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

vivatifosi

wige,

Not everyone will agree with me, but I believe that there are times where it is worth appealing even though the whole street is the same. I tried it where I used to live but the VOA told me I was in the right band and would not accept my appeal (this was in the years before I could look up the info I needed on the net). Knowing what I do now I am aware that the VOA failed to take into account an adjacent street of houses all identical, all going for similar prices, all one band lower.

There are however three factors that I can see as counting against you:
1. You are outside of the six month window, so you can only appeal to the VOA, not have a right to a third-party tribunal.
2. Your neighbours are in the same band and yet your house is worth more.
3. Your house price when calculated is only just below the band D threshold. House price calculators are only averages, it is totally feasible your house would have been worth more in 1991.

The only way you can take this further is if you are willing to go to the library and find an identical house on the market for less than £68k as of 1 April 1991 or the months before. In fact, you will probably want to find one of your neighbouring houses, on the market for a price that would allow you to factor in the cost of your improvements. If you can't do this unfortunately it will be very hard for you to win. Sadly, if you can do this it may still be hard for you to win, but at least then you could work with the neighbours to try and get a case to tribunal that you could appeal off the back of.

amandaj8

Hoping someone can help.
I live in Scotland and my house was built in 2000. I paid £46,000 for it back then. In Scotland Band D starts at £45,000+ and I have been slotted in there. Surely the asessor should have worked out what my house would have been worth had it been built in 1991.
I have read the Scottish assessors website and this seems to be what it says should have happened. When my home was built the area was being regenerated so had it been standing in 1991, I reckon it would have sold for £35000 maximum.
15 houses were built in my street in 2000, I have checked and we are all in band D.
Does anyone have any idea whether I can challenge my band???

beingjdc

Just to keep people updated on my appeal, it's gone weird.

Having been put in Band F, and appealed saying I should be C (probably a low D in reality, but if you don't ask you don't get!) in November, I have had a letter today.

This says that on the basis of new information received, my band has been changed to....

Band F.

Peanuckle

I have what should be, in my opinion, a fairly obvious case of mis-banding. I live on a farm, there are only 2 houses here, semi-detached and identical in everyway (apart from a wooden shack style porch on ours) but my neighbours are band C and we are band D. Both houses are owned by the same farmer but next door are employed by the farm and the house is linked to the job. Can this make a difference? The farmer actually pays the council tax for next door and has said he's doesn't know why they are different but suspects questionaires were sent out when the bands were set, and the tenants in my house had said it had 3 bedrooms when in fact it's 2 bedroom and they chose to use the front room as a bedroom?

I've asked for the banding to be looked at, but we've been here more than six months, I assume it will be rebanded but will we be entitled to a refund if it is or does the new banding just take effect from now on?

vivatifosi

beingjdc wrote: »

Just to keep people updated on my appeal, it's gone weird.

Having been put in Band F, and appealed saying I should be C (probably a low D in reality, but if you don't ask you don't get!) in November, I have had a letter today.

This says that on the basis of new information received, my band has been changed to....

Band F.

You're right being jdc, that is plain weird. Sounds like a typo. I would telephone them to see what it should say and ask for a new letter.

vivatifosi

amandaj8 wrote: »

Hoping someone can help.
I live in Scotland and my house was built in 2000. I paid £46,000 for it back then. In Scotland Band D starts at £45,000+ and I have been slotted in there. Surely the asessor should have worked out what my house would have been worth had it been built in 1991.
I have read the Scottish assessors website and this seems to be what it says should have happened. When my home was built the area was being regenerated so had it been standing in 1991, I reckon it would have sold for £35000 maximum.
15 houses were built in my street in 2000, I have checked and we are all in band D.
Does anyone have any idea whether I can challenge my band???

Hi Amanda

I would write to the Scottish Assessors, state that the price in 2000 was only £1k more than the band threshold in 1991 and as they have a duty to maintain an accurate list they clearly need to reband you accordingly. I wouldn't mention the £35k or anything else, just the very small £1k increase over 9 years.

I'm not familiar with the process in Scotland, but if your house was built in an area of investment in 1991 and subsequently there had been a material reduction in the values of properties locally, in England this would also have to be taken into consideration.

The only reason other thing I can think of that could mean that your house is in the right band is this: you have to have paid the price a willing vendor would have paid on the open market. So if there was a discount, or you were a tenant with right to buy, or it is a 50% purchase and you haven't included the rest of the price, or similar factors that could put the price up, then these would have to be taken into consideration.

vivatifosi

Peanuckle wrote: »

I have what should be, in my opinion, a fairly obvious case of mis-banding. I live on a farm, there are only 2 houses here, semi-detached and identical in everyway (apart from a wooden shack style porch on ours) but my neighbours are band C and we are band D. Both houses are owned by the same farmer but next door are employed by the farm and the house is linked to the job. Can this make a difference? The farmer actually pays the council tax for next door and has said he's doesn't know why they are different but suspects questionaires were sent out when the bands were set, and the tenants in my house had said it had 3 bedrooms when in fact it's 2 bedroom and they chose to use the front room as a bedroom?

I've asked for the banding to be looked at, but we've been here more than six months, I assume it will be rebanded but will we be entitled to a refund if it is or does the new banding just take effect from now on?

Hi peanuckle,

The fact that the other side is a tenant should not, AFAIK, make a difference. The fact that the previous tenant in your side used to use their front room as a bedroom may well have implied that your home is worth more. Make sure that the VOA is aware of this.

In terms of when a rebanding takes effect, if the list is corrected rather than amended due to a change in circumstances (eg a motorway has been built next door), this should be backdated to when the listing came into effect. You would then receive a refund for overpayment for the amount of time that you have lived there.

grace21

vivatifosi wrote: »

Good news!!!

Quick update on the CT rebanding where I live. We've won our third reband in a row with no failed appeals as yet. Thankfully this one didn't go to tribunal as it was for a house valued below our previous tribunal successes. Many more waiting in the wings... Will let you know when I have any more news.

Hi Vivatifosi,

Well done you must be so popular in your neighbourhood!!!

Keep up the good work!!

Grace :T

beingjdc

vivatifosi wrote: »

You're right being jdc, that is plain weird. Sounds like a typo. I would telephone them to see what it should say and ask for a new letter.

OK. They rebanded me from F to F because the Council have told them we're a composite property (not true, there's a shop downstairs, but no shared space, and separate access). Apparently those are different bands, but the same tax. Whatever.

Meanwhile they've lost the appeal I submitted online, and want me to do a new one on paper. They also claim that the Band D flat I am comparing us with is smaller. It's not, it's 6 square metres bigger, but they're excluding the bathroom space from that one, but not from this one because it's en-suite here.

I'm going mad.

Zebedeee

beingjdc wrote: »

I'm going mad.

That's a very common feeling in this field, I'm afraid! You are going to have to restate your case very plainly, with nice pictures if possible as a mental aid for those dear folks at the VOA who struggle with difficult concepts. Set it out as clearly and plainly as possible and send it Recorded Delivery. You might also want to CC it to your local MP.

All the best with it, and there are a number of us who have won through with this on here, despite feeling we were banging our heads on brick walls for a long time!