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

lincroft1710

There is no reference to payment of interest on refunds of overpaid Council Tax in CT legislation, so councils will refuse to pay interest. I understand that as there is no legal requirement for them to pay interest, they would be criticised by the auditors if they did so.

avisk

lincroft1710 wrote: »

It all boils down to what the flats would have sold for in April 1991, the difference between the value of a riverview flat and a non riverview flat could put them in different bands, especially if non riverview flats' values are near the top of a band.

If VOA increased riverview flats' bands in 2008, it can't have "just come to light". Those flat occupiers would have had 6 months from date of band increase to make an appeal against the increase, they cannot appeal to have bands of non riverview flats increased.

They could only now query the band and it is doubtful the band would be reduced back down as there would have been compelling evidence to have increased it in the first place. A new occupier however can appeal the band within 6 months of first becoming occupier.

Sorry, didn't make myself clear. Obviously the river view occupants knew that their band had gone up, and the rest of us knew that ours had not. But the non river view owners (like myself) did not know that the river view band had gone up, and the river view folk did not know that ours had not. Yes, we probably should talk to one another a bit more, but we didn't, so the difference has just come to light.

Some of the riverview people had queried the increase (without success), but without knowing that one block had not been increased.

elliedee33

Please Help,

I have followed advice from this website to check my council tax banding and found that I am practically the only home owner in my street with a band B all others and larger properties are band A. I then sent a proposal to the Lands Valuation Assessor (Scotland) to inform them that I thought that my B banding had been made in error and that all other similar properties were an A. I now have a letter from them saying that my proposal was out of time and invalid. However, they informed that I have the right to appeal in writing (within 4 weeks, not very long!) and that I should include "reasons in support of the appeal".

This is where I would much appreciate some advice as I am not sure what I should write.

The thing is, my house is an ex council house in which I have been a council tax payer in since about 1994, I bought it at a discounted price in 2002 and so I don't know where I would get the proper valuation of the house as it was in 1991 when the houses would have been valued for banding purposes. Am I right in thinking that a 1991 valuation could be used as evidence?

thanks in advance x

lincroft1710

elliedee - if you became the Council Taxpayer of your house in 1994, there is little point in you appealing as your proposal is clearly invalid as it was made well outside the 6 month time limit.

However Assessor should still review your band but if he says band is correct you cannot appeal his decision to a Tribunal. There is no website which gives 1991 house prices and being a council house, it would be difficult to find non discounted sales of similar properties. House price indices may give you a guide, but they are not 100% accurate.

elliedee33

Thank you Lincroft,

Can you tell me what happens if the Assessor finds that the banding is wrong and should actually have been an A?

lincroft1710

He should reduce it with effect from when CT started and the council should refund you any CT you have overpaid.

elliedee33

Thanks for all your help Lincroft, I will let you know how I get on.

lincroft1710

Thanks, ellie, if all is as you said in your 1st post about the Band A houses being larger you have a fairly good chance of success unless Assessor decides their bands are in fact too low.

bugoff40

Have received a letter from a firm of solicitors saying that because one of my neighbours has had their council tax rebanded due to the fact that they have mundic in their house that they will be able to do the same for me. We run our own limited company from our home. The garage used to be a mechanics workshop and has been changed into an office which we pay business rates on seperately. Although the office (what used to be the garage which belonged to the house) no longer is classed as being used by the house the council tax hsnt gone down & we found out last year that our house does have a certain type of mine waste in its foundations which has been tested. The results were that it is a type of mundic but they would give us a clean bill of health at the moment & the test would have to be redone in 6yrs time or if we wanted to sell. Can this affect the council tax we should be paying? Has anyone else had experience with this?

ppodfelixtobias

Hi I have just joined the site and apologies for this message, but I can only see how to post a reply not start a new thread to ask a question. Can anyone guide me through where it is?