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

Daisy_Bell

I have now heard back from the VOA. They are doing another review, but refuse to give me their evidence because it is against the law to do so. I can't understand why it is against the law when I have no right of appeal at a tribunal (because of the six month rule) and yet if I did have a right to a tribunal, it would be perfectly OK for them to do so!
According to the VOA it will be a waste of time for me to attend the 'Invalidity Notice' hearing as all that will do is establish that I am 'Out of Tme' which is not disputed as we have never moved from the property in 24 years, so I have decided not to proceed with that. I can only wait for the results of their new review which will probably say exactly the same as it did before and I have no further say in the matter. It's been a complete waste of time really. I can't see how they can possibly reduce my banding without having to reduce the banding of every other three-bedroomed property in the street too, so the result is really a foregone conclusion! They have it all tied up! I did speak to the Customer Service Manager at Coventry VOA (a really pleasant, perfectly reasonable chap) who explained everything really well to me I must admit. "The Government have tied their hands; they have to do everything by the book, etc. etc." So... there you are! The only thing to do is wait for the whole system to be changed, re-evaluation of properties in England, or whatever is going to happen - which of course won't be this side of the next General Election! :huh:

croy

Hi

we bought our 3 bed semin in north london in 2004 and found that it was banded in band F, when 4 other prop on the same street were E. i appealed to the VOA and after being at the valuation tribunal won my case and my property has been rebanded to band E from 1993.

does any one know if i can get the council to backdate the band from 1993 and refund me the extra money paid or will it have to be from 2004 when i bought the house. some one told me that since the property value i paid when i bought the house reflected the banding i was paying is have a case to ask the council to pay me the diff from 1993 as opposed to 2004.

also if any one wants to know more about how to prepare the case for the valuation office, plz let me know and i am more then happy to help.

ta

vivatifosi

Hi Croy,

From the appeals I have read it only appears to be back to the date when you first bought the house.

Maisie

croy wrote: »

Hi

we bought our 3 bed semin in north london in 2004 and found that it was banded in band F, when 4 other prop on the same street were E. i appealed to the VOA and after being at the valuation tribunal won my case and my property has been rebanded to band E from 1993.

does any one know if i can get the council to backdate the band from 1993 and refund me the extra money paid or will it have to be from 2004 when i bought the house. some one told me that since the property value i paid when i bought the house reflected the banding i was paying is have a case to ask the council to pay me the diff from 1993 as opposed to 2004.

also if any one wants to know more about how to prepare the case for the valuation office, plz let me know and i am more then happy to help.

ta

Croy. Yes you will only get the refund for the time you have been at the house. However the previous occupants are entitled to a rebate for the time they were there. The council should try and trace them and refund them. If you know where they are why not be a good neighbour and inform them that the house has been rebanded and they are entitled to a refund?
Fair shares for all then!

Good luck. Maisie .. original poster.

Maisie

Martin Lewis is on Jeremy Vine show BBC radio 2. After 1 o'c.

He's talking about COUNCIL TAX!

Listen everyone. It should be interesting.

Maisie

Zebedeee

Daisy_Bell wrote: »

It's been a complete waste of time really. I can't see how they can possibly reduce my banding without having to reduce the banding of every other three-bedroomed property in the street too, so the result is really a foregone conclusion! They have it all tied up!

Not necessarily a complete waste of time, Daisy Bell! This is exactly what happened to me, but don't despair just yet! It is still possible that the VOA will examine your evidence and see things your way, but if not, you do still have one more chance to get an appeal.

If look on the VTS website http://www.valuation-tribunals.gov.uk/listings-decisions/index.html and select your area and 'Decisions' you will be able to find all the Tribunal outcomes in your area. If you can find one that is simillar to your situation that the appellant won you can say that it is relevant to your case and on that basis demand an appeal.

That is what I have done and I have my appeal coming up very shortly. It's one more avenue for you to try before throwing in the towel.

All the best,

Zebedee

lorrs58

My neighbour is in Band B, the rest of houses in this postcode are all in band A ex-council houses. She applied for rebanding last year, and was visited by a listing officer. she was refused and recieved a letter informing her that similar houses were selling for £42,500 around 1991. Which is hard to believe considering that these house were prefab/concrete houses which were rebricked. The only difference between houses is that she has a lean to and a porch. Would this make any difference? Following Martins step by step guide. We have worked out the the houses would have been only worth around £35k. she has written to the listing office again and is awaiting for contact. Can anyone offer advise please.

p,s would having a bus stop directly outside her house be an additional point to argue for rebanding.

vivatifosi

Get in touch with your local library and find out whether they have hard copies of local papers from that time, or microfiches. If you can go back through the issues from January to April 1991 (those are the houses that should have been sold in April 1991 - the time when the valuations were set). You should be able to establish what sort of price they were selling for. It would be great if you could establish that these houses were selling well under the band price, as it would be very hard to argue that - once the actual price rather than the asking price was paid - that a porch or lean to would make up the difference.

The bus stop issue I think will be a harder one to fight. You will need to be able to show not just that it is an inconvenience, but that it is an inconvenience that causes a material reduction in the house's value. You may find that the VOA argues that a bus stop could make a house more desirable for someone less mobile and therefore push up the value.

Daisy_Bell

Zebedeee wrote: »

Not necessarily a complete waste of time, Daisy Bell! This is exactly what happened to me, but don't despair just yet! It is still possible that the VOA will examine your evidence and see things your way, but if not, you do still have one more chance to get an appeal.

If look on the VTS website http://www.valuation-tribunals.gov.uk/listings-decisions/index.html and select your area and 'Decisions' you will be able to find all the Tribunal outcomes in your area. If you can find one that is simillar to your situation that the appellant won you can say that it is relevant to your case and on that basis demand an appeal.

That is what I have done and I have my appeal coming up very shortly. It's one more avenue for you to try before throwing in the towel.

Zebedee

Well they are giving a second look to my appeal Zebedee, after I sent in additional evidence - photographs, etc., but that is all they say they can do. I have been to the site you mentioned, but I'm afraid that there has never been an appeal against bandings in my immediate area and that's the trouble. Nothing to compare against. So, I just have to accept the result of this second review the VOA are doing and whatever they say I have to abide by it. Nothing else for it! Still, whatever - I tried! Good luck in yours anyway.

guppy

Daisy_Bell wrote: »

I have now heard back from the VOA. They are doing another review, but refuse to give me their evidence because it is against the law to do so. I can't understand why it is against the law when I have no right of appeal at a tribunal (because of the six month rule) and yet if I did have a right to a tribunal, it would be perfectly OK for them to do so!

Hi again Daisy,

They might not be able to tell you the exact addresses of houses they are using as sales evidence, but there is nothing to stop them giving you information minus the addresses.

i.e. How big the houses that sold are, bedrooms, age, what street, the price and approximate date of sale. As long its not enough to compromise the seller/buyers privacy. Then you can see if the evidence is genuinely comparable.

You can also get an idea of how high in the band the VOA think your house is. If the evidence is borderline you have more scope to argue...

If they point blank refuse to provide any further information at all, get in touch with the customer service person again. They should (and do) agree to provide this information in the interests of fairness and openess.

Good luck,

Guppy