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

everettian

Cheers Zebedee,
All I want at the end of the day is to be placed in the correct band, which should be B, this would save me £300 a year, however a nice cheque for a back payment would be very nice !
I think I have followed all this correctly as Martin Lewis`s program didn't really make it self clear.
My initial contact against my banding was done on line via the VOA web site, I got a letter a few days later to say it was being looked into by a local VOA officer and then got the notice of invalid proposal of which I appealed,it is now in the hands of the tribunal.
Have I gone about this correctly or have I done something wrong ? Ie appealed against the wrong thing ?

DrGUID

vivatifosi wrote: »

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.

Good luck.

Thanks!

Actually, I don't know if the purchase price is of any relevance at all. Most of the properties were ~175K and are band B. The two band C's were 155K and 220K. All the purchases were registered in December '06.

How confusing! Well I might appeal again as they might be falling short of their legal obligations by not bothering to read my letter properly

vivatifosi

Ok, that makes it all just that bit weirder.... Good luck! Sounds like there's something strange going down. Ignoring the prices did the band Cs have the greatest floor area? If not, I can't possibly imagine where the consistency is.

chinau9

My property was a 2 bed but the previous owner spilt one of the large bedrooms into 2 making it a 3 bedroom property. Should my council tax be vauled based on a 2 bedroom or 3 bedroom.

I was told that since the property was not a purpose built 3 bedroom, it should be vauled as a 2 bedroom for council tax. He went on to say the no extra space was created ie, the extra bedroom was not created from an extention to the house such as the rear or side of the house.

Is this true? where do I stand?

Zebedeee

everettian wrote: »

Cheers Zebedee,
All I want at the end of the day is to be placed in the correct band, which should be B, this would save me £300 a year, however a nice cheque for a back payment would be very nice !
I think I have followed all this correctly as Martin Lewis`s program didn't really make it self clear.
My initial contact against my banding was done on line via the VOA web site, I got a letter a few days later to say it was being looked into by a local VOA officer and then got the notice of invalid proposal of which I appealed,it is now in the hands of the tribunal.
Have I gone about this correctly or have I done something wrong ? Ie appealed against the wrong thing ?

No, I think you have gone about this the right way, but the VOA like to deflect you into an invalidity tribunal knowing that the chances are you will back yourself into a corner and then give up. Unless you can meet those strict validity criteria don't waste your time on a validity appeal but keep on at the VOA and try to get an appeal by the other means we have mentioned. And don't give up easily!

Zebedeee

pineneedle

Hi. I have found out that neighbours in similar houses are in the same band, but so are neighbours in larger properties with an extra bedroom compared to mine. The valuation tool suggests that those larger houses are in the correct band, but all the one beds should be in a lower band. Anyone had any experiences of this kind?

exvoperson

chinau9 wrote: »

My property was a 2 bed but the previous owner spilt one of the large bedrooms into 2 making it a 3 bedroom property. Should my council tax be vauled based on a 2 bedroom or 3 bedroom.

I was told that since the property was not a purpose built 3 bedroom, it should be vauled as a 2 bedroom for council tax. He went on to say the no extra space was created ie, the extra bedroom was not created from an extention to the house such as the rear or side of the house.

Is this true? where do I stand?

As a valuer I would say that as you are trying to work out the market value, and indeed if you tried to sell your house it would be as a 3 bed so you should compare with other 3 beds. Having said that your value may be reduced as its a conversion from a 2 bed and it depends on the quality of the conversion. You will also have a smaller living room and overall your house still has the same floor area as a 2 bed. So the final answer is that its value is somewhere between a 2 and 3 bed, depending on quality layout comparables etc. Hope that helps

exvoperson

exvoperson wrote: »

As a valuer I would say that as you are trying to work out the market value, and indeed if you tried to sell your house it would be as a 3 bed so you should compare with other 3 beds. Having said that your value may be reduced as its a conversion from a 2 bed and it depends on the quality of the conversion. You will also have a smaller living room and overall your house still has the same floor area as a 2 bed. So the final answer is that its value is somewhere between a 2 and 3 bed, depending on quality layout comparables etc. Hope that helps

sorry I should have said a smaller bedroom rather that living room.

brightonbuoy

Hi, me again.

Have not as yet been allocated to a band, a court hearing has been set for next month. However, the Council has offered to pay the outstanding repaymeny plus court fees but refused to pay interest. All of this is to be under a strict confidentiality agreement. It seems that the current news spotlight on this issue has made someone uncomfortable, but nevertheless I have accepted because there is no guarantee that I would get any further by continuing. I have contacted Grace21 with my suggestions, but in the circumstances I am not able to write further on this blog. Thank you all for your help and support, and I suppose that I have succeeded really!!

Maisie

Well done brightonbuoy. I remember your case from way back.

Maisie. ( original poster. )