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

Sponge

After some more digging, would I be right to think that the 5 house that were rebanded in April 1993 were as a result of the revaluations that occured when the Council Tax was introduced?

Council Tax is the system of local taxation used in England[1], Scotland[2] and Wales[3] to part fund the services provided by local government in each country. It was introduced in 1993 by the Local Government Finance Act 1992, as a successor to the unpopular Community Charge. The basis for the tax is residential property, with discounts for single people. As of 2008, the average annual levy on a property in England was £1,146.[4]

Calculation

Each dwelling is allocated to one of eight bands coded by letters A to H (A to I in Wales) on the basis of its assumed capital value (as of 1 April 1991 in England and Scotland, 1 April 2003 in Wales). Newly constructed properties are also assigned a nominal 1991 (2003 for Wales) value.


Revaluation

The government had planned to revalue all properties in England in 2007 (the first revaluations since 1993) but, in September 2005, it was announced that the revaluation in England would be postponed until "after the next election".

If that's the case, then surely it would add weight to my claim?

Houses have been bought and sold, mine included, between 91/93 and today, but no rebanding appears to have occurred at those times.

If I go ahead with the claim, what's the best way to do it? Over the phone, email, or letter? I have to admit, I'd be a little bit nervous and probably make mistakes if speaking over the phone.

vivatifosi

Hi Sponge,

The VOA website can be a little hard to follow at times, rebandings are generally backdated. Although the antecedent valuation date for council tax (the date from which all valuations are calculated) is 1 April 1991, CT itself was brought in at the start of the 1993/4 tax year. As a result the rebanding could have happened at any time, with the backdating to 1993 (which is pretty standard).

When I was looking for similar paperwork for my claim I checked on the Valuation Tribunal Service (VTS) website. In one case I couldn't find the information I was looking for and on speaking to them by phone, they were able to give me the information that I needed. If you can get a copy of the decision and why it was made, that will be very helpful and recent ones are on the VTS website.

lincroft1710

Sponge - can you pinpoint any differences between the 5 houses reduced to A and your own home, e.g. end versus inner terrace, extensions, off road parking, conservatories, number of bedrooms etc.

murmeltier

Hi everyone

Just to let you know that the inspection happened last week - they came equipped with plans from over 20 years ago which they updated ... and today we received a letter telling us that no change to the banding was necessary.

Thanks everyone for your help!

murmeltier

lincroft1710

murmeltier - excellent news!

jayneben

Hiya all,

Im looking for a bit of what to do next advice, 2yrs ago i checked my banding and was shocked to find that although i live in a block of 6 terraced houses im the only one paying band B the others are A ! ( I am the end terrace but the other end house is paying A ) I wrote off to the VOA feeling pretty confident but was rejected so wrote again providing more evidence, We moved into the property in 1996 paying just over £40,000, i explained that although my property has a driveway it is a shared access to the other 4 properties therefore cannot be used to park my car and also is a total lack of privacy yet the other end house had a private driveway just for themselves but still pay a lower band than me !! again i was rejected the only answer they gave was my house had double glazing or was in a better condition when banding was decided and they felt my property was worth over £40k in 1991 ?? Recently following a discussion with my local councillor who also believes my banding is incorrect i wrote again explaining this but have recieved a rather brief rude letterthat just informs me i have not provided any further reasons so they will not look into it !! on the nationwide callculator on this site my property comes out at £26k but when i phoned them and mentioned that they claimed it was "a very innacurate indicator" and then proceded to say that due to my property having central heating in 1991 thats what probably caused the increased banding ( how the hell did they determine my property had central heating in 1991 as i havnt got a clue )

Any way i know its a long post but basically im really angry now and wondered what route to take next , any help or suggestiuons would be gratefully appreciated
xx

c-jay22

Hi
I live i a col der sac there are 17 house here.I have found out that the first 8 house (which includes me) are on tax band B then 6 of the house are tax band A and then the last 3 house goes back to tax band B. I have done the search on here and found that are house where under £4000 back in 1991 which should mean that we should all be tax band A. But i am still not sure if i should try and change my band.I am afraid that thay will say i am on the right band and my 6 neighbours are on the wrong band,then move them up which means i will have 6 very upset neighbours.
Help what do i do?????

lincroft1710

jayneben - when I worked in VOA, in our area, we found that house prices in 1996 were still below those of 1991. So your 96 purchase price could indicate a price over £40K as at 1 Apr 91. From inspections and questionnaires VOA would obtain details of features such as central heating.

You have now contacted VOA 4 times. The only 2 options available to you are to write to VOA Customer Service Manager and/or your MP and say you are not happy in the way your case has been dealt with. There is no guarantee that either route will end in a reduced band, from personal experience this doesn't often happen.

lincroft1710

c-jay22 - are the Band A houses exactly the same as the Band B houses e.g. same size, all terraced or all semis. If you used either Halifax or Nationwide price indicators to work out 91 value of your house, then you may well have the wrong figure as both these sites are inaccurate.

The answer to your question is it's up to you as no-one other than Valuation Office Agency will know which band is correct, they may both be correct as there could be good reasons for the different bands.

c-jay22

Hi
From what i know the only houses that are different in the cud der sac is mine and no 12 as we have a hall(are houses where aparantly the show houses) as when you go into the other houses you walk into there frontroom straight away.But them 6 house do have more land as there back gardens are alot bigger.
We all are semi det,have garages and 3 bedrooms 95% have porches.
Thanks for your help.I think i will leave it as it is.My friendship to my neighdours is worth more than the £200 saving(if i got it).
Thanks Again (Sorry for spelling mistakes.Spelling isnt my strong point)
Mary