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

Daisy_Bell

guppy wrote: »

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

No Guppy. I have already asked the Customer Services chappie about that and he said that I could easily guess who the properties belonged to, even if they withheld the actual names and addresses. They said they could be sued! Like I said before, these rules and regulations seem to be interpreted differently by VOAs depending on where in the country they are! Here's hoping for a miracle then!

guppy

Daisy_Bell wrote: »

No Guppy. I have already asked the Customer Services chappie about that and he said that I could easily guess who the properties belonged to, even if they withheld the actual names and addresses. They said they could be sued! Like I said before, these rules and regulations seem to be interpreted differently by VOAs depending on where in the country they are! Here's hoping for a miracle then!

Hmmm...sounds like a helpful chap. I'm not sure he's acting in line with the VOA's central policy. If he's the one in charge of customer service I dread to think what the others there are like!

Daisy_Bell

Coventry have always been very stiff-necked over this sort of thing Guppy-and they are one of the highest Council Tax chargers in the Country too. Reading some of the Posts on here, I have been amazed at the differing atitudes of the various VOAs quoted; some seem very fair and easy going; even laid back, but others - just like ours - won't budge an inch!

Ron_Cook

I have tried but failed at getting a reduction in my council tax. After reading this forum and then looking at bandings locally I thought I would stand a good chance of getting a re-banding though I realised that if I succeeded then the local council, Stockton-on-Tees, would probably end up paying back many taxpayers thousands of pounds.

My house cost £145000 new in August 2001 and was put into band F (£120,000 to £160,000) . After reading the forums I realised that they should have put my house into a band comparable with it's 1991 value and that they hadn't. Research at the library showed a very similar house up for sale at £92500 in 1991 that was re-sold for £142,500 in July 2001. Both of the houses are 4 bed 2 bath with a garage.

The VOA has rejected my findings saying that my house had been put into the correct band initially so what can I do now? The final comment in the letter I received says that I cannot appeal his decision.

Ronnie

Daisy_Bell

If you're out of time Ron; that is six months since moving into your house, then all you can do now is to speak to the Customer Services Manager at your VOA and argue your case further. Offer to send send them additional evidence (if any) That's what I did and got a further review. But.. I'm afraid they've got you over a barrel if you are out of time! You can go to a tribunal called 'An Invalidity Notice Tribunal' but that is only to say why you are out of time, and is a waste of time actually! Nobody ever wins those! At the end of the letter that said I had won a further review was the same paragraph you got in your letter - that I couldn't appeal their decision! A cynic might say the VOA could just wait a few weeks and then say their decision as to your banding was still correct without ever having done another review! After all, who's to know? They refused to send anyone out to see my property so how on earth can they alter their previous findings! You have no chance unless you can prove that a house like yours, in your street, sold for under the lower price for the band you are in an!

Mark-W_2

Well is submitted my evidence to the VOa today, weighing in at 59 pages

i listed 22 properties, 11 from sale adverts and 11 from the voa information, all comparable band C properties.
I argued that the proximity of my house to the local pub would have an 11%-12% negative affect on the sale price, with 4 supporting documents.

I showed 2 similar house sales in Q1 1991, one in the same street, the other around the corner. Both sold for less than £56,000.
I then calculated the value of my property at £54,000 using the voa preferred method of value/area (m2).
i also included a map of the local area, showing the comparable properties and mine.
finally i included the price calculator tools, Nationwide and the projectanalyser.

fingers crossed they will agree with my evidence.

vivatifosi

Hi Mark,

I thought my evidence was long at 40 pages! When I was prepping for my tribunal the VTS said I should bring five copies of my evidence to the tribunal, one for each of the three tribunal members, one for the clerk and one for the VOA. It may be worth checking whether you still need to do this.

Good luck for the 21st!

Mark-W_2

vivatifosi,

thanks for the info, 5 copies does seem a bit excessive, im stil waiting for my vts DVD to arrive describing the process.

ive included a few documents to backup my case which run to about 7-8 pages each. Hopefully this will convince the voa before we get to the tribunal.

jig_10

Hi All,

I have moved to a brand new development and my postcode is not registered anywhere. Some one told me that if my postcode is not registered with royal-mail i am not liable to pay council tax!!!

Dose anyone know the exact rule!!

Thanks in advance.

Zebedeee

jig_10 wrote: »

Hi All,

I have moved to a brand new development and my postcode is not registered anywhere. Some one told me that if my postcode is not registered with royal-mail i am not liable to pay council tax!!!

Dose anyone know the exact rule!!

Thanks in advance.

I should think you'll soon find out when the council send you your bill! Also, you could look on the VOA website. You don't need your postcode to look up your address.