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

Rooster_Booster_2

Re: Council unable to refund from 1993 - 2000 due to the "Statute of limitaions"
The council has replied at last ....you cant beat reminding them with the same email every day of the week.

Well with due consideration after my "appeal". They have revised their decision and will be refunding me for the period 1993 - 2000. Robbing Ba***erds

Not sure whether its hard cash or will be taken from this years Council (wasters)Tax???

But a result.

Know just the task of reclaiming the compounded interest from the VOA.

Also wondering if its worth complaning about the lies they told me in their first letter???

Dont Give-up.

Rooster

Daisy_Bell

Yes - thats exactly what it is! A Postcode lottery! There is no conformity anywhere it seems to me! The VOAs in the various parts of the country interpret the 'Rules' differently! Where I live, they are particularly hard-nosed and very arrogant lot! I am not prepared to fight 'All the way to the House of Lords' as it were! I feel I have done all I can. There were no house sales that I am aware of in our street in 1991 so I have nothing to fight with, even if I felt so inclined. Thank you all for your support anyway, I wouldn't have gone so far without all your posts giving me hope, but it's not worth the worry.

vivatifosi

topbargainhunter wrote: »

Has anyone else attended one of these, and if so, do you have any tips or suggestions for me? I'm quite nervous about it, and feel like I'm going to be on trial. I don't want to mess it up through nerves.

Thanks very much.

Hi topbargainhunter,

Firstly, very good luck for tomorrow. It can be daunting, but the VTS do try to keep it as pleasant as possible, and you shouldn't feel that you are on trial.

You should by now know what evidence you want to present. If this hasn't already been passed through, make sure you take 5 copies, plus one for yourself. You won't need to do this if you've already submitted everything, but any last minute additions you may wish to make you should do this.

Tribunals are open sessions, anyone can sit in on them, but I doubt in practice most people can be bothered! In my tribunal, nobody sat in and watched.

There will be a panel of three people representing the VTS. The VTS is totally independent from the VOA and in my experience did everything they could to put me at ease. One of the panel members will be chairing the session. In addition there will be a Clerk from the VTS sitting in on the session. Their role is to ensure that the session runs smoothly, keep notes, and advise the tribunal panel members on points of law. It is not up to the clerk to make decisions, only help and advise where appropriate.

The format of the tribunal is as follows:

1. The tribunal members will introduce themselves and give you a brief introduction to the session and how it will work. They should also explain the rules of the tribunal. The most important of these is that you MUST get all of your evidence into your presentation. If you try to introduce something later they cannot admit it as evidence, no matter how important it is to your case. Keep a tick list of your key points of evidence and don't stop presenting until you know you've let them know everything.

2. Either you or the VOA will present your case first. I was advised to let the VOA go first as that gives you a chance to hear their evidence and respond to it in yours. After the first person gives their evidence, the panel and the other side (ie you or the VOA) have the chance to ask questions. If the VOA goes first, take plenty of notes so you know what to ask of them. You are allowed to ask questions, but not make statements against the other side.

3. Then its the other side's turn to put their evidence and the other person can ask questions (along with the panel) afterwards.

4. The VTS panel chair will sum up and probably tell you that you will be informed by post of the decision. On rare occasions they may make their minds up there and then, but it depends on how cut and dry the case is.

If the VOA listings officer stays in the room afterwards, don't worry. They aren't allowed to put forward any additional info relating to the case, its purely that they are probably doing 4-5 cases that day and are prepping for the next person to come along to keep the day running to time.

If all else fails when you go in, take a deep breath, and remember that it will all be over in less than an hour... And that they can't take you away in handcuffs ;-)

Zebedeee

topbargainhunter wrote: »

Has anyone else attended one of these, and if so, do you have any tips or suggestions for me? I'm quite nervous about it, and feel like I'm going to be on trial. I don't want to mess it up through nerves.

I'd go along with everything vivatifosi says and just add one or two of my own observations.

Firstly, although they say it is an informal process, I thought the hearing was actually quite a formal affair. Everybody was expected to stand whenever the panel entered or exited the room, for example. I didn't find this intimidating, but it is worth knowing beforehand so you're not caught out.

Secondly, and this seems really obvious, but make sure the panel can hear you clearly. The accoustics of the room may not be that good so you will need to make sure that you are speaking loud enough and clear enough. If they can't hear what you are saying the strength of your argument will be lost, no matter how good it is.

Also, I'd repeat what vivatifosi says about having a check list for when you sum up, just to make sure you haven't forgotten anything. I'd also include a summary sheet for each of the panel members so they can have a good look at your argument when you are no longer in the room.

Hope that helps, and all the very best for tomorrow.

Zebedee

guppy

Rooster_Booster wrote: »

Re: Council unable to refund from 1993 - 2000 due to the "Statute of limitaions"
The council has replied at last ....you cant beat reminding them with the same email every day of the week.

Well with due consideration after my "appeal". They have revised their decision and will be refunding me for the period 1993 - 2000. Robbing Ba***erds

Not sure whether its hard cash or will be taken from this years Council (wasters)Tax???

But a result.

Know just the task of reclaiming the compounded interest from the VOA.

Also wondering if its worth complaning about the lies they told me in their first letter???

Dont Give-up.

Rooster

Well done, Rooster!

Its bad enough trying to get your banding reduced without having to argue with the council about getting your money back.

Did they offer any explanation for fobbing you off initially?

I think you should complain, if you hadn't been so stubborn you'd have lost out. They were either lying or were conveniently incompetent. Wonder how many others took the council's word for it?

You should put your experience on the successes board too if you haven't already, I'm sure there are others in the same position.

Enjoy your rebate anyway!

P.S. Daisy Bell, try not to get stressed, once you get the VOA's response come back and we'll all try and help.

guppy

cadgaboo wrote: »

But as far as the council are concerned the mobile home doesn't excist, I just don't get it, sorry.

If your son is getting a council tax bill the council probably know the mobile home exists. As Altarf said, the planning permission situation is irrelevant.

The key thing is that the mobile home is a "dwelling", obvious since someone lives there. Even if the council didn't know the mobile home existed, the tax could still be backdated if they found out.

Unfortunately everyone has to pay and there's no easy way to avoid it

topbargainhunter

Thanks Zebedeee and Vivatifosi, I'll report back on how things went.

Viv

Don't think I am in the correct place but can't see the right place Sorry!!
My query is that I own and run a small cafe and had a phone call from a no win no fee type outfit that offered to reclaim my last 2 years business rates overpayment for free (but I have to give them 25% plus VAT of my 'win') I am quite happy to try and reclaim myself but I am not sure how. When they rang again today for my decision I said that I would try to do it myself, they replied that they have all my Inland rev info and they can be more successful than me. I would assume that I go to rates office of local council but they keep saying Inland Rev?? Firstly how dare they have more info about me than me and how do I prove them wrong. The figures they bandied about were £900 each year for last 2 years. So worth trying I am thinking. Help Please!!!

guppy

Have a look at this page, Viv. Sorry this is a bit off topic everyone else.

http://www.neath-porttalbot.gov.uk/businessrates/br_advice.cfm

"Cowboys" are common in this field.

More advice here: http://www.mybusinessrates.gov.uk

Valuations for business rates are a bit more complex than council tax but you don't necessarily need to be professionally represented.

They are based on the estimated rental value of your property on 1st April 2003. If the rent you actually pay is much lower, you might have a case, though it depends on when your rent was set etc. etc.

Rateable values and measurements of all business properties can be found on the VOA website www.voa.gov.uk

You can appeal online there too. If you need advice on the appeal process it might be an idea to call your local VOA office in the first instance. If you employ an unqualified agent, check he isn't wearing spurs or a ten gallon hat

Shimla

I am new to these boards and instead of writing in this thread posted my query as a new thread. Did not get any reply so I am posting it here and hoping somebody will guide me. After watching Martin's programme I rang my listing office and they gave me the standard reply that I was out of time limit. My situation is as follows:

I live in borough of Brent. In my street, there are houses that have been converted into 2 or 3 flats. My flat is also one such conversion (ie I live upstairs in Flat B while there is a Flat A on the ground floor which is banded as Band . After looking at VOA website I found that most of these converted flats are in C Band (they were converted around the same time as mine was). But mine is in Band D. I bought my flat in 1985 and know what the price was then. I used the Nationwide calculator to find the price in 1991. Apparently it comes up to £61,623. So my flat should have been in Band C according to Martin’s banding guide.

My question is should I mention both these two facts in the letter to the listing officer ie (1) the addresses of such houses (which were converted in flats and banded as C) and (2) the price I paid for my flat in 1985. Please can anybody help me and post a reply to my question. I would be very grateful. My husband and I are both pensioners and money will come in very handy.

Shimla