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

Antonioni

Hello All.

It's my first time here.

I live in Scotland. I began the process against my council as my home is definitely inside the lower tax band. They dispute this fact, citing "values of other properties" which I can easily argue against.

BUT before they will even consider my challenge, I must attend an appeal process about the timing of my enquiry.

IOW they hope to avoid answering the real questions, by saying that I am out of time, by 20 years.

Has anyone else encountered this and what would be a good approach?

Can anyone help please?
Thanks.

BobbyMcDougall

Thought I'd share this with you guys and girls:

In 2007 I moved from my band b two bedroom ground floor flat into a 2 bedroom band b house. I didn't question the banding, as I assumed because both properties were 2 beds there would be no difference, if anything I was expecting the house to be a band c.

In 2010 we had a bill come to the house for the old flat, with a nice credit of £450 on it! Enclosed was a letter from the council saying the new tenant had appealed the banding at the flat and had been succesful in reducing it to a band A!

It shows that if you (or someone) appeals you can be succesful and get some money back :-)

Good luck to everyone that applies :-)

Lu_T

Hoping someone can help with this please. I'm looking at our council tax banding again because I've just received a cold call from a company telling me we're in the wrong band. I'm doing it myself, not paying for their services, but I wanted to seek some advice.

Regardless of how our house compares to similar ones in the neighbourhood, we have had a double-storey extension taking it from 3 beds, 1 bath, to 4 beds, 2 baths.

So the question: do I need to look for a similar house in the area (a 4 bed, 2 bath) to compare that band and valuation in 1991? I can't compare it with the identical ones on the street as they haven't had the same extension.

I'm wary that asking for a re-valuation means we could go up a band and I'd rather pay what we're paying now than more!

lincroft1710

If the extension was carried out by a previous owner or is pre Apr 1993, then you have to compare with a 4 bed, 2 bath. If the extension was carried out by yourself after Apr 1993, then look for 3 bed, 1 bath.

want2bedebt3

Hi everyone.
I have checked with my neighbours and they are band D while we are band E. The questions I have are these
Our house was a new build in 2002 on the neighbours garden so when their house was valued for council tax it had a lot more land. The neighbours house was sold in 2001 and using the calculator on the MSE site and working back it does still go in Band D. So in theory we shoudl apply for a reassessment - do you agree?
Secondly the neighbours house is slightly bigger than ours and a 3 bed detached but looks the same as ours which is a 4 bed. Does that make any difference?
Thanks - hope you can help

lincroft1710

Council Tax valuations take a very "broad brush" approach, large gardens tended not to affect banding. The Valuation Office Agency tend to compare size first and accommodation second, although a 4 bed with en suite may well attract a higher band than a slightly larger 3 bed.

Always worth a try, but see if you can find other similar houses to yours in the locality in Band D.

want2bedebt3

OK thanks I'll search around for other examples. Ours does have an ensuite and I'm not sure about theres. Is there anyway we can find the relevant band of the others without asking them?

Thanks

lincroft1710

VOA website lists every CT band in the country

http://www.voa.gov.uk/corporate/CouncilTax/index.html

want2bedebt3

Hi Thats excellent link, it looks liike theres only a couple in our band and all the rest are lower bands, need to walk down the street now and do some form of comparison,

craggy121

Hi,

I'm in the process of claiming back my council tax. I know that my house was worth £25,000 in 1991 [I moved in in 2003]. I've done my research and the majority of houses are Band A, but mine and a few others are Band B. The only reason I can give for this is that the Band B's are end terraces and the Band A's are mid-terraces but the values were still very similar in 1991.

I sent off my letter and have received a form from VOA asking various questions about the property. One of the questions is about extensions. There have been two extensions on my property, one before I moved in [about 1999] and one that I have done in 2007. Will this make a difference to the valuation? I'm concerned that because I've added value they may put my banding up!

I need to get this sorted soon because I'm putting my house on the market in a couple of weeks.

Thanks
Craggy