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

guppy

Daisy_Bell wrote: »

Maisie and others. Our Hearing at the 'Invalidity' Tribunal is on the 27th June. I don't hold out much hope. They pretty much have us over a barrell. If you're 'Out of Time' you can only say why that is and nothing else. Because you're out of time, then the Council are not obliged to do anything but 'Look' at your request. As far as I'm concerned they can say anything they like about evidence they have, as they say they are not obliged to show us their 'Evidence' because our 'Proposal is 'Invalid'! Stalemate! However, don't they have to show us their 'Evidence' under the Freedom of Information Act? I intend to write to them again pointing this out. They can only tell me to get lost can't they?

Daisy,

You'll honestly be wasting your time going to the invalidity tribunal. The tribunal has no power to look at any evidence to do with the banding. The VOA won't bring any evidence either.

House price sales aren't covered by the FOI Act :-( they're confidential to the people involved. You might be able to get details of measurements though.

This doesn't mean all is lost though...see mcguire's excellent post above:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=5218714&postcount=1290

There's loads of info about gathering evidence on this thread, but there's no short cuts

Good luck!

sandy99_2

Having bought a new build property. I believe all the semi-detached houses on our street have been banded incorrectly regarding the equivalent price at 1991. Using the calculator I have worked out that our properties should be in band B and not C as current valuation. Because we are all in the same band do I still have a case to fight against the council to lower my band if my neighbours are in the same band as me. Or will I be wasting my time.

Maisie

Daisy_Bell wrote: »

Maisie and others. Our Hearing at the 'Invalidity' Tribunal is on the 27th June. I don't hold out much hope. They pretty much have us over a barrell. If you're 'Out of Time' you can only say why that is and nothing else. Because you're out of time, then the Council are not obliged to do anything but 'Look' at your request. As far as I'm concerned they can say anything they like about evidence they have, as they say they are not obliged to show us their 'Evidence' because our 'Proposal is 'Invalid'! Stalemate! However, don't they have to show us their 'Evidence' under the Freedom of Information Act? I intend to write to them again pointing this out. They can only tell me to get lost can't they?
NB:How do you use the 'Quote' facility on this Forum? It took me ages to find out how to actually read the messages, until I noticed the Thread Tools and then I realised I had to read them through the 'Printable Version'. Bit of a queer way of doing things it seems to me!

Daisy as for the 'quote' facility. if you are replying to a post just click 'Quote' on the post you want to reply to and it will bring you to the section where you can type your message. (I hope that's what you were asking about?)

To get to this c/tax discussion thread I go to the Chat forum and then click on to 'cutting tax' where this thread lays. I expect there are easier ways of doing this but I'm no expert!

Good luck in your quest for a reband . There are many of us like you having a difficult time with voa and any information posted helps us all.

HTH. Maisie

Jummy

Hi!
Can council tenants apply to have their houses rebanded?
I live in a 2 bed terrace and a few of my neighbours are Band B and the rest are Band C (according to the VOA site).
I get a band reduction as i have a converted room for my disabled son so i pay the band b rate.
Is there any reason why some houses are B and some are C bands?
All the houses are 2 bed terrace some council,some bought from council.
Thanks!

cookie334

I've had a read through everything on here and can't decide whether to try this out or not.

I checked all the other houses in my street and every other house is in band B, as is mine.

I've checked the house prices and there is a big variation in sale prices. There have only been a few house sales in the past few years and although the houses are almost identical, one has sold in 2005 for £70K and one in 2006 for £38K.

Even going with the £70K sale though would still make the value in 1991 about £2,500 under the switch from band A to B.

Obviously no one else in the street has challenged this yet, should I be the first and give it a go? What do you all think my chances are? Has anyone been in the same situation and if so what was the outcome? All the success stories seem to be from people who have been prompted to do this due to discovering their neighbours were in a lower band.

Any advice appreciated.

guppy

Jummy wrote: »

Hi!
Can council tenants apply to have their houses rebanded?
I live in a 2 bed terrace and a few of my neighbours are Band B and the rest are Band C (according to the VOA site).
I get a band reduction as i have a converted room for my disabled son so i pay the band b rate.
Is there any reason why some houses are B and some are C bands?
All the houses are 2 bed terrace some council,some bought from council.
Thanks!

As long you pay the bill you can query your band. The other houses' bands might have been previously reduced on appeal. The VOA will be able to tell you if that's the case. They could also have been unmodernised when the council tax was introduced.

guppy

Cookie,

You've got nothing to lose through querying your band (unless its too low of course).

If the whole street is identical to yours and is in the same band, you might find it an uphill struggle though. The VOA are not likely to reduce a whole street without compelling evidence...

+/- £2500 difference on the calcualator 15 years later doesn't really prove anything unfortunately

Have a look at mcguire's post describing how they got a reduction:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=5218714&postcount=1290

There's loads more info on this thread if you do go for it

Good luck

darich

hi all.

Apologies if i'm going over old ground but i didn't fancy reading over 1000 posts - I only managed the first 30-40!!!

I've just challenged my council tax banding and have JUST missed out on the 6month rule (by about 5 weeks). I didn't know about that rule at the time.
I'm currently banded E and feel i should be D.
There are similar houses in my street that are banded E but IDENTICAL houses in the next street banded D. I've done my research as far as the banding of my neighbours is concerned.
I've also checked the Nationwide House Price calculator and it said my property was worth approx 51k in 1991. So I'm not even borderline for the banding.

I know the assessor who's dealing with my case and he told me that outwith the 6month rule i've no chance of a re-banding. He also said that if no houses in the adjacent street had sold since 1991 to give a guide on prices then he'd have to go by the houses in my street which are only similar, not identical.

I'm now almost primed for an appeal but i know from reading some of the posts here that an appeal isn't the way to go about things - i need to write to the listing officer or valuation officer and quote his legal obligation to him/her.

couple of questions

• if my friend who's dealing with my case is the valuation officer and he's decided i'm banded correctly, is that the end of the road?
• does anyone know who the valuation officer is for Scotland or more specifically, South Lanarkshire?

Incidentally, i feel it's unfair to expect people to challenge within 6months espeically when it takes the council months (5months in my case) and all i've had is one acknowledgement letter and a phone call during which i found out they'd only done a half baked assessment of the area. He admitted he was embarrassed by his lack of info since he didn't know about the identical houses in the adjacent street.
I was also wondering, if there is a 6 month rule, why does the council spend so many hours investigating appeals like mine to then say that i was outside the time limit??

Hope someone can help me out!!
thanks
David

Daisy_Bell

cookie334 wrote: »

I've had a read through everything on here and can't decide whether to try this out or not.
I checked all the other houses in my street and every other house is in band B, as is mine.
I've checked the house prices and there is a big variation in sale prices. There have only been a few house sales in the past few years and although the houses are almost identical, one has sold in 2005 for £70K and one in 2006 for £38K.
Even going with the £70K sale though would still make the value in 1991 about £2,500 under the switch from band A to B.
Obviously no one else in the street has challenged this yet, should I be the first and give it a go? What do you all think my chances are? Has anyone been in the same situation and if so what was the outcome? All the success stories seem to be from people who have been prompted to do this due to discovering their neighbours were in a lower band.
Any advice appreciated.

If you have been in your property more than six months Cookie, you won't get anywhere unless there is a similar property in your street that has a lower band than yours. I am in the same position. All the properties are in the same band, although there are very great differences in their sizes and values. The VO has to look at your claim by law, but they can say (and usually do) that they have evidence of sales in your area for 1990-1993but because you are 'Out of Time' they are (they say) not obliged to show that to you! You cannot appeal their decision because you are out of the six months time limit. You can attend an 'Invalidation' Tribunal, but that is only to determine that you are out of time and therefore a waste of time! :mad:
To be perfectly honest with you though, it does sound to me that your band is about right. In our area, the only band 'A' properties are flats and maisonnettes in rather run-down areas.

hecatescarlet13

I'm a new poster here. I have been rebanded and am due nearly £3000 rebate but my council tell me that interest is not payable. I see somebody raised that question on page 1 of this thread but nobody seems to have followed up on this.

I am pretty darn sure that were the shoe on the other foot, and I had been paying too little since 1993, the council would be charging me interest. So why should interest not be payable to me? Over the last 14 years they have had the erroneous use of my money and I feel that compound interest over those years should be computed and paid to me and all the other overpayers.

Any views? And any ideas on how to bring this about?