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

vivatifosi

Suecoo 1966,
I went to tribunal in June. The tribunal will be looking for evidence that is as close as possible to your house. The closer the better (ideally on the same estate). In my case like yours my house wasn't built in 1991. I was able to find an estate with similar houses that was built and on the market when the 1991 valuation date was set. This was in the same town but not in the same part of town. It was allowed as evidence and used as a factor for reducing my band.

One thing that the VOA admitted at my tribunal that they didn't know was the value of the 'add-ons' for my house. These should be stripped out of the price. So, for tribunal it would be helpful if you could establish if any of the following were included in the price of your house:

* You have a garage but it is in a block and not attached to your house (could reduce the value by £2-5kish)
* You had fitted carpets laid as part of the incentives (could reduce the price by up to £1k)
* The original home was sold as part of a part exchange - what impact did this have on market value and did it inflate the buying cost of yours (may also have been reflected the other way - reducing cost of the old home).
* White goods or other non-built in furniture incentives were included (in the case of my estate this altered the value by over £2k in some cases).
* Solicitors fees or other services were paid as part of the fee (again, could be a couple of hundred pounds).
If you weren't living in the house at the time of the sale - which I'm guessing is the case as your going to tribunal - ask your neighbours or the previous residents for this info. Alternatively go back through copies of the newspapers from the time that your house was on the market as local developments are often widely marketed and incentives mentioned in the adverts. Get copies of this as it will be useful at tribunal.

Some owners ask developers for a price that is incentive stripped. It may well be the case that your house was sold full of incentives and this bumped the price up, whereas the original sale price of the house that's in the lower band was stripped. Check the bands of all of the houses on the development on the VOA website. If a lot of the houses were built in 2000, you may also be able to get their original house prices from one of the free house price engines.

The developer may also be able to give you some of this info if they do not deem it confidential (likely to be about incentives rather than prices paid).

Hope this is clear. Good luck!

Camdenite

Thanks all. That makes sense Guppy. Cheers. I'll get cracking then.

geoff1057

Hi iam very new to this forum , i bought my newly built house in 1983, in 1991 i was banded as band B, i have done price checks on 4 properties in my street that are similar house build to mine, and the price calculator calculated that in 1991 the 4 houses were valued at between £33,000 and £38,000 which as they are below £40,000 should have been banded as band A. I still live in the same houseDo i have a valid claim for any rebate ? and where do i go from here ?

yogisarmy

Hello all, i am a newbie. I phoned the assessor to question my banding and was informed that my banding is higher than everyone else in the street because my house had an extension fitted when the original bandings were done. I was also informed that no other house in the street had an extension at that time. I was also informed that the original bandings were based on house sales in the street, not done by price indicator. I was also informed that the valuations were based upon square feet.
Does this now mean that my house has been banded higher without any correct valuation information as no other house in the street had an extension? (no house sale data for similar properties)
Any thoughts?

jro170876

Hi all, hopefully someone might be able to help!

Back in early 2006, I was living with my wife in a small 3-bed linked detached house which was banded D. The house was on the market and we were looking at 3-bed semi detached house with room to expand at a later date. The houses we were looking at were valued higher but only banded C and were in the same local authority area.

I wrote to my local VOA office and queried my own council tax banding as I couldn't understand why bigger properties which were higher in value were a band lower. The VOA looked into it and sent a letter back to me advising that the banding was correct. I lived in a street where nearly all the houses were the same and also banded D.

I checked the house valuation calculator on Nationwide's website and my housed was valued at £56,023 in Q2 of 1991, suggesting it should be classed as a band C. So I feel I was correct all along in querying my banding.

However, I moved property in September 2006 and am happy with the banding on my new home (it's a Band E). I still pay my council tax to the same local authority. I rang up the VOA and explained that I still felt that I was overcharged on my last property and they said that because I had now moved out of the property I can't query it as it would be affecting the new owners. If the new owners query it and the banding is re-classified only then would I receive a rebate.

I find this rather unfair and I don't particularly want the new owners of my previous property to fight on my behalf. Has anyone else had the problem and are the VOA in the right? I could be owed at least £2000.

Jon Boy

pipw

Hi All Just trying to get an answer to the below post (Posted last week too)

Can anyone give any advice please?

Having requested a revaluation and adjustment some 4 months ago i have today recieved a letter indicating that the valuation and banding are correct and i have no right to appeal against the decision!!

The VOA have said that the valuation of my house in 1991 is within the Band D range but my calculations using the Nationwide site clearly indicate that my house value in 1991 would have been in the middle of the Band C price range. There are also similar sized properties on the estate in Band C. (Not the same street)

Note: the house was actually built around 1998 and so it is an estimated value as it did not exist but i have followed the procedures on this site and come up with what i believe is a justified case.

Is the statement on my letter about not having the right to appeal correct or not?

Thanks in advance of any help!!

Pip

Maisie

pipw wrote: »

Hi All Just trying to get an answer to the below post (Posted last week too)

Can anyone give any advice please?

Having requested a revaluation and adjustment some 4 months ago i have today recieved a letter indicating that the valuation and banding are correct and i have no right to appeal against the decision!!

The VOA have said that the valuation of my house in 1991 is within the Band D range but my calculations using the Nationwide site clearly indicate that my house value in 1991 would have been in the middle of the Band C price range. There are also similar sized properties on the estate in Band C. (Not the same street)

Note: the house was actually built around 1998 and so it is an estimated value as it did not exist but i have followed the procedures on this site and come up with what i believe is a justified case.

Is the statement on my letter about not having the right to appeal correct or not?

Thanks in advance of any help!!

Pip

Pip. That's a standard letter if you have appealed after 6 months of occupancy.
Voa do have a duty to maintain a fair and accurate list and it's now up to you to prove that they are not doing so if you think your banding is incorrect.
The Nationwide calculator is not sufficient or accurate enough for the voa. Have you sent them printed copies of archived library adverts for selling prices to any similar local properties for 1991?
Talk to the neighbours of any similar properties that were there in 1991 or even to the builders they can often help.
If you look back through this thread there is loads of information on what evidence is needed. Guppy, Vivatifosi, Zebedee, Dribble and others have written some excellent posts that will help you.
It's not going to be easy and you'll have to spend a good bit of time and effort on your appeal. Many of us are having(or have had) a difficult time and only keep going with the advice and support of the above posters.
Those on the success thread who've had an easy time have been very fortunate.

Good luck and HTH . Maisie

caris

How long should it be before we get a reply to our "APPEAL AGAINST NOTICE OF INVALID PROPOSAL", we posted it back to our local office by recorded delivery 5 July, also a letter asking for a review at the same time, along with a questionaire they wanted filled in and sent back. We have not heard anything from them since. Also do we have to send letters to our local council about being in a different banding to everyone else, or do the VOA get in touch with the council.

Any help appreciated

caris

geoff1057

geoff1057 wrote: »

Hi iam very new to this forum , i bought my newly built house in 1983, in 1991 i was banded as band B, i have done price checks on 4 properties in my street that are similar house build to mine, and the price calculator calculated that in 1991 the 4 houses were valued at between £33,000 and £38,000 which as they are below £40,000 should have been banded as band A. I still live in the same houseDo i have a valid claim for any rebate ? and where do i go from here ?

can anyone give me any info please

Maisie

caris wrote: »

How long should it be before we get a reply to our "APPEAL AGAINST NOTICE OF INVALID PROPOSAL", we posted it back to our local office by recorded delivery 5 July, also a letter asking for a review at the same time, along with a questionaire they wanted filled in and sent back. We have not heard anything from them since. Also do we have to send letters to our local council about being in a different banding to everyone else, or do the VOA get in touch with the council.

Any help appreciated

caris

Caris. They can take up to 4 weeks to reply to any correspondence.
If you haven't heard shortly phone them and ask how the case is progressing.

You shouldn't have to contact the council. If you are successful and get a rebanding the voa will inform the council. The council will then pay the rebate to you. If you are lucky then mind the council don't try to take the rebate back for council tax for the year ahead as some councils do.
Say you want a cheque for the whole amount and for the length of time you were in the house. Some councils are trying to cut the number of years they rebate.

Maisie