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

MarkH78

Zebedeee wrote: »

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

Thanks mate, I think your right, I will have to ring the ignorant sods up

exvoperson

Zebedeee wrote: »

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

Mark

The best thing to do is phone the VOA and ask for details of their customer service manager then contact them with your details. That generally gets things moving. The VOA do have a number of deadline they should be working to like replying to your email within 20 working days.
It pays to make a noise and complain, i know as I used to work there for 20 odd years!!
Regards
ExVOperson

Zebedeee

exvoperson wrote: »

Mark

The best thing to do is phone the VOA and ask for details of their customer service manager then contact them with your details. That generally gets things moving. The VOA do have a number of deadline they should be working to like replying to your email within 20 working days.
It pays to make a noise and complain, i know as I used to work there for 20 odd years!!
Regards
ExVOperson

A word of caution on this - I had cause to contact the Customer Service Manager and they were even slower! They seemed to add a whole new layer of bureaucracy to the system. I think it might be worth the direct phone call to your LO first and then if still there is no action you'll have to try the CSM!

All the best, and let us know how you get on.

Zebedeee

Max_in_Coventry

beingjdc wrote: »

By law the Valuation Office have to disregard this, the rule is that they value the house "on the assumption that it is in good repair", otherwise people would just run their houses down, get rebanded, then decorate.

Can the law really be this crass? Subsidence has nothing to do with allowing a house to run down, and no-one could ever play the system in the way this reply suggests regarding subsidence. The decrease in value to a house that has suffered subsidence is both substantial and permanent. Does the law require the valuation to disregard this?

Cookiepops

I went through the steps for rebanding. Basically, I am in the same band as most people in the street but there are 3 or 4 houses which are a band lower. I had to check carefully because my street is a mixture of 2, 3 and 4 bed houses and flats but there are definitely at least two 3 bed houses and one 4 bed house which is a band lower.
Does this mean I have a case? or am I just stitching up my neighbours?

Thanks!!!!

jetfighter

Lisa, my mum was in the same predicament as you! She decided to go for it because one of her close neighbours (in the same size of property) is in Band A whereas the others and herself are in Band B.

She found out that the banding on that particular property was challenged a while ago and the owners got their money back when it was changed to a Band A. So I think she has a good chance.

Her claim is currently being looked into. I would say you have a good case if the properties are the same size. Have you done Martin's valuation check?

exvoperson

Max_in_Coventry wrote: »

Can the law really be this crass? Subsidence has nothing to do with allowing a house to run down, and no-one could ever play the system in the way this reply suggests regarding subsidence. The decrease in value to a house that has suffered subsidence is both substantial and permanent. Does the law require the valuation to disregard this?

Max

You can get a reduction for 'structural' defects but it has to be fairly serious. I recommend you go to the VOA home page and click on the heading called 'publications' then scroll down to you find 'council tax manual' If you click on that it is attached to various other manuals click again on council tax manual until you see a menu on the left hand side with the last item being practice notes- these are very useful when dealing with CT. I think the first note deals with repair but read note 4 item 5 headed 'structural defects' It all depends what can be classified as reason repair which is governed by case law on the subject. Hope this helps.
All the best
ExVOperson

ChrissyL

Just received a letter in this morning from the Valuation Appeal Panel. This letter was in response to my appeal against an invalid proposal and details the Assessors representations.

Mainly the proposal has been deemed invalid because I am outwith the time limit and I am some 11 years out!! The Assessor asks the Valuation Panel to dismiss the appeal and suggests that the committee has no discretion to waive the time limits for lodgeing proposals as set out in the Council Tax (Alteration of Lists and and Appeals)(Scotland) Regulations 1993. It then goes on to say that if the committee believe they have such discretion, this would only be exercised in exceptional circumstances which do not arise in this case.
WHAT IS AN EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCE?
The letter then goes on to say that "Although dealing with late appeals lodged under different legislation the Assessor would suggest that the views of the court on a committe's use of discretion in such matters is persuasive."

Next some quotations from court cases, will not bore you with details but as below:
i.e. National Commercial Bank of Scotland Limited v Assessor for Fife
Associated Dairies Limited v Assessor for Strathclyde
In summary, the cases were outwith the time limit and thrown out!

The final paragraph reads, "In addition to the matters stated above, although not relevant to this appeal on the validity of the proposal, the Assessor will check the band applied to the dwelling and if he is satified that it is incorrect the band will be amended."

I have the option to make further representation, but don't quite know what I should do next. I don't know what my next step should be and would appreciate your help.

I have researched all of the houses in my area which are identical to my own (28 in total) and they are all Band D - whilst I am paying Band E. I live in a semi detached house and the adjoining property is Band D. I just find this whole saga frustrating and time consuming, but it has become a matter of principle now!

Any successful court cases that you know of where the statutory time limit was not supported?
Your help would be much appreciated.:j

Copper123

I recently followed the instructions on the site with Forest Heath Council in Suffolk. The result was i moved from a Band E to a Band D meaning a saving of £300 per year, and it will be backdated to 1993.
well worth doing

ScotsLass24

I have just put in a "proposal" to lower my tax band, all my neighbours have similar houses but are all band D mine is Band E. My husband and I bought the property back in 1995 and we lived there jointly for a number of years and 3 years ago I moved out (husband stayed!) and I have now just moved back in and hubby is away. Will I be able to backdate claim to when we purchased the house or how will it be seen. There is also a "tip" posted in the FQA of the assors site stating...
I'm not happy with my banding. Can I appeal it?

An appeal against the banding of your house is described in the legislation as a 'proposal'. The circumstances in which you can lodge a proposal are limited by the legislation.
If you became the taxpayer within the last six months, or the Assessor has changed the banding in that time, you may make a proposal to have the banding altered. If you have been in the house longer than six months, and there has been no change in the band since it was fixed in 1993, then you can only make a proposal if there has been a change in your house or its surroundings which you consider has reduced its value.
Does this mean I can only claim back 6 months??? HELP I am lost to what all this means.