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

lincroft1710

haircutsallround wrote: »

According to the Nationwide calculator we should be in Band C as opposed to our present Band D (albeit within £2000 of the band ceiling).

Given the inaccuracy of NW calculator, band maybe correct.

So, my questions are:
1) has the garage conversions possibly made those houses worth less, thereby pushing them into band C?

Possible but doubtful

Or is it possible they both performed a council tax review at the same time as they had the conversion done?

Again possible but doubtful

2) our house remains almost standard - the only thing that could possibly add value to it is a garden office. Is it possible that the garden office will add enough value on the house to prevent it being re-banded?

If the garden office was constructed by a previous owner then as the house's value is near the Band C/D borderline it is possible.

Thanks in anticipation!

If the 2 Band C houses (before conversion) are the same type as yours it's worthy of investigation. If they are a different type then yours may be larger.

Any alteration which increases a dwelling's value, carried out by current owner post 1 Apr 1993 (Eng & Scot) or post 1 Apr 2005 (Wales) cannot be reflected in the current CT band.

haircutsallround

Thanks for the response, Lincroft.

The two houses that are Band C have a slightly different footprint to the other 3 bed houses - they don't have an exterior porch next to the protruding garage, and the kitchen door is on the back of the house rather than at the rear side. Other than that, they appear identical.

I've looked up historical sale prices and found the 1999 sales from new for mine and one of these Band C houses. Ours was sold two months after one of these houses for approx £6k more.

Given that you've said the Nationwide app isn't accurate, am I going to have to do some library research?

rickwhite

Hi All
Thought I would ask for some feedback on my case.
I have written a request to the VOA asking for my property CT to be revalued. I am currently Band 'B' along with several other houses on my street, however 2 houses, one of which is significantly larger than mine, are both Band 'A'. The larger house was originally a B but the information on the VOA website shows that this house was revalued to an 'A' in 1993. This suggest to em that all these houses should have been an 'A' (assuming no extensions etc)
Okay, so I ran the two checks and things seemed hopeful. At the time, the actual house sale data told me my house was sold in Dec 2000 for £39,400 so I though I'd see what response I get.
I emailed the VOA asking for a revaluation, which they said they would look into and their response i just received was " I do not agree that a different valuation band should apply..."
One reason they gave however was under the section titled "Date of Valuation".
The key sentence being "I am satisfied that the value of your property, reflecting April 1991 levels of value, lies in the range £40,001 to £52,000 and that the current Band of 'B' is correct."

I have since gone back to the 'our property' website to check house prices and see that it now has more data. The sale price of my house in March 1995 was £17,500!! and many others on my street were similar. How can the VOA officer possibly say that he is confident my house was "in the range £40,001 to £52,000" four years earlier based on that price? In fact none of the houses on my row were sold for more than £40,000 until October 2000. My House in 2003 was sold for only £69,000!!!

There are various other comments given in their reply which try to explain other aspects of the CT vauations, however, even though most (possibly all I think) of the houses have had an extension of some sort, mine is one of the smallest (a single story bathroom) whereas the property in Band 'A' has the biggest by far!! Though I understand that the extension could have been since 1993 but it has been sold at least twice since 1993 and at least once since the extension was built.

I have been invited to call the VOA contact to discuss the various aspects in the letter but wondered if anyone has any advice on how I should best approach it going forward?
I feel like I have been fobbed off in the hope that I would just 'go away'!
Thanks in advance

Rick

lincroft1710

haircutsallround wrote: »

Thanks for the response, Lincroft.

The two houses that are Band C have a slightly different footprint to the other 3 bed houses - they don't have an exterior porch next to the protruding garage, and the kitchen door is on the back of the house rather than at the rear side. Other than that, they appear identical.

Strangely the porch may be just enough to make a difference in banding.

I've looked up historical sale prices and found the 1999 sales from new for mine and one of these Band C houses. Ours was sold two months after one of these houses for approx £6k more.

Although house prices were generally rising during 1999, this does suggest the differences between the 2 house types may just put yours into the higher band.

Given that you've said the Nationwide app isn't accurate, am I going to have to do some library research?

As with any house built after 1991, the VOA would be looking at similar house types of the same size, sold in 1991, to use as a comparison. So if the for example the Band Cs measured 100 sq.m and 1991 sales of similar houses of 100 sq.m were around £67K - £68K these just still fall into Band C. If your house is 105 sq.m and similar 105 sq.m houses sold for £69K - £70K then it's Band D.

I would suggest you phone VOA and ask to speak person responsible for CT bands in your area and just ask them why your house type's CT band is higher.

lincroft1710

rickwhite - just give the VOA the info you've given us and ask them to explain why your house is still Band B.

JennyP

Can anyone give me a bit of advice please?
Every house except for 4 (including us!) has been put in a lower bracket for council tax. Some people applied, some people just got theirs lowered without even asking. The council even tracked down one couple who had moved to France and sent them a refund of thousands without them even applying for it!
All the houses have an identical, original footprint. A couple have extensions / conservatories but one of the ones with a conservatory has been lowered whereas we haven't extended and we've not been.
Our neighbours applied and were told no, they were staying in the higher bracket and they were also told that they were not entitled to appeal or apply again. Surely that can't be true?
We're considering applying - but I'm worried now that if we do it wrong, we'll be told that we can't challenge it! I just don't see how, given all the houses are identical (we're in a row of old terraces!) that some can be in one bracket and some in another.
Thanks for advice!

lincroft1710

JennyP - if your neighbours applied for a CT band reduction more than 6 months after they became the occupiers, then CT legislation does not allow for an appeal against a VOA refusal.

I would suggest you phone VOA and ask to speak person responsible for CT bands in your area and just ask them why these 4 houses are still in a higher CT band.

JennyP

They're elderly. I think they have lived there for decades. They applied when they heard all the neighbours' houses had been changed whilst ours hadn't. We won't be able to appeal then either. We have been here for about 6 years.
I'll ask my partner about phoning them. It's outrageous isn't it? I hate anything that smacks of unfairness!

mikejamespalmer

a little help needed please, I am currently in band F but I should be in band E. Some of my niegbours have been successfully rebranded to a lower band and my house price falls well within the band E listing, the council replyed to my letter which stated these fatcs and there reply was you have lived in the property more than 6 months so I do not qualify to be rebranded to the lower band. I now don't know what else I can do if anything, any advice and help would be greatly appreciated
thank you
mike

JennyP

lincroft1710 wrote: »

JennyP - if your neighbours applied for a CT band reduction more than 6 months after they became the occupiers, then CT legislation does not allow for an appeal against a VOA refusal.

From Lincroft's reply to me, it would seem that you can apply for the reduction even if you've been there longer, you simply cannot appeal if you disagree with the decision they then make!