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

exvoperson

vivatifosi wrote: »

Hi exvoperson,

While you are right that the VOA should increase one or reduce the other, both Zebedeee and I know from first hand experience that this doesn't always happen. I've won two tribunals where I live and had another house rebanded on appeal, (I write up all of the appeals for the homeowners on my estate as a director of the res assoc and having won my tribunal to start with), and I can tell you from bitter experience that although I live in an identical house to many of my neighbours we have a terrible time getting the VOA to reband. I have come to the belief that while there are many pragmatic Listing Officers who go to great lengths to ensure accuracy of the list, there are others, who - no matter how much evidence you present them, and how many tribunals you win - dig their heels in.

And don't get us started on Maisie, who started this thread years ago and in spite of evidence showing the same house type banded lower, and with primary evidence showing the price in 1991 for that house type being in the lower band, still can't get her house rebanded.

Sorry to vent, but the VOA really does hold all the cards on revaluation and often makes it unjustifiably unfair if you don't know all of the rules and how to apply them exactly. For example, I know of one person who made an appeal off the back of a tribunal in a valid time window and because they didn't mention that appeal in their first contact with the VOA it was declared an invalid appeal, even though the VOA was given the detail in their following correspondence. The VOA knows it can withdraw an invalidity tribunal but it dug its heels in. Its just crazy. And don't get me started on how the VOA hides behind "confidentiality" legislation despite rulings by the Information Commissioner and Parliamentary Ombudsman in terms of what they can and cannot disclose.

That's it. Thank you for reading. Vent over.

Hello Vivatlifosi.

Many thanks for your response. Having spent 22 years in the VOA mainly on the commercial side I always took the view that someone should pay the tax that was fair and not a penny more. Having recently set up on my own mainly dealing with business rate appeals I have been shocked at the attitude of some of my former collegues on the council tax side. It was generally accepted that the CT list was a bit of a mess and their unwillingness to correct what are clear errors in the list saddens and surprises me.

During my first tribunal on the other side I was told in front of the tribunal that if the VOA did not agree with the decision they would not reduce the bandings on identical houses, this having happened in the Bristol area.

At the moment I have a test case outstanding on the right to appeal on the back of a VT decision. I'm also in discussion with |VOA head office to see what information can be disclosed under s.28 of the local government finance act 1992. I will let you know the outcome. I know most of the rules as you put it and will use that knowledge to the benefit of other taxpayers so lets fight on!! Regards James

Mrs_R_8

I have a question, all replies will be very much appreciated. My neighbours & I moved into our new homes at the end of November 2004. We were put into the tax band F. After checking all the neighbours down the street I have found that there is quite a jump to our band. There is no E band! After checking on the calulator supplied on the MSE site (1991 Q2) I have found that our 10 houses should be in a lower band (E) Cambs. As I can't compare with my immediate neighbours but only the rest of the road do you think I have reason to seek from the council my rebanding? All the other houses that I have been able to find the tax bands on have been checked and are in the right bands. 10 houses are alot to change but also getting 10 houses bands wrong could be alot of work too. Any help from anyone would be great. Thanks PS could be a nail biting case for Martin to look into!

Zebedeee

arm1970 wrote: »

Hi folks first time poster so please be gentle with me

It looks like we tick all the boxes in the checks to see if we're eligible for a refund however there one small problem. I'm absolutely hopeless at writing letters of this sort and I looking for some kind soul to either point me in the right direction or pass any templates onto myself to amend so I can get a nice little cheque back from the local council. I'm based near Glasgow if that's any help.


Cheers

Hi, and welcome to this board!

I don't know how it works in Scotland, but have you tried applying online? I assume from what you say that you have checked your band on the VOA website, so you can click on your property and it will bring up a screen with the details for your house. On that page there is a link to 'make a formal challenge(proposal)'. You can click on that and it allows you to challenge your band online, assuming it is the same as the site I am using in England!

I'd start that way and see how you get on. You might be one of the lucky ones who get an easy ride! If you need any more help come back on here. You might find your questions have already been answered on here as there is now such a lot of info on this board, but any problems and I'm sure one of us will be able to help.

Zebedeee

Zebedeee

Mrs_R wrote: »

I have a question, all replies will be very much appreciated. My neighbours & I moved into our new homes at the end of November 2004. We were put into the tax band F. After checking all the neighbours down the street I have found that there is quite a jump to our band. There is no E band! After checking on the calulator supplied on the MSE site (1991 Q2) I have found that our 10 houses should be in a lower band (E) Cambs. As I can't compare with my immediate neighbours but only the rest of the road do you think I have reason to seek from the council my rebanding? All the other houses that I have been able to find the tax bands on have been checked and are in the right bands. 10 houses are alot to change but also getting 10 houses bands wrong could be alot of work too. Any help from anyone would be great. Thanks PS could be a nail biting case for Martin to look into!

Mrs R, you say that your house is one of ten which are in band F, the rest of the street is band D. Are your houses newer than the rest of the street and if so, when was the rest of the street built? Also, how do the ten band F houses compare in size and value to the rest of the street? The answers to these questions will give us a better idea of where you stand than the house price calculator. Once we have this information we'll see what we can do to help!

Zebedeee

flo999

I am one of only 7 properies in my estate of over 100 houses that is band F. The majority of the others are band E.

I am in Wales so that council tax banding is based on the value of the property on 1st April 2003.

The issue I have is that there are a number of properites within my estate that are considerably larger in floor area than mine, (houses with more rooms and double garages), but are a council tax band lower. This seems very unfair!

I have already written to the VOA to request that my band be re-evaluated but they have refused to reduce it. In their letter to me they state that their records show my property measuring a certain floor area, (172m2). This is incorrect as it is lower than this. They also reference the actual sale price of properties, not in my estate, but in the same village over the band E limit of £162.001.

In reality, I believe I am on the fringes of band E/F. In 2003 my house could have sold for just under or over the band boundary. However it is not right that there are properties in my immediate vicinity that would would have been worth more then mine in 2003 but are a band lower.

The VOA say that I have NO right of appeal against their decision. Is this the case?
Should I cite examples of the properties around me that would have been worth more on the open market in 2003 than mine. Will this reduce my band or increase my neighbours?

Please advise.

baileysbattlebus

This question is more out of interest than anything else, we appealed against our banding a couple of years ago and were successful and went from band F to E. In our street of 19 houses there are 4 semi detached houses with single garages, 5 - 5 bedroomed detached with double garages and the rest 4 bedroomed detached with double garages. At the time we appealed we (semi detached) were in band F, all other semis and most of the 4 bedroomed detached were in band D and 3 of the 5 bedroomed in band F, others in band E.
After looking at this thread I just thought I'd have a look a our street again and every one is now in band E except 3 of the 5 bedroomed who are still in band band F.
The question I have is that on the website the only houses with changes listed are the one's who have had their banding reduced, the one's who look as if the bandings have increased (most of them) have no effective from dates, is this normal??
Interesting with our deeds is a copy of the site plan (street built in 1963) and what was proposed bore no relation to the actual devopment, across the road from us was supposed to be a small row of terraced houses, they are actually 4 bed detached, which if the VOA used those plans for the original valuations would explain the anomalies in the original bandings.

exvoperson

flo999 wrote: »

I am one of only 7 properies in my estate of over 100 houses that is band F. The majority of the others are band E.

I am in Wales so that council tax banding is based on the value of the property on 1st April 2003.

The issue I have is that there are a number of properites within my estate that are considerably larger in floor area than mine, (houses with more rooms and double garages), but are a council tax band lower. This seems very unfair!

I have already written to the VOA to request that my band be re-evaluated but they have refused to reduce it. In their letter to me they state that their records show my property measuring a certain floor area, (172m2). This is incorrect as it is lower than this. They also reference the actual sale price of properties, not in my estate, but in the same village over the band E limit of £162.001.

In reality, I believe I am on the fringes of band E/F. In 2003 my house could have sold for just under or over the band boundary. However it is not right that there are properties in my immediate vicinity that would would have been worth more then mine in 2003 but are a band lower.

The VOA say that I have NO right of appeal against their decision. Is this the case?
Should I cite examples of the properties around me that would have been worth more on the open market in 2003 than mine. Will this reduce my band or increase my neighbours?

Please advise.

It may be easier to get a reduction if you can show the VOA have made a simple mistake in their measurements. Houses are measured to GEA- 'gross external area' so for a simple square 2 storey house just measure from corner to corner for 2 walls times them together to get ground floor area and double it for first floor. Problems come with things like conservatories and attic rooms. garages are excluded. If you go on the VOA website there is a tab at the top headed 'publications' click on that and scholl down to find the 'code of measuring practice'. If the VOA are wrong try putting the revised area to them without referring to other properties and see what they say. Invite them to inspect if you think it appropriate. On the publication tab there are also a number of VOA instructions in the Council tax manual

lennie_3

having checked all the bands for the last 3 places i've lived the last one (current home) is the lowest but the largest house i've lived in in a band A. the rest, 2 bed grd fl flat, a 2 bed new build (2004) mid terrace house are in band B. is that normal? seems they should all have been in band B or am i completely wrong. hubby left me and 3 small boys so trying to save/get more money! lol
thanks for reading.
leonie

FieryBlondeScot

Ok... not sure whether to go for this or not! however...

i live in ablock of 21 newish flats. from what i can see most including myself are in band c, with the exception of flat 21 which is in band D (next door) which like mine is a 1 bed. i cant click on banding history or any other details for this flat so no further info.

when i click on mine and flat 20's banding history it says band D effective from 01/04/1993, so does this mean that our 2 flats, but for some reason not flat 21, were re-assessed from band D and put up to band C??

(so far only one neighbour then is in a lower band, and everyone else in band c like me now)

i have checked the house prices thing for 1991, and a couple of flats recently sold from my block for average 167K around aug 06 and would have been worth £50403 in 1991, which it would appear is in 1991 council tax band B?

only one flat in aug07 sold for 250K and i am assuming this is one of the few 2 bed flats in the block

can anyone help me make sense of this?

nickmiz

Hi

Last year when the council tax went up I saw the article on this site about rebanding and tried to sort it out but was told that the band is right.
I want to challenge it again because I still don't think its right but not sure whether to try it, can anyone tell me what they think.

Property was bought in 1998 by me for £36k, so its most definately under 40,000 but am in band B. I'm in a 2 bedroom flat above two shops. My sister is in a 3 bedroom house and is on band B aswell. So I think i should be on band A. From what I've read its only based on the price of your property in 1991.

Should I try to challenge it again or not?

Thanks