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

pjg_2

vivatifosi wrote: »

Hi PJG,

What I would do is find out when the houses were first sold and how much for. As the houses were new build in 2002 you will be able to get their initial sales price very easily off one of the house price comparison sites. Check the two different house styles against each other.

What matters is not what they sell against each other for now, but what the difference in price was at the time of sale. Were both house types built by the same developer? If not you may find that one house was priced more because it contained more incentives. This is something that you may be able to find out from your neighbours that have lived there a long time. When the VOA values a house it is supposed to take out the value of incentives. Another thing that may make a difference is if one lot of four beds (yours) has a garage within its boundaries, but the others don't. In that case, the garage price is removed from the equation.

All of these things could make a difference. Get the initial prices together, find out what the differences are, come back, let us know and we'll try and help you take it from there.

Thanks vivatifosi,
Ive checked on nethouse prices, and because the estate was built in stages, the prices of the houses actually overlap.
But on the same phase, Ours was £135000 average selling price, and the smaller 4 bed £115000 average. This changes as the phases of the estate developed over time, when would the site have been valued for Council Tax?.
What next???

PJG

vivatifosi

My understanding, based on my estate and how it was valued, is that the VOA has the new house prices as they come on stream and base the valuation on what they were at the time. Where I live the estate was sold over a one year period too.

If the prices where you live, for example, rose by £20k to £135k at the same time as the local housing market where you live rose by the equivalent amount then it shouldn't matter as that should be taken in to consideration. Therefore the house valuations should be relatively similar.

If however, the price of one set of houses was £20k higher when the market only went up by, say, 5% over the period in which they were marketed, then the VOA is likely to say that the cheaper houses are in the top of one band and yours are in the bottom of the next band. What was the differential where there was an overlap? That is the strongest point on which to base your case.

I would ask the VOA how they arrived at your band. See my previous posts today and yesterday for using the Freedom of Information Act to gather such information (should be easy for your house as there is no reason for secrecy since it is post 2000 and therefore house prices were out in the open).

DrGUID

Hi all,

I live in a new build 2 bed flat, there are about 50 others of a similar size on the development. Only 2 (including mine) are band C, the others are band B. The 3 identical flats below mine are band B.

I wrote to the VOA pointing this out, and in their rather standard looking reply they refused to reduce my flat to a band B (although they might increase the banding for my neighbours!). Oddly they say that the properties with lower valuations could have a lower banding because they have been extended but how can a flat be extended!!!

My landlord stupidly paid over the odds for my flat (220K whereas most of the others sold for around 175K). Does this affect things? Oddly the other band C property sold for just 152K.

Can I appeal or complain to someone about this rather shoddy treatment? I thought they had to look into each individual case rather than just send an obviously standard letter. What's the point of applying to the VOA if they won't actually read your letter? :mad:

johnsmiffy

johnsmiffy wrote: »

Having contact my local VOA to request a review of my banding (currently , I have received a letter saying that my house (end terrace, and ones like it) were selling just above the £40k, whilst the others (mid terrace) were selling below the £40k.

However, if I could "provide specific sales evidence that contradicts the view" then I would have to like it or lump it!:mad: Why should I do the VOA's job for them?

Having calculated the figures prior to initially contacting the VOA (from the main page, using the links) All houses like ours would have been around the lower band limit - the majority below the £40k.

Today I have contacted the person who wrote the letter to discuss the facts, and she was very "confused".
1 - She thought that I was talking about the other end of the band, £52k!
2 - She tried to explain what state the housing market was in during the early 1990's.
3 - She woundered where I got the recent sales figures for houses like mine - she even took the web address of Nethouseprices.com!:rotfl:

Eventually she agreed that she would need to look at my case again!:j

It just makes me ask the question did she even look at my request properly in the first case, or did she just print-out and send a bog standard NO letter.

The latter I feel, considering it only took 3 days to get a reply in the first instance, and it will take at-least a week to get a reply from this new review!

Just to update, phoned the VOA after not getting any reply only to find that the lady who I had spoken to no longer worked for them!!! No wonder she seemed confused - she couldn't give a fig as she was leaving!!!

AND she had not made any notes about my request/her intention to look into the situation again. To say I am happy is an understatement, and I made that point very obvious to the VOA team leader who I spoke to.

Anyway now being looked at as a matter of urgency by the VOA, and should get a reply today, or early next week.

Again fingers crossed.

vivatifosi

Hi johnsmiffy,

What a nightmare! One of my neighbours had a similar problem (I don't know why but her case was transferred to a different person). Actually, this had a benefit - the person was more interested, listened to what she had to say etc, and ultimately rebanded her property in the direction that she wanted. Hopefully your case will turn out the same. Will keep my fingers crossed for you.

vivatifosi

DrGUID wrote: »

Hi all,

I live in a new build 2 bed flat, there are about 50 others of a similar size on the development. Only 2 (including mine) are band C, the others are band B. The 3 identical flats below mine are band B.

I wrote to the VOA pointing this out, and in their rather standard looking reply they refused to reduce my flat to a band B (although they might increase the banding for my neighbours!). Oddly they say that the properties with lower valuations could have a lower banding because they have been extended but how can a flat be extended!!!

My landlord stupidly paid over the odds for my flat (220K whereas most of the others sold for around 175K). Does this affect things? Oddly the other band C property sold for just 152K.

Can I appeal or complain to someone about this rather shoddy treatment? I thought they had to look into each individual case rather than just send an obviously standard letter. What's the point of applying to the VOA if they won't actually read your letter? :mad:

The standard letters are annoying. To be fair to the VOA though, they do get an awful lot of queries and are a bit under siege. I'd want to use standard letters if I was being bombarded by me everyday!

Your landlord's paying over the odds does affect you unfortunately. However you may be able to improve the situation if you can prove that the reason he paid £45k more was that there was some kind of funky incentive (such as the ones at the moment with the deposits paid by the developer not being real deposits), or that the flat came fully furnished, or something like that.

Ask the landlord whether they have any additional information - it should benefit them after all - it should make the flat easier to let in the future. If that doesn't work, ask the VOA to provide evidence as to how they arrived at your banding.

Good luck.

everettian

everettian wrote: »

Had a NOTICE OF INVALID PROPOSAL this morning from my local VOA office.
This is on the grounds of the 6 months law.
I can however appeal within four weeks, anyone have any tips on going for a refund ?

Had another letter today from my local VOA office after I appealed against the above.
Whilst the VOA officer says he is confident that my reasons for appeal are not valid he has sent my case to an appeal tribunal and I will be hearing from them in due course.
Not holding my breath but you never know ?

vivatifosi

Hi everettian,

I did an analysis last year of the reasons people win invalidity appeals. Unfortunately there are very few people who do. You need to be able to prove that your appeal is valid one of these ways:

* Your house has been reduced in size and therefore the value has materially reduced (eg you've knocked down part).
* Your house has materially reduced in value as a result of some event near your house - for example, Tesco's has built a supermarket next door, lorries now deliver 24 hours a day and it has reduced the house's value by £30k. They've built a flyover opposite, that kind of thing.
* You have lived in your home less than six months and therefore have a right to make an appeal to tribunal.
* One of your neighbours has made a successful appeal (via tribunal) within the past six months and you are entitled to a banding hearing as a result.

Any of those fit the bill? If so, you may stand a chance. If not, your appeal is very likely to be declared invalid.

everettian

vivatifosi wrote: »

Hi everettian,

I did an analysis last year of the reasons people win invalidity appeals. Unfortunately there are very few people who do. You need to be able to prove that your appeal is valid one of these ways:

* Your house has been reduced in size and therefore the value has materially reduced (eg you've knocked down part).
* Your house has materially reduced in value as a result of some event near your house - for example, Tesco's has built a supermarket next door, lorries now deliver 24 hours a day and it has reduced the house's value by £30k. They've built a flyover opposite, that kind of thing.
* You have lived in your home less than six months and therefore have a right to make an appeal to tribunal.
* One of your neighbours has made a successful appeal (via tribunal) within the past six months and you are entitled to a banding hearing as a result.

Any of those fit the bill? If so, you may stand a chance. If not, your appeal is very likely to be declared invalid.

Cheers Vivatifosi,

At least they haven`t thrown it out completely, here is my appeal grounds, I am currently band C in the South West.

• The valuation for Q2 1991 is £46771.
• Price paid through Estate Agent Q2 1997 was £48650.
• Both these valuations put the property into band B.
• I believe my property to be a Second Gear Valuation and whilst the property has the same appearance as number one (band C) it is different it many ways. Our house is a terrace, number one is an end terrace. Number one also has a drive and a double garage , a much larger rear garden and is a bigger property .The rest of my terraced neighbours numbers, 5,7,9,are all band B, number 11 also an end terrace is band B.
• I had no idea that I could check my neighbours council tax banding.
• I believe that in this case the six months limit has no place in law.
• You have a duty by law, to keep lists fair and accurate.

Zebedeee

everettian, you need to draw a distinction between an appeal against the banding of your property and an invalidity appeal, which is what you have been offered. Unless you can meet those very narrow criteria as listed by vivatifosi above then you cannot win an invalidity tribunal. At an invalidity tribunal you are not able to present your evidence for a rebanding.

That doesn't mean, however, that you are sunk. You need to find another way to force a rebanding tribunal. Check the VTS website for tribunal decisions. If you can find one in your area which is simillar to your case and who won within the last six months you are entitled to a tribunal on that basis. I know it seems a long shot, but it is possible. That's what happened to me and I won!

Zebedeee