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

Barbjnr

Hi, in Nov 1997 I purchased my house and paid council tax then in band D. In May 1999 I got a letter out of the blue from the VO saying that they had been notified by the Estate Agent who I had purchased my property from and they needed to come out and reband my house if warranted. They did, its now in Band E and has been ever since. They insisted I paid the outstanding tax, back dated to the purchase date i.e. Nov 1997 which I did at the time. The reason quoted to me for rebanding was under code 4 - "There has been a "material increase" and a "relevant transaction". Material increase meaning an increase in the value and relevant transaction meaning the property was sold / changed hands. My neighbours including the semi attached to me are all in band D and after completing the 1991 price calculator its looks like I am boarder line, i.e. band D is upto £88k and my house in 1991 is valued at £88.5K which would just about push it into E. Do you think I have any grounds to challenge? Thanks in advance. Barbara

lincroft1710

Barbjnr - VOA don't get sales info from estate agents, it comes from Land Registry and also in past from Stamps Office. Also it would have been the council who would charge extra tax back to Nov 1997, as at that time a material increase and rel trans rebanding had to be backdated to date of rel trans. It would be unusual for VOA to increase a band where it was such a borderline case, unless there was excellent evidence/precedent to support this. From personal experience house price calculators are not very accurate so 1991 value of your home may be more than you are led to believe.

Unfortunately it is far, far too late for you to make a valid appeal against the rebanding. Although you mention other semis are in D, what matters is how your home differs from theirs. I would suggest you write to VOA and ask them to review your band, pointing out neighbours are in Band D.

Barbjnr

Thank you lincroft1710 will challenge using neighbours info. Thanks again!

Chichi_2

I got a rebanding for the flat I used to live in because the shop it was over changed to A3 (fast food) use and I argued that this had lowered the property value. They then lowered the banding and put it back to 1993. I moved there in 1996 and got the banding lowered in 1999. If I remember they backdated the refund to the date the take-away shop was set up. However I've found out that the flat should always have been a lower band anyway as I have gone through the procedures suggested on this site.

So I would claim for a refund between the year I moved in and the year of the takeaway shop starting. I moved out a year and a half ago.

JayZed

Fingers crossed... I've just written to the VOA to appeal against our Band E valuation. Ours is a ground-floor converted two-bedrom flat, while most of the neighbouring properties (which are in the same band) are three-bedroom houses. There are a couple of other converted flats in the street, which are all in Band C or D... except for the flat upstairs from us which is also in Band E (but which I think is also in the wrong band).

want2bmortgage3

Just checked VOA site and in my postcode most properties are band C however there is one on band B and 2 on band D. If the band B property is the same size/layout as mine then do I have any chance of having mine changed???

lincroft1710

want2b - it may be that the Band B is incorrect. You can check if it was reduced by looking at effective date column. If properties were built pre 1.4.1993 and this date appears as effective date then band has been reduced.

If this is the case then contact VOA and ask them to reduce your home to Band B. If properties built after 1.4.93, or no date appears, contact them and ask why that's a B and rest are C.

loulabelle73

Hi all,
We brought our house in 2006 and the local council sent someone round shortly after we moved in to re-evaluate our band, they put it up to a c from a b (didnt realise this at the time as had moved from a band d so was quite pleased that our council tax would be lower anyway so never bothered really looking into it), our house has had an extension, but looking at the houses in our road all 40 of them are band b apart from us (and 5 have similar size or larger extensions as ours),
Should I try and make a claim to lower the band or would I be wasting my time?
any help gratefully appreciated
lou xx

butterfly72

butterfly72 wrote: »

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?

Well, it took them 2 weeks. I've just been sent a letter saying they are not going to alter the valuation list entry... so looks like we are staying a band D.:sad:

To be fair they did give a very detailed and comprehensive explaination as to why they won't be changing the banding. The reasons they gave are:

1. They said 1991 prices of similar properties in the road and area indicated a band D (not what I found when I searched but heyho).

2. the flats next door, although a Band C are infact much smaller than mine and even some band D flats in the same road are 12 mentres smaller. A bit galling tho when the massive HOUSE next door is only a band E.

Still, at least they looked into it and I feel good that I at least tried. Good luck everyone with your attempts!

lincroft1710

loulabelle - it would have been the Valuation Office Agency who would have inspected your home and increased the band, not the council. On such occasions, bands were usually only increased if value of dwelling with new extn was well into band. If other houses with extns haven't been sold since extn carried out then their bands cannot be increased. Also VOA aren't always aware that extn has been carried out.

However you can always ask VOA to check if your band is correct.