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

lincroft1710

Council Tax is payable on a dwelling from the day you first occupy that dwelling, so yes the bill can be backdated.

guppy

cheetara wrote: »

Any advise would be really appreciated!

My best advice would be to always remember there is no such thing as a free lunch - especially courtesy of the taxman

Problems_2

Hi again - well, we have now received a copy of the actual section 106 agreement - it states -

"This agreement is made pursuant to the provisions of Section 106 of the said Act of 1990 and in consideration of the matters hereinafter contained.

The owner so as to bind the several parts of the land hereby covenants with the Board to ovserve and perform the planning obligations set out in the Schedule hereto.

It is hereby agreed and declared as follows:-

(etc. etc. - then goes onto say) -

The dwellinghouse shall not be occupied otherwise than by a person employed or to be employed or last employed locally or who has throughout the period of three years immediately preceding the commencement of such occupation of the dwellinghouse had his only or principal home locally together with the dependants of such a person living with him or her and the widow or widower of such a person.

"locally in clause a hereof shall mean the area of the County Council of ****** "

Any further ideas?

many thanks

lincroft1710

Problems - as I read your post the only people you CAN'T sell to are people coming from outside the county to retire, or people coming from outside the county to commute back outside the county. So I who do not live in the county, but have or will have employment in the county, can freely buy your house. IMHO it's not going to make much difference to the value of your home. And I'd still like to know how they can enforce this, unless you have to tell them whom you sell to.

big_lil_2

Hello. I have got my band reduced from an E to a D which is great but has anyone managed to get the interest back on the overpayment. Received £3000 back but what about the interest I have lost on that money.

Thankyou very much.

lincroft1710

big lil - in my experience, most councils will say no way. In certain very exceptional circumstances VOA have been known to pay interest, e.g. if in 1994 or so they reduced all houses in your street which were identical to yours in every respect, but neglected to reduce yours.

guppy

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Problems - as I read your post the only people you CAN'T sell to are people coming from outside the county to retire, or people coming from outside the county to commute back outside the county. So I who do not live in the county, but have or will have employment in the county, can freely buy your house. IMHO it's not going to make much difference to the value of your home. And I'd still like to know how they can enforce this, unless you have to tell them whom you sell to.

I agree with the above. Depending on the size of the county, the condition doesn't sound particularly onerous, and I can't see it affecting value that much either. I've heard that holiday homes in some of the National Parks sell at premium prices, but I imagine that holiday homes would tend to be cottages and character properties, not new builds, but I'm only speculating.

Were the estate agents that valued the house aware of the exact wording of the S.106? If it was just a free "market appraisal", I doubt they put a lot of time in to the "valuation" frankly.

I doubt there is any requirement to inform the council who owns the house, but the planning condition would come up when searches were carried out by a potential purchaser's solicitor, and most people (IMO) wouldn't want to run the risk of enforcement action if the (priced out locals) dobbed them in to the council.

Anyway, regardless of the planning situation, it still sounds like the banding is inconsistent compared to others nearby, this is probably the issue to focus on - assuming those houses aren't banded too low.

My only other thought is that the OP's house was new in 1994, so would have been valued as a brand new house - could this have affected the value compared to the others nearby? I imagine one off new builds are rare in National Parks - but am no expert regarding that!

lincroft1710

guppy wrote: »

.

I doubt there is any requirement to inform the council who owns the house, but the planning condition would come up when searches were carried out by a potential purchaser's solicitor, and most people (IMO) wouldn't want to run the risk of enforcement action if the (priced out locals) dobbed them in to the council.

Joke is, if this was in Lake District Nat Park, and house in Keswick, then someone in Barrow in Furness, which is about 50 miles away, would be considered a local as both are in Cumbria. And to get over the employment - local McDonalds for a few weeks, then resign.

brigittecampbell

Hi, Back in June this year I received notification from the valuation company that my house was in the wrong band - it should be lower, and that they would advise the council to get it changed. I heard nothing, so chased the council last month, this morning I got a letter of apology from the valuation company stating that in fact my banding was correct.

I'd already "spent" 8 years of over-payments in my head!

Has anyone else come across this?

lincroft1710

When I worked at Valuation Office, we did have instances where one caseworker reduced bands of several houses, but a subsequent caseworker decided they had been reduced in error and put them back up - fortunately taxpayers didn't have to repay refunds. What has happened to you is unusual and really should never happen, luckily you only spent the money in your head.