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

CIS

I suspect that we wouldnt count that , in our area we would send out an inspector to check the house - is their any way that a room could become your dialysis room temporarily ?

PINGA14

Too much equipment, no water or water softener in the spare room in the house. Would cost about 10k to convert a room.
Never mind! Thanks anyway!

guppy

bloaty wrote:

The Tribunal felt an adjournment was appropriate to give the Listing Officer an opportunity to review the comparables and respod to the appellant.
...
Oddly, following the date set for the hearing (despite my withdrawal) I had a letter to say that my app. had been withdrawn but the court stated something about they felt I should be advised of the outcome of any review of local properties and my case be reheard in December

It sounds as if the tribunal has stated that they expect all the properties involved, if they are identical, to be banded the same. Therefore they expect the Valuation Officer to either increase the others or reduce yours as is his statutory duty.

Hope that makes sense!

alchemy_2

Hi,

I just wanted to thank the OP and Martin, as I found out today that my council tax banding has been reduced from C to B, an excellent result!

For those that are interested, I found that most of my neighbour's houses, which are pretty much identical to mine, were in Band B, so I thought it would be worth appealing, which I did using the online form on the Valuation Office Website. I was then sent a form requesting further details, which I filled in and return.

A few days later I received a letter from the Valuation Officer saying my appeal had been invalidly made, but he would check the banding anyway to ensure it was "fair and consistent", even though I'd made an invalid appeal (as I've been living here for longer than 6 months, and nothing else had changed).

Anyway, about 6 weeks later, I received a letter saying that the banding has been changed to B. I'm now waiting to hear from the Council, but the whole process seemed quite straight forwards, and I should save around £140 a year. I encourage other MoneySavers to give it a go!

Muldoon_2

Muslim women are not allowed to pray in mosques(is this the right spelling) but if 8 or more pray in a private house, this becomes a place of worship, which I believe are excempt from paying council tax! I am led to believe that there are 100's of these private places of worship.

Maisie

stanzelsa wrote:

I wrote a reply on this discussion a few wks ago when I was miffed cos I'd been told years ago that nothing could be done when I believed my band was too high. Well thanks to this thread I had another go& got back 8 years worth of overpayments. Weh hey!

That's great news stanelza. Worth persevering to get your right band and rebate. Well done to you.

C'mon everybody who's got a lower banding and rebate from my original post. Let us know.

it will encourage others to apply.

Maisie OP

Annie021063

Hi Guys
Just to update about my claim. Had letter this morning to say that VOA has now changed banding with effective date of alteration being 1/4/93 (we moved in March 2000). and that they have contacted our local billing authority regarding the changes. I asked VOA about refund and she said she has nothing to do with that side of things and that I should give billing office 4-6 weeks to contact me regarding changes to my coucil tax bill. Has anyone else had experience of the timing? Basically when am I due to get a refund chq in my hand????
Thanks

bye_bye_band_G

This is my first post and I just want to thank Martin and everyone who has given advice on this thread. After reading it all a couple of months ago, I had a nose at the website which tells you the banding for everyone in your road, and most of us were band G. A few were band F though, and up until then I'd thought the Band G rating was fair. If I'm completely honest, I still do, but I'm blowed if I'm not going to try for the same rate a few of my neighbours have managed to obtain.
To cut a long story short, the day before my hearing the listing officer phoned and agreed to reduce me to a band F. I have not had anything in writing yet, and I was so surprised that I didn't dare ask if this would be backdated to 1993, we have lived here all the time.
Should I get a refund back to 1993? I'll be grateful enough just to get a reduction of about £300 a year in the future, but the thought of a possible refund of over £3000 as well is just incredible - and I'm anxious to find out if that's likely to happen.
Any advice welcomed, thanks so much for all the tips so far. :T

Maisie

bye_bye_band_G wrote:

This is my first post and I just want to thank Martin and everyone who has given advice on this thread. After reading it all a couple of months ago, I had a nose at the website which tells you the banding for everyone in your road, and most of us were band G. A few were band F though, and up until then I'd thought the Band G rating was fair. If I'm completely honest, I still do, but I'm blowed if I'm not going to try for the same rate a few of my neighbours have managed to obtain.
To cut a long story short, the day before my hearing the listing officer phoned and agreed to reduce me to a band F. I have not had anything in writing yet, and I was so surprised that I didn't dare ask if this would be backdated to 1993, we have lived here all the time.
Should I get a refund back to 1993? I'll be grateful enough just to get a reduction of about £300 a year in the future, but the thought of a possible refund of over £3000 as well is just incredible - and I'm anxious to find out if that's likely to happen.
Any advice welcomed, thanks so much for all the tips so far. :T

I don't know about the rebate for previous years. It may be possible to get that and you should in fairness. If you read my original post etc on the closed thread and posts on this thread I remember other MSes have had or applied for refunds for back years.

Now you have your breath back 'byebye' you could ask about it. Nothing to lose.

Well done on the rebanding and rebate. Glad my original post helped.

Maisie OP

Maisie

Annie021063 wrote:

Hi Guys
Just to update about my claim. Had letter this morning to say that VOA has now changed banding with effective date of alteration being 1/4/93 (we moved in March 2000). and that they have contacted our local billing authority regarding the changes. I asked VOA about refund and she said she has nothing to do with that side of things and that I should give billing office 4-6 weeks to contact me regarding changes to my coucil tax bill. Has anyone else had experience of the timing? Basically when am I due to get a refund chq in my hand????
Thanks

Annie not sure when you will actually get your refund. Hope it's soon. I think you have answered 'byebye's question if refund goes back to 1993.

Glad my original post helped.

Thanks for letting us know and hope other MSE's will keep us up to date with claims. It will encourage even more to apply.

Well done Annie.

maisie OP