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

rickbonar

I see we're not supposed to post failures.

Valuation office where we are doesn't even reply to the emails.

toothfairy1977

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Welsh CT is based on house prices as at Apr 2003. The 2005 Welsh CT Revaluation has nothing to do with the council it was instigated by the English government to see how feasible an English Reval would be.

Thanks for that - I was wondering what year they would have been looked at - makes more sense now

sandraroffey

my daughter bought the house two and half years ago. the garden was built on by the developer she bought the house from. the new house is huge, detached and only a metre or so away. sure she said it band A for the big new one. must be my hearing, which is always suspect!!!!

i think the valuation office man prob meant that the arun AREA valuation office was refusing everything and everyone. (his words, not hers) and even more so refused because the (new and completely different and hugely bigger) house next door, was top banding.

looks like a no go then.

George_Bray

If a house is in a rather poor condition, does that reduce the value for Council tax purposes?

I mean if improvements and luxury features can push up the value, then does the opposite apply?

If an estate agent came round they might say the condition would knock at least £30,000 off the value if the owner needed to sell the house in a hurry. Now we know from TV programmes that some people would buy the house for £30,000 under 'book value' but spend less on the renovation and hopefully make a profit. Where does all that sit with the valuation people if you reported it was equally dilapidated in 1991?

I don't mean poor condition as in falling down or anything structural but the need for a new bathroom, new kitchen, major need for decoration throughout and easily enough to push the value down by £30,000 if the house was sold tomorrow.

lincroft1710

sandraroffey wrote: »

and even more so refused because the (new and completely different and hugely bigger) house next door, was top banding.

If the guy from the VOA said this, he's talking rubbish!

lincroft1710

George_Bray wrote: »

If a house is in a rather poor condition, does that reduce the value for Council tax purposes?

I mean if improvements and luxury features can push up the value, then does the opposite apply?

If an estate agent came round they might say the condition would knock at least £30,000 off the value if the owner needed to sell the house in a hurry. Now we know from TV programmes that some people would buy the house for £30,000 under 'book value' but spend less on the renovation and hopefully make a profit. Where does all that sit with the valuation people if you reported it was equally dilapidated in 1991?

I don't mean poor condition as in falling down or anything structural but the need for a new bathroom, new kitchen, major need for decoration throughout and easily enough to push the value down by £30,000 if the house was sold tomorrow.

If the house was in need of repair or decoration then for CT purposes this cannot be taken into account.

If the bathroom and/or kitchen needed updating as opposed to falling to bits this may be reflected in the band but bear in mind you can only look at how much the need for updating would affect the house's 1991 sale price.

pcyam

My parents brought their house in the 80's. I seen Martin on the tv mentioning about council tax rebranding but it got to the bottom of the pile tbh. How would I find out how much the house was worth in 1991 or should it be 1993?? I have been on the VOA website and all houses except 1 are in band C the other one is in D, it also says our house is band C with an (i) next to it (means pending review). But our bills says we're in a band D house?? Have I understood it correctly that the VOA banding is the correct one and are independant??

Its a 4 bedroom house in gloucestershire. Also, we've had extensions done to the house and added a conservatory to it, does this matter and also if they come and look do they base it on how it looked in 1991 and can they increase our banding?? I think our house is bigger than most of the houses on the estate as one side is (i think) 4 bedroom detached too but small garden, and the other side is a big bungalow and a big garden too.

TIA

lincroft1710

pcyam wrote: »

My parents brought their house in the 80's. I seen Martin on the tv mentioning about council tax rebranding but it got to the bottom of the pile tbh. How would I find out how much the house was worth in 1991 or should it be 1993?? I have been on the VOA website and all houses except 1 are in band C the other one is in D, it also says our house is band C with an (i) next to it (means pending review). But our bills says we're in a band D house?? Have I understood it correctly that the VOA banding is the correct one and are independant??

Its a 4 bedroom house in gloucestershire. Also, we've had extensions done to the house and added a conservatory to it, does this matter and also if they come and look do they base it on how it looked in 1991 and can they increase our banding?? I think our house is bigger than most of the houses on the estate as one side is (i think) 4 bedroom detached too but small garden, and the other side is a big bungalow and a big garden too.

TIA

Although based on 1991 values, as your parents owned the house at 1 Apr 1993 (start of CT) only alterations carried out before this date can be reflected in the band.

The band on the VOA website and the CT bill should be the same.

For a 4 bed house in Glos, Band C seems low! (unless it is on a council estate).

George_Bray

lincroft1710 wrote: »

you can only look at how much the need for updating would affect the house's 1991 sale price.

As I said, the poor condition would affect the house value at today's prices by an estimated £30K and the relative condition was similar in 1991. So if recent sales down the road have been for around £230K at 2010 prices, one could input £200K to obtain a 1991 equivalent price. Would they accept that?

sweetnatalie

Hi Wondering if anyone can help.
My mum lives in a 2 bed bungalow. there are 15 houses in her particular street varying in size. All the properties are a band B except for my mum and a 3 bed house with an extension which are both a C. There are also two properties identical in every way to mums in the street opposite who are also a B.
When i read this site i called my local VOA to which when i asked the very rude lady about rebanding, she asked me to hold the line and forgetting i was there said to her colleague.. here we go again!
I was furious and when i confronted her she quickly turned very friendly!
The upshot is that after 2 months nearly they have wrote to say that the banding is correct. That in 1991 my mums property fits in the banding for a C,. When i have used the tools on this site for my mums ( bought in 2003 for 98K) this comes in valued at 42K which to me would have been a B???? Others in her street were valued at 65K in 2000 and are also a B. Yet mum is still a C???
They are now saying i can not appeal?? So no idea where i can go from here. I so dont get that the whole street and identical properties are a whole band lower. Mum is a pensioner and struggling as it is to pay her bills.
Any ideas would be great. Can i find out exactly previous valuations of the property anywhere?
Many thanks for anyones advice:beer: