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

Southpaw18

Hi, Thanks for the replies.

Lincroft - That does make sense, and today ive checked the bill and we are paying over ten months, so we paid up on 1/1/10 but in february they took another DD, does this mean they should refund us this? because we are effectively in our paid up two months? I guess they will say they will take that payment for the next couple months but surely they cant do that.

Elmer - Im not in scotland no, Im in Bristol.

lincroft1710

Southpaw - if you have paid each month from 1/4/09 then they shouldn't have taken any payment in Feb. I'm wondering if they didn't take 1st payment until 1/5/09 and would suggest you check your bank statements.

Councils don't usually take CT payments "in advance" unless they are demanding whole/remainder of year's tax (this certainly wouldn't apply in your case) so if an extra payment has been taken (which is rare) you should get it refunded.

Southpaw18

Hi Lincroft,

I rang them today and it appears they took one last year or so as it was a standing order and not a DD (blame the girlfriend not me)! So we are getting a refund of around £250, my first money from the website, a great start!! Also transferred back to my account, considering most would send cheques i thought that was worth a mention.

Thanks for all the help, hope i can do the same soon.

lincroft1710

Southpaw - that's the problem with SO as opposed to DD, SO will be paid every month, DD is only paid when council ask for it. So either instruct bank to pay only Apr - Jan or change to DD. Pleased to hear council refunded straight back into your a/c.

RRatchet

Hi there,

Below is a quote from the Grampian Joint Valuation Board's (GJVB) website under the heading Statutory Assumptions Applied to Banding.

"There are also special provisions applicable to the Council Tax banding of properties used in connection with agriculture, crofting or fish farming, and properties adapted for people with physical disabilities."

Does anyone know what they are as I would like to be aware of these 'special provisions' before approaching GJVB with my query?

I have posed some elements of my problem before but things have moved on and our situation is now different.

Here follows a brief summary:-

1976 Grandad dies and house is left empty. This is the era of rates. No rates are paid (presumably exempt) and the son who lives on the next door farm inherits the farm & house. Poll tax comes (still no payments made presumably still exempt or not applicable).

1991 and so into the era of council tax (still no payments made presumably still exempt), but was given Band D via a 2nd gear valuation. This is higher than the 3 neighbouring occupied properties also working farms which are virtually identical (2 Band C & 1Band B. A bit ripe as grandads house had been unoccupied for 15 years and was in a sorry state, leaking roof no water etc. The son did not appeal the banding presumably as the property was exempt and wasn't costing anything

2006 The son dies without a will, it is agreed that the grandad's farm incl house will goto one of the grandsons. However this process is not settled until autumn 2009 when the grandson was registered on the deeds. The grandson has not yet spoke to the Council Tax Office so they know nothing of the situation. The valuation put on the property in 2006 was 65k which if backdated to 1991 definitely puts it in a Band A (although a nice thought I don't see this cutting any ice with the valuation folk).

Who if anyone would be liable for the Council tax from 2006-2009?
As the house is unfit for occupation the grandson has not moved in (and believe me, we and our 4 kids desparately want to); is he the occupier as well as the owner?
Does the 6 month clock start ticking from Nov 2009? If it does he better get his skates on and appeal the Band D.
Does the house being part of a working farm have any bearing on the matter - special provisions?
Will the uninhabitable farmhouse which we are very slowly doing up (re-roofing stalled at the mo due to the weather and funds being tight) become our second home liable to 95% Council Tax? Just now we stay in a rented Band A property (1.5 bedrooms) 4 miles away.

Any words of wisdom that can assist us are very welcome.

Thankyou

lincroft1710

Who if anyone would be liable for the Council tax from 2006-2009

If Scottish law is same as English then any council tax owed would be paid from the assets of the estate until such time as the house is disposed of, unless the house was occupied by a third party.

Occupier in CT law also extends its meaning to a person entitled to occupy, so in theory grandson could be classed as occupier (and thus responsible for CT) when probate is granted.

ells2123

Hi everyone,

I am wondering if anybody can offer some advice.

I live on a street of terraced houses of which my neighbour and I are the only semi-detached. Having checked the council tax website we are listed as a band C whilst the rest of the street are a B.

Whilst we are technically a 'semi' a number of (frequently larger) end terraces within the nearby streets are still classed as a band B. And on the next street there are 3-bedroom terraces (whilst mine is only a two) who again only pay band B.

My question is - is it right that we should pay a higher council tax than the other houses because ours is classified as a 'semi-detached'?

I have done the valuation check using the (far too high) price that we paid in 2007... and it is coming with an estimated 1991 price of £56620 which would mean that it band C was right but it just seem's a little unfair compared to some of our neighbours who also have slightly larger homes??

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lincroft1710

Ells - you should compare your band with those of similar size and type 2 bed semis in the area. Unless your house is end terraced it is not "technically a semi", it is a semi.

Banding is based on what houses sold for as at 1/4/91. If 3 bed terrace were selling between £40K and £52K then B is correct band. My personal experience (I'm ex VOA) has been that house property indices are inaccurate usually calculating 1991 values too low.

You can always ask VOA to check your band based on the fact that larger terraced houses in a lower band. Only downside would be if VOA decided the terraced should be Band C and increased them.

ovilly

i bought my 3 bedroom terraced house in may 1989 for just under £29,000 in 1995 the average house in my street sold for £43,000 i was in band a untill a number of years ago when i was moved to band b do i have a good enough case for a refund ?

lincroft1710

I would have expected 89 price to be £43K and 95 price to be £29K. When I worked in VOA, in my area prices fell from 89 until 95 and then started to rise again. Unless the houses on your street are more or less identical an "average house" price is of little use. You don't say why your band was increased from A to B, and you didn't appeal so it would appear you accepted the increase at the time. Were bands of neighbouring houses aso increased?

It is unusual for a band to be increased without good evidence to support the increase so I am not optimistic that band would be reduced back to A. So it might be worth asking VOA on what evidence did they increase band.