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

lincroft1710

stannardh wrote: »

OK, new to this website but I have a question. I am in council band D, we bought out flat for £178,000 in 2006 and according to the valuation calculator it was roughly worth £51,000 in 1991 so that should put us in band B. I just checked and our neighbours are also in band D or in E. Are we any good for an appeal or not given that our neighbours are in the same band?

As the calculators tend to be inaccurate I would think that Band C may be more appropriate. Try and find similar size flats nearby which are in a lower band to use as comparables to support your case.

tracerfire

I would like to contest my council tax banding and have read most of the articles on here. Our estate of around 75 houses was built in 2000 and I believe all of the bigger properties (4 bed detached) are in the wrong band. I have based this on the nationwide house calculator, and my own research at the local library in to similar properties for sale in 1991 in the same area. So my biggest stumbling block is the 'neighbour' criteria; my neighbours pay the same as us but I believe we are ALL in the wrong band for this size house,currently band E.
So, the figures:
Band E £88,001 - £120,000
Band D £68,001 - £88,000

Results:-
A property located in UK which was valued at £229995 in Q3 of 2008, would be worth approximately £77160 in Q2 of 1991.
This is equivalent to a change of -66.45%.

My question then: is this worth chasing, based on these figures, or would it be unheard of for the majority of an estate to be in the wrong band? What other ways could I prove my case?

Hoping someone can help!

lincroft1710

Try to find sales of your house type between 2002 and 2007 and check 1991 values with calculator, which has to be said aren't always accurate. It would be unusual to find that in the 10 years these houses have been built no one has appealed, but it is always worth a go.

tracerfire

Thanks for the reply lincroft. This is what get:
A property located in UK which was valued at £173000 in Q3 of 2005, would be worth approximately £60823 in Q2 of 1991.
This is equivalent to a change of -64.84%.

Everything points to a miscalculation to me. On another note,how could they value our houses in 2000 when there were no comparable houses built in 1991 in our immediate vicinity? Did they use a calculator similar to Nationwide's?

I think I might go for this.

denizdawid

sorry if I am in a wrong place but I am just looking for help.

I live in Enfield, London in a 2 bedroom terrace house, one single one double room, very small landing upstairs and a garden (70 FT). My house is band D, I called council and asked them to investigate as most of my neighbors are band C and they have 3 or 4 bedroom houses. Only a few of them are on band D but most of the are semi detached or 3 , 4 bedrooms. I got reply from the Listing Officer stated that my house is in correct band and I can not appeal. When I check with Nationwide house price index the house price in 1991 was £57,670 band C. I bought the house in October 2001 for £124000. What should I do?.

lincroft1710

tracerfire wrote: »

On another note,how could they value our houses in 2000 when there were no comparable houses built in 1991 in our immediate vicinity? Did they use a calculator similar to Nationwide's?

I used to look for 1991 sales of properties as near as possible in size, location and type. My personal experience of Nationwide (and Halifax) calculators was they were around 10 - 15% inaccurate and the geographical area was far too large to use satisfactorily for comparison purposes.

capitancaveman

Hello Everyone,

I'm actually checking the council tax band for a family member.
And need some advice:
According to the 'Are you in the Wrong Band' section we have a 'moderate case'

The result of the neighbour check is that, of the 30+ properties on the street - we are one of three that are in band D - all others are in band C.

The valuation check 'failed' in as much as we used the actual purchase price of the property (it was purchased in 1991); so we know what it cost and when we compare that to the council tax tables it corresponds to band D.

Having read some of the posts I'm aware that the value of the property in 1991 is what's important, so I guess what I'm getting at is - is it worth pursuing at all if we paid the equivalent of Band D in 1991? Could the 'value' be less?

The other houses in the street which are Band D are detached and larger. The house opposite which I think is much larger (bigger garden etc) is currently band C, although it's valuation would most likely be D. I've done the valuation check on all recently sold houses on the street and nearly all those on the opposite side of the street come out as Band D, whilst our side is mostly band C or B.

Anyways - apologies for the long post... and the late hour!
Thanks

slinga

Tried searching but couldn't find an answer.
In the good old days if you were non res then no council tax iirc.

We spend 6 months +/- a week or so out of the UK each year.
Is there any way to reduce the council tax I pay which is the rate as if we were in UK for 12 months pa?

lincroft1710

capitancaveman wrote: »

The valuation check 'failed' in as much as we used the actual purchase price of the property (it was purchased in 1991); so we know what it cost and when we compare that to the council tax tables it corresponds to band D.

The VOA will just quote the purchase price as evidence for the band being correct. If you try to claim the house wasn't worth what you paid, they will just counter that your purchase price established "the value" at that time.

I'm ex VOA and used to deal with CT appeals. If I'd had £10 for every person who said to me "I paid too much for my house", I would have retired a very rich man!

lincroft1710

slinga wrote: »

Tried searching but couldn't find an answer.
In the good old days if you were non res then no council tax iirc.

We spend 6 months +/- a week or so out of the UK each year.
Is there any way to reduce the council tax I pay which is the rate as if we were in UK for 12 months pa?

If your home in UK remains furnished you are not entitled to any reduction in CT payment.