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

lincroft1710

HertsSaver - after decision is typed all 3 VT members have to sign that they agree what has been written, if a member or clerk to VT is on holiday or ill......or if there have been a lot of decisions.....

I've known Herts VT take 6 weeks to publish decision, not common but it does happen sometimes.

dweeby

HertsSaver wrote: »

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.

Good luck with your result!

I came out of my tribunal feeling quite confident. However, on reflection (and reading some more past tribunal minutes) I have a few doubts now. Always the case I suppose. The LO has used the same arguments he used on my case before, and often won.

Mind you, from the start I thought my case was weak and that I quite possibly was in the right band all along! and I've done my best, and taken it this far so we'l see...

Having looked through a number of past cases, it's amazing how many people don't turn up for the tribunal (in my area at least). Having now attended a tribunal, it's not a pleasant experience!

lincroft1710

dweeby - one point in your favour, VOA has to prove his case, rather than taxpayer prove their case. You can only ever present the best case on the resources available to you and VOA has better resources (and therefore should get band correct first time or agree reduction if he hasn't).

If all went as your post #3109 then I think the odds are 50/50.

nelinuk

Hi - I'm hoping someone can help me (and possibly have some anecdotal evidence from my council).

I've just successfully had my London Borough of Waltham Forest property rebanded (down from C to .

The letter from the VOA states that it is effective from 1 April 2009, however the accompanying Notice of Alteration says the effective date of alteration is 1 April 1993.

It has also already been changed on the VOA website showing as being band B effective 01/04/93.

Where does that leave me in terms of a refund? I've owned the property since September 2006.

Should I write to the VOA requesting a refund for the period Sept 06 to Mar 09? Does anyone have a template letter they've successfully used?

I'm pleased about the rebanding and savings going forward, but obviously would like the refund monies too! Thanks a lot

pinkfirefly

:jHi, I was reading the article on council tax bands over the weekend, spoke to my neighbour, who has indeed had there band changed.

Phoned the VOA today and they said it will take 6-8 weeks for them to reach a decision. (Crossing fingers tightly).

Hopefully it will be a happy ending.

lincroft1710

nelinuk -VOA don't deal with money side of CT, it is the council who will be in contact with you. The letter from VOA seems to have date wrong as website shows effective date as 1/4/93, which means you will receive any overpayment from 9/06 either by cheque or reduction in payments for current year.

nelinuk

Thanks very much lincroft1710 - I hope it's a refund ... could do with the lump sum monies!! I shall wait with baited breath.

And yes, as it is only the covering letter (not the actual "notification of alteration") that uses the 2009 date, I will certainly be arguing for backdating to be to 2006 if that's not the initial advice.

System

According to Tribunal Service, my verdict is in the post!

hypno06

I'm new to this thread.....we live in a standard design 4 bed house on a development built in 1991. Ours is one of 4 houses that are band E but there are at least a dozen of the same design on the same development that are band D.

I am still in touch with the lady who bought our house when it was new back in 1991 and she says they paid £77,000 for it then, which should be band D.

We have lived here for 6 years, so we will get the "sorry, you can't claim after 6 months" excuse, as I have already seen that on our local govt website, but tomorrow I will be writing to request that they look into rebanding our property, as I believe it was incorrectly done in the first place.

Am I right to write, or do I ring first and ask them to deal with it by phone? Any pointers gratefully received, as I want to do things properly!

lincroft1710

hypno6 - write to Valuation Office Agency, setting down facts i.e. 91 price, some of same type in D. You can check on VOA website whether these have been reduced from E or always in D.

What surprises me is that original occupier didn't appeal when CT first came out.