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

kl1ng0n5

Petermasih,

Thanks for that and I hope you are right. Due to the unfair nature of the poll tax I did not pay it when it was original due. But when I bought my first flat the council manage to track me down as I bought an ex council house.

diycathy

I appealed against my banding last year which was denied I applied again and for the second occassion it was denied, I am band c and my adjoining neighbour in the identical house is band b, also out of 16 other identical properties in my road only 3 including myself are band C, where do I go from here? Thanks Cathy

Zebedeee

Hi diycathy. According to the rules, the VOA have a duty to maintain the council tax list 'fair and accurate', so they shouldn't have glaring anomolies like yours in the system. It might be worth pointing this out to them, but perhaps before you do you should check to see that it is your house that is in the wrong band and not your neighbours. The VOA can and do put up the bands of whole swathes of houses if they feel the need! See if you can find selling prices for houses like yours for the 1991 period and see what band they should be in. You can find this information in the property pages of your local newspaper. The library usually keep copies, often on microfiche and it is well worth your while to get this evidence under your belt before deciding where to go with this.

When you have got some figures for the 1991 values we'll be happy to help if we can!

Zebedeee

Zebedeee

thomas0735 wrote: »

My mum recently moved from her flat to a bungalow and rents out her house which has been split into 5 flats. One of the tenants moved from one flat into my mum's old flat and then moved back to her original flat. She discovered that the council tax on the larger flat (my mums old flat) is cheaper than what she's paying for a smaller flat and now she's appealing this. My mum is concerned that if they raise the banding on her old flat then she will recieve a large bill for the tax banding being wrong. Does she have anything to be concerned about, would she be charged at all with the banding being changed?

I'm not sure that I quite understand you, thomas0735. Are you saying that you are worried that your mum might be charged retrospectively for her flat being in a lower band when it (maybe) should have been in a higher band? If so, don't worry, as they cannot charge you for errors on their part. If they put the band up the new charge will start from the present and won't be charged to your mum just because she lived there previously.

Hope that helps!

Zebedeee

jetfighter

I wonder if anyone has any advice. :rolleyes:

My mum has a pretty strong case for a council tax re-banding on her home (a neighbour successfully had their property re-banded from Band B down to Band A and their house is the same size!) and will be phoning up on Tuesday to let them know about it. :T

She has lived in the house all her life (since the 1950s) though my grandparents (her parents) were the owners until my grandmother died in 2002 (my grandfather died in 1985). The house then passed on to my mum and she continued to live in it as she always had done. She had always gone halves on the bills with my grandmother, though the council tax bill was in my grandmother's name as the home owner.

If re-banded, will she be able to claim money back from 1993-2002 when my grandmother was officially the home owner, or only from 2002-present? Does anyone know?

Zebedeee

jetfighter, I hope your mum is successful with her case. Having her neighbours rebanded in a simillar property is certainly a good sign.

I wouldn't have thought your mum would get the money back for when your grandmother was the officially the homeowner, but I don't suppose it does any harm to ask. Don't count your chickens too soon tho', get it rebanded first !

Hope that helps!

Zebedeee

nanamags

I was one of Martin's volunteers on his council tax It Pays to Watch on 2/2/08. Although I came out as border line Martin suggested I challenge. The VOA have just got back to me and refused stating that the other houses in my road which are band A are considerably smaller than mine. As my house is a 3 up 2 down and the other houses are exactly the same built at the same time I find this hard to swallow.

Although they state I have no right of appeal I intend to. I bought my house off plan and I still have the original house and street plans [I never throw anything out] so I am going to submit them as evidence. I have also done at bit more reasearch and I have found 8 more houses in band A on this estate [bulit by the same builder] which are again identical to mine.

Can anyone make any more suggestions. I was going to contact my local councillor [newly re-elected] to see if he would help.

Zebedeee

Hi nanamags. Quite often the VOA have incorrect specifications for houses, so I'm not surprised that they are saying yours is different to your neighbours. I would do as you say, explain that yours is the same as your neighbours and invite them to come and have a look for themselves. Tell them about the other 8 band A houses you have found too.

As for whether or not your councillor will help I wouldn't like to say - especially as he/she doesn't have an election to worry about now! Still, it can't help to ask!

Hope that helps.

Zebedeee

MarkH78

MarkH78 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply
I really hope your right and it does lead to a change in band and a rebate would be a bonus.
She did make me feel uneasy as the first question she asked was why I thought my banding should be changed (with a funny look on her face)
I explained my reasons and she noted them, she concluded by asking if there was any other reason so I told her about this site (dunno if that was a good move) but it was being honest, why should i pay more than the rest of my street??
Its fingers crossed now and hope I hear some good news, if i do i will post the result
Thanks again

Some advice needed regards my claim please...anyone
Since my visit I have heard nothing back regards to my appeal/claim.
With being really busy with work, kids etc it has taken a back burner.
I have emailed my local VOA back in Feb 08 asking for an update as it has been nearly 12 months but ive heard nothing back still.
Can somebody please advise me on my next step with this??
Thanks

Zebedeee

Hi Markh78. It sounds to me like they are ignoring you and hoping you will go away. If I were you I think I would ring them up and ask to speak to the listing officer named on any correspondence you have had from them. Its simply not acceptable that you should wait that long.

Hope that helps!

Zebedeee