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

StephenL

lincroft1710 wrote: »

StephenL - Yes

:beer: Thanks - could you advise me who I need to contact, as the local authority dont seem to want to know! Is there an ombudsman?

Ygritte

Hi there, I hope someone can help me with my query!
My house is in band D, we rent it from East Thames after swapping our council flat with the previous tenant.

All of the houses on the estate are rented so I cant look up its value based on others sold but it is small, 15 year old, 2 bed house.

My parents house a short drive away is also in band D but is massive and was a 3 bed before the loft conversion.
How can I make a case for rebanding with no comparison in my street?

Thanks so much x

Zebedeee

StephenL wrote: »

Hi Everybody. Hope this hasn't been covered elsewhere but I could not find it in any other posts.

My Mother-in-law sold her house about 5 months ago and has since found out that the buyers applied for and got a rebanding of the council tax.

My question is can my Mother-in-law apply for the retrospective council tax overpayment for the time she lived there?

Any help appreciated. Thanks

Hi StephenL. Have you checked the VOA website to see when the rebanding is effective from? They may have rebanded back to the time when Council Tax began, or they may have started it at the time the new people moved in, or at some point in between. If it covers the time your mother-in-law lived there then she should get a refund of the overpayment. The Council Tax department of the local council should issue any refund.

HTH

Zebedeee

Zebedeee

Dawniedawn, I think your best bet would be to compare your house with other simillar ones on your estate. If they are all the same band as yours you will have a hard job (although not necessarily impossible) convincing the VOA that the band of your property is too high. Also, you could ask the VOA to explain why your property is in a higher band than your parents'. They may have a very good reason, or it may be that there are anomolies in the banding which need to be examined. Either way, it's worth checking out these two points.

HTH,

Zebedeee

Ygritte

Zebedeee wrote: »

Dawniedawn, I think your best bet would be to compare your house with other simillar ones on your estate. If they are all the same band as yours you will have a hard job (although not necessarily impossible) convincing the VOA that the band of your property is too high. Also, you could ask the VOA to explain why your property is in a higher band than your parents'. They may have a very good reason, or it may be that there are anomolies in the banding which need to be examined. Either way, it's worth checking out these two points.

HTH,

Zebedeee

They are all the same band as ours, I was able to check that at least. But I have been told that some of the houses, whilst still having the same dimensions as ours, were split into 3 rooms at the time of construction. I have no way of checking this though (short of knocking at all of them).

I don't feel comfortable citing my parents as an example - just in case they decide to review theirs!

Thanks so much for your time, its just so frustrating - £155 a month for this tiny house!

lincroft1710

StephenL - it is the Council whom your MIL should contact, she should state she was previous occ and the date she occupied from and date she left. You can check effective date of CT band reduction on VOA website.

There is no reason for council not to want to know, it is their duty to ensure correct CT payments are made although when refunds are due they are not quite as quick off the mark. Your MIL needs to be persistent.

hamstercheeks_2

this was a waste of time for me

got a letter and phone call and nothing more!

useless

Zebedeee

lincroft1710 wrote: »

StephenL - it is the Council whom your MIL should contact, she should state she was previous occ and the date she occupied from and date she left. You can check effective date of CT band reduction on VOA website.

What is the difference between that and what I said?

lincroft1710

Zebedeee - replied to StephenL's post which was a question following my post to him, didn't read your post.

Zebedeee

lincroft, this is a forum, which means that anyone can answer the questions. We don't need multiple answers to the same question, unless we can add something useful. Sorry if I sound a little narked, but you are not the only one on here who knows about CT. Most of us are amateurs who want to help others as we have been helped. I know you have experience in CT and we appreciate that, as you can often add to the information we have given.