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

Zebedeee

PlasticRhino wrote: »

Hi all, quick question: can you still reclaim council tax from a property you no longer live in?

I suspect we were overpaying on a previous property that we lived in for over 6 years so if we can reclaim we should be able to reclaim a fair amount.

Quick answer, No.

But if the people currently living in the property get a rebanding you will be refunded the extra for the time you were living there.

Have a read through previous posts on here as there are several mentions of this already.

HTH!

Zebedee

PlasticRhino

Ok thanks.

Mark-W_2

MinMoz , Zebedeee where are you tribunals?

Mine is at the Lincoln central library tomorrow, im quite nervous at the minute.
Just need to give my case a final read through and print it off.

Zebedeee

Mark-W wrote: »

MinMoz , Zebedeee where are you tribunals?

Mine is at the Lincoln central library tomorrow, im quite nervous at the minute.
Just need to give my case a final read through and print it off.

Woo yes, I'm at Lincoln too! Getting more nervous by the minute:eek:

MinMoz

Zebedee, Mark-W,

Will be interesting to find out what your experience is as I am up in Scotland and I am yet to find someone on these forums who has been successful up here.

Very strange experience it was today. There were 6 people on the panel plus the panel secretary. The assessor had a table with a microphone on it to himself just like myself, 5 people were in the 'audience' and strangely there seemed to be 2 people manning the tape recorder!? (Good to see our overpaid taxes arent being wasted!)

Although I had prepared a very good argument as to why my banding was wrong the main focus of the assessor and independent panel was whether I had a valid appeal i.e. the 6 month ruling.

Very difficult to argue against a rule that they have puled out their hat and is probably set up purely to protect themselves. Anyway argued that they had to waive the 6 month ruling as the bands were so wrong in my street, argued they dont advertise that this rule exists and also argued that as per the assessors website it was clear that the 6 month rule wasnt always observed as houses had been changed at times that didnt coincide with house sales.

Still they came back to focus on the 6 month rule.

Due to get the decision in a few weeks. No prizes for guessing what the written response of the panel will be.

Will be quite irritated if they do use the 6 month excuse as I put a lot of work into this and having investigated the situation in the street is a lot worse than I thought. I hope today is not just paying lip service to a process that serves no purpose.

My argument was very very valid - if its just a yes or no to the 6 month rule then whats the point of having the panel!?!?

guppy

Rooster_Booster wrote: »

Several weeks ago I queried the amout of refund and asked for a breakdown.
Finally got a reply today.

No Compound interest !!!

Also quoting the ""staute of Limitations" so can only got back to 1 April 2000.

Any redress with this ??? worth a small claims ???

Thanks Rooster

Hi Rooster,

I did have a rant about this before but I can't find it. For what its worth I don't think the councils that refuse to pay back to 1993 have any legal right to refuse to pay out. All of the councils I am familiar with do. In my opinion, your council is "trying it on", paying out lots of refunds messes up their finances for the year.

I'm not sure the County Court will be keen to get involved, but you've probably got nothing to lose. It might prod the council in to action too.

I'm not a lawyer but as I understand it the statute of limitations for debts is six years. I don't see how this applies here. I would ask your council exactly which law they are relying on.

The "debt" they owe you only came in to existence when the VOA changed your band, i.e. the date on the notice they sent you. Even if your band was too high since 1993, it was still the band the law says you had to pay for - until the VOA altered it. If you'd tried paying less before you got that notice, you'd be the one in court!

If you can't get any sense out of the council, write to the VOA and complain. Even if the council doesn't have to give your money back, the VOA may be liable to compensate you since may be their fault you are out of pocket.

The "council tax list" from 1993 is still in force and the VOA amend it regularly. If the VOA amend it to 1993, 1994 or any other date, that's the date that that the band is effective from.

I think someone else on the successes board said they complained to the VOA which prompted the council to pay up. Don't be put off too easy.

Good luck.

P.S. Zebedee and MarkW - Best of luck with your tribunals!

missy321

I appealed against my council tax band in january, I have received a Notice of Hearing which is to be held on 24/07 - do I just wait & attend the hearing or should I chase it up by phoning or emailing?

The reason I ask this is because I remember someone once posting that their band got reduced before the hearing due to them complaining!

Thanks

bill2b

I just got a letter from the VOA rejecting my claim to be rebanded !
It also states at the bottom I have no right to appeal!!

My House is currently Band "C" so £52,001 to £68 k in 1991!

I bought thie house in 1997 6 plus years later for £52,000

Todays letter makes no mention of this and also mentions the internet valuation things are not accurate!

He does mention that all the other 11 properties in my street are also band C and nobody has desputed this so far.

Any suggestions what to do now?
He is apparently phoning me back tomorrow (Friday)

Daisy_Bell

I am very puzzled at your Post MinMoz. I have a tribunal coming up next week, just to tell me my proposal is invalid (a waste of time really, me going, but I am anyway!) I have been told I won't be able to present any evidence at this Tribunal and that no one ever wins against the six month ruling! So how come you came to be giving evidence as to your incorrect banding at this tribunal? Or have I got it wrong and it wasn't an Invalidity Tribunal you attended? Or perhaps the rules are different in Scotland? If you ask me, they're making the damned rules up as they go along! It all seems to depend on where you live! :mad:

vivatifosi

I am posting here rather than on the successes board because I've been posting here for a couple of weeks regarding my tribunal. I have just received my judgement and am very pleased to say I won.

This is in spite of the fact that there was a property the same model as mine that the previous tribunal upheld the decision on, AND that the Listing Officer suggested that I drop my case on that basis. If property valuations are about location, location, location, then rebanding valuations are about evidence, evidence, evidence. The more you can provide the better. It took me 20 hours of research and compilation to pull together my evidence. A long time, but I will get about £300 back and save £300+ pa going forward (until they change the bands again no doubt!)

If you think you have a case and are within the six months period that an appeal is allowed, then go for it. I so nearly listened to the Listings Officer and withdrew my appeal, and when I went to tribunal he mentioned that many others had done the same, and was using this as part of his evidence to uphold the banding.

If you are outside of the six months you can still look for a valid reason to appeal. If there is good reason to appeal on the grounds of a material reduction of the value of your home you can do so after the six months. This is generally because part of your home has been demolished (eg an extension), but can also be due to a material change in the local physical environment or due to adaptation for use by a physically disabled person. You can see the full grounds for appeal in the Council Tax Manual at:

http://www.valuation-tribunals.gov.uk/council-tax-manual/CT%20Manual%20(Sep%2006).pdf

Good luck everyone!