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

shery

Would appreciate anyone answering a quick question : are previous owners entitled to claim back overpaid coucil tax if the band is reduced ?
Case is: lived in a semi for 20 years 1980 to 2005 been paying as band C for x amount of years now current tannents reduced the band to b and claiming back from 2005 onward am i entitled to claim back . got intouch wz council and got mixed reply !!!

Zebedeee

shery, the answer is sometimes yes, sometimes no. Have you checked on the VOA website to see when the rebanding is valid from? I'm not sure from your post if they have had it changed only from when they moved in. If so, then I'm afraid you won't be getting a refund.

dweeby

Wish me luck at my tribunal tomorrow!

My case in a nutshell:
Currently band E, was band D prior to extension.
Many other originally identical houses in the lower band D.
Many houses extended (possibly slightly smaller than ours), still D.
Our house has 1x garage, many of others have 2x garage - but are still lower than ours.
A number of neighbours have been extended, and the VOA are waiting for a sale to re-consider the council tax banding (but not all of them).
3 houses all sold for the identical price of £250k within months of each other ~14 months ago, yet ours is a band higher than the other 2 (identically valued houses now must have been identical value in 1991(?)).
Our "plot" is ~10% smaller than the others.

We have photos, plans, other house council tax bands, dates and values of sales from 2008. I've been out at 6:00am photographing our neighbours houses!

Wish me luck...

ps. this is a valid appeal as we appealed within the 6 months of moving in, and we have followed the process.

lincroft1710

dweeby - identically valued houses now must have been identical value in 1991(?)

Er - no. Some house types increased in value more than others. Also (perhaps not applicable in your case), some towns/villages/districts/streets saw higher price increases than their neighbours.

For example, a Victorian terrace in Walford was worth £250K in 08 as was 1980s 3 bed det, but in 91 Vic terr only £100K, 3 bed det £125K. In Weatherfield in 08 80s 3 bed det also £250K, but in 91 £150K.

dweeby

lincroft1710 wrote: »

dweeby - identically valued houses now must have been identical value in 1991(?)

Er - no. Some house types increased in value more than others. Also (perhaps not applicable in your case), some towns/villages/districts/streets saw higher price increases than their neighbours.

For example, a Victorian terrace in Walford was worth £250K in 08 as was 1980s 3 bed det, but in 91 Vic terr only £100K, 3 bed det £125K. In Weatherfield in 08 80s 3 bed det also £250K, but in 91 £150K.

Hi, thanks for the reply. I've read many of your previous posts with great interest, I can tell that you really know your stuff!!!

With regard to my point above, all the 3 houses in question are the exact same style of house, same builder, same age, same development and are within 300 feet of each other. Hopefully my premis is valid, in that if they're the same value now - then they were in 1991. Pictures of all 3 houses are part of my "evidence".

Anyway, tribunal this affy - so we'll see!

lincroft1710

dweeby - I know you won't have a decision from the tribunal, but how do you think the hearing went?

lincroft1710

shery - any update on your possible refund?

dweeby

lincroft1710 wrote: »

dweeby - I know you won't have a decision from the tribunal, but how do you think the hearing went?

Hi Lincroft. Ok I think, had the LO on the run a few times!

We're trying to go from E to D. LO went first, then me.

LO used actual sales values of several properties as evidence, 2 from 1992 and 1 from 1999 (1999 was a sale of our property). Think I effectively cast doubt on the relevancy of this info, due to 7 years difference in dates. He also cited other band E properties for comparison, but (even according to the VOA square metre figures) these were bigger properties (and not of the same style) - something I enjoyed pointing out to the tribunal!

In my original application to the VOA, many of the properties I cited had been flagged up for band review. During the time simce my original application, I came to reallise that this evidence can be discounted. At the tribunal I presented 3 identical properties to ours in band D (extended in a similar way), but which were not flagged up for review. LO waivered slightly here, and said that these properties had "slipped through the net and needed reviewing". Hopefully the tribunal will discount the LO's comments regarding this.

My other piece of evidence (3x sales of the exact same type of property within ~300ft, within 6 months 2007-2008, 2x band D, ours band E) was taken reasonably well. I related this information to 1991 values.

Photos, plans and text were circulated by both parties. My photos had been cleverly angled to show what I wanted - but the LO were the opposite!

Nobody was able to really argue with what I presented, it is fairly
undisputable and hopefully wouldn't be discounted. I tried to cast doubt on most of the LO evidence, but I don't know how effective this will be.

Although the decision was apparently made yesterday, I'll hear in writing within a month. Will let you know how it went...

I'll also post some comments about the tribunal, just for others reference.

lincroft1710

dweeby - VOA sales evidence seems unconvincing, unless 92 sales were around £100K or more. If the Band E comps he presented were at least 10% larger than yours, again not very convincing. As he made the point about the 3 Band D extended houses needing review, the VT will accept this and expect him to review their bands. VOA aren't always aware of every extension to every property.

As long as you weren't too "clever" or contemptuous of VOA, you seem to have a good but not guaranteed chance of winning. VT don't like taxpayers who belittle VOA and are very anti VOA who belittle taxpayers. Politely pointing out/drawing attention to inconsistencies or errors/inaccuracies in other party's evidence is of course acceptable. VT should weigh up quality and relevance of all evidence placed before them when making their decision.

System

Does anyone know the typical wait to be notified of the decision, it has been just over three weeks now. I know that VT quote up to 4 weeks, but looking at many Herts ones it was within 2 weeks.