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

lincroft1710

Chichi - if you moved out mid 07, why are you seeking refund from 96 - 99?

Airwolf1

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Chichi - if you moved out mid 07, why are you seeking refund from 96 - 99?

I wondered that too.

Flopsy11

I wonder if anybody has any advice for me. I live in the centre of a small town, in a road of mixed houses and shops - all over 100 years old. I bought my detached 3-bed house in 1993 for £55K and spent a fair bit renovating it.
I don't kow what band it was in when I bought it but it is now Band D although, it should be band C according to the price I paid in 1993. My neighbours are Band D also but they have more bedrooms and are generally larger.
Does the fact that its a detached property have anything to do with the banding? I am about 6" away from one neighbour and about 3' from the other? Does the fact that its value increased, because of the renovations, have anything to do with the banding?
I would appreciate any advice about this. Thanks

butterfly72

Chichi wrote: »

Can you query the council tax banding of a property you used to live in? Can you claim a refund. I moved out a year and a half ago. I would be claiming a refund from 1996 -1999.

I received a refund for a property I lived in 5 years ago! I didn't apply. The refund just landed on my doorstep saying the property had been rebanded E to D. Got £700! I guess the new tenent applied. Now I'm wondering about the property I lived in 7 years ago... could give that a try :rotfl:

lincroft1710

Flopsy - 1993 prices were a lot lower than 1991 (1 April 1991 is relevant date for Council Tax valuation). Also as you admit you spent a lot of money on renovations, then it's very probable the price you paid reflected the fact your home was in a poor state of repair. For CT purposes all dwellings are valued as being in a reasonable state of repair, so your purchase price isn't that relevant in this case. Detached is detached, whether it's 3 inches or 3 miles from "next door" neighbour. In my area D was usual minimum for 3 bed detached.

butterfly72

butterfly72 wrote: »

I live in a small block of flats all banded as D - been here 2 and a half years. Next door a new 'luxury' block was been built in 2007 and they are banded at C. I've checked 1991 valuations and all indications are that most flats would be a C. So I rang the VOA and they took my details over the phone and said they would investigate. It was very easy. Hope I'm sucessful!

Do you think the fact that the next door flats were valued only 2 years ago at band C make my appeal more likely to succeed?

Good news! I got a letter today saying they were going to review my banding! They also said it can take up to 2 months. How long have others on here waited?

lincroft1710

butterfly - waiting times are shorter now due to VOA monitoring system. Up to 3/4 yrs ago, you could have waited up to a year, sometimes longer. It depended on caseworker's workload, priority cases, and how straightforward it was to resolve.

Flopsy11

Thanks for your help Lincroft 1710, I appreciate your help. Its probably not worth going for a rebanding on that basis. Thanks again

Dewpoint

Hi - I followed the process outlined in Martin's report to contest my CT banding.

My request for re-banding was rejected by my local VOA based on information about neighbouring properties that is simply inaccurate and does not reflect the reality of the two houses next to me which are virtually identical, in their original state (i.e no major alterations) and are in band lower than my own.

They have refused to review my request again and state that there is no right of appeal against their decision (typically bl**dy autocratic in my view!!).

Does anyone know of any other channels I can pursue?

thanks

Airwolf1

If part of the information that the VOA based their decision on is inaccurate, write to them with the facts. However, this purely sounds like the VOA was asked to review the banding and that you didn't appeal.

Unfortunately there would be nothing else that you could do (as far as I'm aware!).