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

David_Harrison_2

I checked my banding after reading your article and found the houses either side of me were D and we were an E.

Contatced council who eventually agreed there was a mistake, rebanded us at D, and gave a refund for last six years plus interest - yippee!! :T

All took a few months but no real effort involved and getting more than a £1000 out of the council is very pleasureable.

bnoc

David_Harrison wrote:

plus interest

A number of people have been asking about interest. Did you simply get given it without asking? If not then how did you go about getting it?

steview

Altarf wrote:

However I think that you would be stretching the point if you tried to argue that your house was a lone house with nothing surrounding it in 1991 (although it might be amusing to try). What I think that you can argue is that it's 'trendiness' (and hence value) needs to be based on the 'trendiness' of the area as it was in 1991, not as it is now.

Given that this would be a very subjective argument, the best way to prove it would be to establish the selling prices of properties of the same size and type in 1991 as close to the area where you are as possible, rather than try to use a calculated figure (which is always going to be a bit hit and miss).

Thanks Altarf, a very useful comment.

I am tempted to go with the "trendiness" argument since there was a nearby development that my house does not form part of which was built in 2000 and our development would not have been built if it weren't for that one having been built first back then and having been successful so the area as a whole is much more valuable now than it would have been. Therefore a property pre that 2000 development would have jumped in value post that 2000 development which could provide a strong argument.

Does anyone know an easy way to find exact house prices back in 1991? The land registry site seems to only go back to circa 2000.

SMG_4

We have been rebanded from E to D and received a refund of overpayments last month but without interest. I wondered at the time whether interest should have been added but my husband told me that would just be too cheeky to ask!

Also, am I right in thinking that water/sewage charges are based on the council tax banding? If so, has anyone tried to get a refund for overpayment for these charges?

ImFrugal

I live in a row of terraced houses in dartford. I have just checked and found that my property is Band D and the rest of the terrace is band C. Checked the Nationwide HPI and my house should have been in band C. I rang the tunbridge wells valuations office and put my case after gathering evidence and the listings officer agrees that I have a case and has raised a revaluation query. I look forward to hopefully having a downward rebanding and a refund back to 1999. I told him that I was outside the six month appeal period but after putting my case the six month rule no longer seemed to be a problem.

geesmith

Slightly off topic here....but did anyone check the Up My Street link and not recognise the neighbourhood. ~Having read the assessment of my street ....

I live in a terrace (incorrect), I rely on public transport as I don't earn enough to run a car (seem to have taxed two recently), if I have extra money I will spend it on bingo booze or betting ( and here's me thinking I'm investing it). My level of education will be very low ( I've now got delusions to face up to ).

Why did they stop short and not give me a whippet and flat cap ?

I would suggest that you apply pinches of salt to the information given regarding the make up of neighbourhoods from the UpMyStreet site.....it could be 20 years out of date. Hopefully the council tax info will be more accurate.

I checked a couple of colleagues addresses and they too were surprised by the info given. I hope my car insurance wasn't based on this sites assessment.;)

Oh and good luck with your rebate!

smk77

We moved into a new property costing £158k in August 2005. Using the link to the Nationwide web site I got the following:

"A property located in Scotland which was valued at £63500 in Q1 of 1991, would be worth approximately £157917 in Q3 of 2005."

So, this would suggest that the property would have been worth ~£63,500 in 1991. This would put our property in Band C according to the banding figures:

Band C: £52,001 - £68,000

The problem is that we were assessed as a Band E!! The difference between a C and E for my Council is just under £500 a year. Even if we were re-assessed as a D it would still be £330 a year.

The property is a 3 bed semi without a garage. Not exactly huge! It seems strange that there are 5 bands that cover properties up to 3 bed semis and then 2 to cover the rest.

I see that we are unable to appeal as we moved more than 6 months ago but I can contact Listings Office and remind them of their duty to ensure that all bands are correct. However, is it really worth doing? Any contact would contain the following information:

• I believe my property would have been worth £64k in 1991.
• In-law's property in same council is worth £140k and is band C, ours is now worth (£170k - neighbours have just sold identical property)
• Average house price in my council was £177,788 in Sept 2006 - 5% annual rise (source : Registers of Scotland Executive Agency). This means that average was about £168k in Sept 2005 (month after moving in). We paid £158k so less than the average property.
  

All the houses on the development seem to be too high:

2 bed semi is band D (worth ~ 150k now)
3 bed semi is band E (worth ~ 170k now)
3 bed detached is band E (worth ~ 185k now)
4 bed house is band F (worth between 195k and 225k depending on style)


Can anyone advise or comment on this and what I should do?

Thanks!

philneedham

Hi,

With regard to water rates, I checked on our local water board web site - they state that the water rates are based on the rateable value of the property in 1990, which pre-dates council tax, so I doubt there is any recourse there.

Unless you know differently?

We got about £1600 back from the four years we have been at our property. The previous owner had £600 paid in to her account, though I expect she has no idea why as the letter and remittance advice came to us and we have no forwarding address for her!

Altarf

steview wrote:

Does anyone know an easy way to find exact house prices back in 1991? The land registry site seems to only go back to circa 2000.

It is difficult. The VOA have access but will only provide some information and usually that which supports their case.

The easiest is to check the newspaper archives at your local library. The estate agents pages will give an indication of what houses were being advertised for (and it is very unlikely they would have sold for more), and their is usually enough information to be able to give a rough location.

tracy12050

I am quite frankly sick of the poor and inadequate service provided by our council, they seem to be paid so much money to do naff all.
The sickening part is that we live in a two bed semi, on a 8 year old estate yet pay more in council tax than my parents who live in a three bedroom detached house on quite a respectable estate.
we have no street lighting, we have to take our bins over 50metres to the nearest kerb and they are now changing our rubbish collection to fortnightly.
we don't have children so don't use the local schools, have private healthcare and have never seen a police officer in the street.........
All the above costs us £115 a month, i would hapily take my rubish to the tip myself to save this cost.
What the heck does the local council do for us for the extortionate rate of council tax for basically 'No service'
I dare say the forthcoming rise in council tax will outweigh any pay rise we receive this year, yet they are providing even less of a service

Does anyone else find this?