppy

Maisie wrote: »

A poster on the Success thread mentions HBOS and UCB home Loans to calculate 1991 prices. Can someone do the link for me?

Thanks. Maisie

HBOS (Halifax)

http://www.hbosplc.com/economy/housingresearch.asp

Not heard of the other one, sorry!

guppy

sugarplum wrote: »

Thanks very much for the reply Guppy. There is a ground floor extension on the property but that was only done a couple of years ago so that shouldn't count should it? I've got photo's of the house when we moved in, before any work was done, maybe I should dig those out too?
Of course, it goes without saying that the chocolate hobnobs are ready and waiting

They won't include any work you have done, though the council should have notified them about it. If you sell the house it would be revalued when the next person moved in or if there was a national revaluation of all houses, they'd include it then.

Hopefully they are just making a final check before putting your band down...fingers crossed!

tarinilie

Mrs._M wrote: »

See the home page at https://www.isitfair.co.uk about how to join in the action to send a copy of your CT bill to Gordon Brown.
Isitfair is a nationwide campaign calling for the reform of the council tax system. Property Banding can never be fair. Any tax rfeplacing the present system must take the ability to pay into consideration. How can it be fair when two parts of the country, having ther same average income the council tax varies so much? Let's for example take North Devon and Sunderland. In North Devon and Sunderland the average income is pretty well the same but the average council tax in North Devon is £400 more than in Sunderland.
So, no use tinkering, get rid of this system and start again. Several alternatives on https://www.isitfair.co.uk

i'd rather they revalue houses soon and keep the council tax .. A tax based on income tax would make me much worse off .. it's ok for people oin big houses and low incomes ..

tarinilie

Mrs._M wrote: »

See the home page at https://www.isitfair.co.uk about how to join in the action to send a copy of your CT bill to Gordon Brown.
Isitfair is a nationwide campaign calling for the reform of the council tax system. Property Banding can never be fair. Any tax rfeplacing the present system must take the ability to pay into consideration. How can it be fair when two parts of the country, having ther same average income the council tax varies so much? Let's for example take North Devon and Sunderland. In North Devon and Sunderland the average income is pretty well the same but the average council tax in North Devon is £400 more than in Sunderland.
So, no use tinkering, get rid of this system and start again. Several alternatives on https://www.isitfair.co.uk

i presume you live in a huge valuable house Mrs M. why don't you sell it it and use all that ( untaxed equity ) to move to a smaller house so your council tax is affordable.!!!!!!

Maisie

guppy wrote: »

HBOS (Halifax)

http://www.hbosplc.com/economy/housingresearch.asp

Not heard of the other one, sorry!

Thanks Guppy. That's useful.

maisie

Django_3

I recently received over £500 interest from my local Valuation Office Agency to add to the £2,500 rebate covering the years since 1993 when we were mis-banded.
I was told that interest was not normally paid but that there had been a local successful appeal by another householder 10 years ago in the same Close and we should have been informed and re-banded then. As a result we got 10 years interest. Worth a try.

Maisie

Django wrote: »

I recently received over £500 interest from my local Valuation Office Agency to add to the £2,500 rebate covering the years since 1993 when we were mis-banded.
I was told that interest was not normally paid but that there had been a local successful appeal by another householder 10 years ago in the same Close and we should have been informed and re-banded then. As a result we got 10 years interest. Worth a try.

Well done Django.

jamesiebabie has been telling posters to apply to the voa ( not council ) for interest. You show it can be done.

Maisie

momisa

I wrote the standard letter to my local council in Scotland around 6 weeks ago.
The other day a man from the council chapped my door - thankfully I had some time to chat as they are trying to tackle all the requests by doing some cold calling.

In brief I'm in Band B but the flat above me is A. Given that the size of properties is the exact same I thought I would be ok for a rebanding. However, I was informed that when the rebanding was done Scotland did not base the value on driving by but sat down and went through each and every property and also looked at property prices.

Now, the only thing that makes my home different to the flat above me is the layout. I have 2 bedrooms and the flat above me has 1. Based on this the council argues that my property is more desirable and therefore would achieve a higher sale price. Hence the higher Banding.

I was also informed that if I were to put forward a solid case for arguing this fact I'm too late as I should have lodged a case with them within 6 months of moving in. I did point out that no one informed me of this rule when I bought the place and he blamed the solicitor!!