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

tramway_2

vivatifosi wrote: »

Hi tramway,

The issue with all bands is that they have to start and finish somewhere. As a result it isn't uncommon to find different types of houses on the same estate in the same band. Where I live two bed terraced houses are in the same band as three bed semis.

The issue is what your house would have been worth had it been built in 1991. Go back through this thread and read up on how to get evidence on this. But be warned, because all houses are in the same band it is likely to be a tough call.

Also, the fact that there's nothing on the website doesn't mean that there hasn't been any challenge to a band, it means that there hasn't been a successful challenge to a band, and for that matter that there hasn't been an unsuccessful case that has been confirmed at tribunal. I was surprised where I live to find that there had been many other challenges made than just those shown on the web.

Given that all houses are banded uniformly, you stand a much better chance of getting this looked at if you have moved in within the last six months. If you haven't, your best bet may be worth talking to your neighbours, finding out if any of them have made a challenge in the past and getting a bit of history before getting started.

Cheers will do.

liz23_2

I spoke to the banding people for my area last month, they said it would take over 8 weeks to come to a decision. I've just had a phone call from them asking me more questions. I said the reason I believed that I was in the wrong band is that my neighbour (we are semis) is band D and we are E, we have both been extended and my neighbour bought the property 6 year with extension in place.
I had also looked at the rest of the street and noted down the numbers of all of the extended semis, I checked their band and they are all D, plus my house is on a main A road and the rest of my street is not (i'm on the corner)
The man said that he would look into it and get back to me, but said he believed that I was the right band and the rest were incorrect, if this was the case he would put their bands up.
Surely he can't just do that? Wouldn't he have to investigate all of them?
I feel like a grass now!!!
I told him that when I rang initially the person on the phone told me that it would only be my band that would be looked at, not my neighbours and it was very rare that they put bands up, his reply to this was 'oh, did he'

Any comments would be gratefully received - well nice ones anyway:D

Signed
Supersnitch!!!

Trucker_Andy

I followed the MSE links and checked my Banding against other local houses. This is not easy as I live in a rural area and all neighbouring properties differ.
I did notice that my property was listed as 'Composite' which I understand relates to a part of the property being used for business. This is no longer the case and has not been for more than 7 years. I have lived here for 30 years.


I found one neighbouring property which does seasonal B & B, the banding for this house changes from 'E' in the summer months to 'A' in the winter each year. I am assuming this change reflects the times at which they take in guests.

Does anybody have any experience or advice on appealing the 'composite' listing.

Zebedeee

Trucker Andy, I'm afraid I don't know anything about the composite listing other than what you have already stated, but I don't see why you can't ask for a review, just like any other property. You could either ring your local VOA office or write them a letter setting out your reasons for requesting a review.

Before you do tho', just make sure that a review would work in your favour and that rebanding to a purely domestic property wouldn't make you worse off for some reason.

Hopefully someone else will come along on here who knows much more about this side of things than either of us!

exvoperson

Zebedeee wrote: »

Trucker Andy, I'm afraid I don't know anything about the composite listing other than what you have already stated, but I don't see why you can't ask for a review, just like any other property. You could either ring your local VOA office or write them a letter setting out your reasons for requesting a review.

Before you do tho', just make sure that a review would work in your favour and that rebanding to a purely domestic property wouldn't make you worse off for some reason.

Hopefully someone else will come along on here who knows much more about this side of things than either of us!

As far as I'm aware the composite listing on its own makes no difference to what you pay. All farms for example are composites. If you had part of your property used for commercial reasons then that part would be subject to business rates. I assume you pay no such rates. Was there ever a business rates assessment and if so was it deleted. If so there is a risk that they may have deleted that assessment but not increased the council tax assessment which they could still do. However if all your property has been valued correctly it may be they just forgot to remove the 'composite' flag.
Regards ExVOperson

exvoperson

liz23 wrote: »

I spoke to the banding people for my area last month, they said it would take over 8 weeks to come to a decision. I've just had a phone call from them asking me more questions. I said the reason I believed that I was in the wrong band is that my neighbour (we are semis) is band D and we are E, we have both been extended and my neighbour bought the property 6 year with extension in place.
I had also looked at the rest of the street and noted down the numbers of all of the extended semis, I checked their band and they are all D, plus my house is on a main A road and the rest of my street is not (i'm on the corner)
The man said that he would look into it and get back to me, but said he believed that I was the right band and the rest were incorrect, if this was the case he would put their bands up.
Surely he can't just do that? Wouldn't he have to investigate all of them?
I feel like a grass now!!!
I told him that when I rang initially the person on the phone told me that it would only be my band that would be looked at, not my neighbours and it was very rare that they put bands up, his reply to this was 'oh, did he'

Any comments would be gratefully received - well nice ones anyway:D

Signed
Supersnitch!!!

Dear Supersnitch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It may be that most of those extended homes have not been sold since the extension was built so the VOA is unable to increase the banding until there has been a sale. A note of the extension is recorded as an 'i' on council tax list but often the VOA are not aware of extensions it depends whether planning permission or building regs were required plus how much liason there is between the council and the VOA.
However the bad news is that your neighbour who brought the house with the extension could find his banding increased. Sorry!
Kind regards ExVOperson

exvoperson

I require some help regarding a regulation 26 counter notice. The story so far is that the VOA on an appeal has served a notice quoting 5 transactions. The appeal property is in a rural location and the Vo's comparables are scattered around nearby villages and are the same sales he has refered to in a number of appeals (because they are all high figures!!) I have asked him to provide 5 sales of any properties in the nearby village, with a request that the 5 are those closest in time to the valuation date of 4/91. The VOA has replied saying that i have to specify 5 actual address and if any one of those houses has not been sold then I do not get a chance to refer to another property. Does anyone have any experience of this matter either with the VOA being pig headed as in my case or where the council tax payer not knowing the addresses in the first place just made a general request and the VOA responded with sales information
Many thanks for any help
EeVOperson

Zebedeee

That sounds a very familliar story, Exvoperson. They make it as difficult as possible for you to get hold of the information you need while they have access to as much info as is available. And it is supposed to be a level playing field!

I found that the VOA were quite happy to use sales prices from much later than 1991 when it suited them, whereas I was able to get hold of prices from 1991 newspapers which supported me. I think my 1991 prices carried more weight with the VTS because they were more relevant than those quoted by the VOA.

Vivatifosi has had some success by asking for information under the Freedom of Information Act, but I don't know whether the VOA might just supply you with information on the 5 and then refuse to do any more. In the end I found it easier to get my own information than to rely on them and their unhelpfulness.

RAINBOW123_3

Hi

Does it matter if the other flats in my block are in the same Band as me living in a 1 bedroom flat? We are all in Band C but should be in Band B.But there are also 2 bedroom flats that are in Band C aswell.

I got a letter from the VOA to say that Im in the right Band which I think is just a letter to put me off.

I was just wondering if I can still go ahead and challenge it even if the other flats are the same as mine but that we should all be in Band B not C?

Im off to the library 2moro to look at the papers back in 1991 or am I just wasting my time.

What do I look for ? Im bit confused.

Any answers/Advice would be great or to point me in the right direction if there are posts similar to this on here already.

Thank you.

chelleanne

we have just been informed by the council review team that the banding is worked out by the size of the house (the area of land it covers)is this true