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

lincroft1710

Best practice is always to compare like with like, so whatever the comparison pricewise between a maisonette and a terrace house, it's a non starter. The unwritten rule was that the market for houses and the market for flats/maisonettes were different and a price rise/fall of x% in one market wouldn't be necessarily be mirrored in the other.

A house with a new kit, bath and boiler will be worth more than one with old but acceptable fittings which will be reflected in their respective sale prices. It is perfectly acceptable to reflect any modernisation in the CT band and equally an unmodernised house can be downvalued. If £10K is spent modernising a house, it does not automatically mean that house is worth £10K more than an identical unmodernised house in good repair.

As there were no physical changes to your house such as an extension, there would have been no reason for a band review. The other 3 houses were also a Band E.

1995 is a long way from 1991 in price terms, so sales from this year are of little relevance. It is always better to use 1991 sales, rather than try to adjust sale prices from a later date. Any valuation is a matter of opinion based on available facts/factors.

From personal experience the Nationwide HPI tends to calculate 1991 prices a lot lower than they actually were.

melancholly

we appealed our band since the identical flat below us was in the lower band and the nationwide HPI (for all its faults!) put the sale value in the lower band based on a late 1990s sale value. the VOA wrote back to say that other 2 and 3 bed flats had sale values in that region; but we're in a one bed flat so appealed since they seemed confused over what they were comparing (obviously i would expect a three bed flat to cost more than our one bed flat, so it makes sense it would be in the higher band)! they've now responded with some more relevant sales prices, but it's still 18 months away from April 1991 and i'm expecting that they've cherry picked the most expensive one bed price they could find!

the flat below had their band lowered in 1993 (so immediately). i'm going to ring the VOA tomorrow, but is it possible to find out on what basis that re-banding was made? just wondered whether this was a hiding to nothing. i know i need to go see local paper archives to try and access info about similar sales in 1991, but finding out why they said another flat was fine to be lowered would be very helpful!

lincroft1710

melancholly wrote: »

but is it possible to find out on what basis that re-banding was made? just wondered whether this was a hiding to nothing. i know i need to go see local paper archives to try and access info about similar sales in 1991, but finding out why they said another flat was fine to be lowered would be very helpful!

By now you've probably got the reason why the band of the other flat was lowered. If not just ask the VOA why the band was lowered.

melancholly

no joy yet - the person i'm meant to speak to is never in the office when i call. since we only got the letter 12 days before the tribunal, i'm getting a bit worried that i'm running out of time!!

lincroft1710

You can always ask the Tribunal for an adjournment, especially when you've asked for info to help prepare your case and it hasn't been forthcoming.

melancholly

they don't know why the decision was made - the paperwork hasn't been kept as it was agreed without going to a tribunal. so that doesn't help. i'm not sure how many other flats of the same size (or even our flat with different occupants!) within the block have appealed unsuccessfully and not gone forward to the tribunal, so the VOA guy said he'd try to find out.

i guess i need to concentrate on the sales prices of other similarly sized flats..... so some fun time in the library!

thanks for your help though! i think we're just going to lose, but at least we've made them reply with evidence that's relevant to our sized flat!

lincroft1710

If a previous occupier of your flat had made an unsuccessful appeal, the VOA would be shouting the fact from the rooftops! It's the first thing they would say to you "Band already confirmed as correct following appeal by previous occupier".

melancholly

well that's some hope then! i don't want to go to a tribunal if it's a waste of time, but at the same time, going down a band would be very helpful for our finances! i wish they'd just supplied relevant info at the first round!

Padstow

I'm going to ring VOA tomorrow, but wondering what dates they will need.
Purchased one of two village building plots in 1997. Tax band G given in 2001. House now for sale @£475,000.

Neighbour's house built at same time on plot next door, 1000sq ft bigger. Given band E in 2000. For sale now @1.1m.

There is another house in the village which was recently sold for 1.1m, that has G band too, but has an improvement indicator showing.

I don't know how to start off the conversation, or do I say what I've written here?

lincroft1710

Padstow, given those facts their response will probably be that neighbour's house is in the wrong band.