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

lincroft1710

Qwiksilver wrote: »

Should I make them aware of these anomolies?

They should know, but pointing it out to them won't hurt.

Mary_Ta

I have recently purchased a house and am considering appealing my Council Tax band. My house is band G and has a floor area of 200 m2, my 2 nearest neighbours are band F and are similar properties with very similar floor areas. The next nearest property (its a rural area) is about 200m away is also band G but has a floor area of about 600 m2.

I think I have a reasonable chance of a valid claim, but am concerned that one of my band F neighbours have an "improvement indicator" against their house and my application might cause the neighbours banding to be increased to G. Is the VOA likely to increase the neighbours band, or would it only happen if the neighbouring band F house sold?

Its difficult to get any comparitive valuations as none of the houses in the area has sold in the last 12 years (apart from my recent purchase), most haven't sold for at least 30 years. All of the houses in the area have had some form of extension in the last 10 years, increasing floor areas by about 25%. The house with the "improvement indicator" against it has probably had the smallest extension of about 10%. Based on my recent purchase price, house price indicies indicate a 1991 value of £210,000 might indicate G is the correct band, but I suspect the area has suffered significantly higher house price inflation than the indicies indicate, mainly because there is a shortage of supply; no houses are being built, and houses rarely come onto the market.

I would be reluctant to ask for my valuation to be changed if it is going to impact the neighbours council tax payments. I would appreciate advice on the chances of this happening?

lincroft1710

Mary Ta - the VOA can only increase a band on account of alterations or extensions if these were carried out by a previous owner or prior to Apr 1993 and are not reflected in the current band.

The 600 sq m house probably should be in Band H!

parkview094

Failed!

We're a band E. All our neighbours are* band D. Looking back on the historic sold prices, identical houses (typical 3 bed 1930's semis) were selling for less than £88k in 1996 (as far back as I could check).

Applied for a rebanding. Denied with no option to appeal. 3 Of our neighbours also now bumped up to band E! *(were)

Oh hum.

moogdroog

Wondering if anyone thinks this is worth a try:
Firstly, I'm in Wales - I know a rebanding was done back on 2003.
Terraced house - all of the terrace seems to be band C, however most are 3 beds and ours is only 2 (no bathroom when originanlly built, our 3rd bed was converted to a bathroom). Surely this means less value, therefor lower band? Any experiences?

lincroft1710

moogdroog wrote: »

Surely this means less value, therefor lower band?

Not necessarily, there is a school of thought that there is little difference in value between a 2 bed house with 1st flr bathroom and similar size 3 bed with ground flr bathroom.

Secondly Band C in Wales has a band span of £65K to £91K, so if for example a 3 bed was worth £85K and a 2 bed worth £70K, they'd still be in the same band.

May still be worth asking though.

sundevil_rachael

exvoperson wrote: »

I have not been involved in council tax for a few months but I doubt the rules have changed. Your appeal must be made within 6 months of taking occupation and not a day latter. Going to tribunal on this point will be a waste of time.

One option you do have is to make a fresh appeal referring to a relevant tribunal decision and that must be done within 6 months of the date of the decision. basically go to the VT website and look at reported CT decisions for your area and see if any are relevant, ideally it will be on another 1 bed property reduced from d to c or on something similar. You will have to state in your appeal why you thing the decision is relevant to your case. if not relevant case check every 3 moths or so until something comes up.

Thanks for that - hearing was today and as expected my appeal was dismissed. However half of my street was only finished this year so half the residents are within six months - I thought it might be unwise to approach them to suggest they appeal as it is something that has been raised at tenants association. However the board encouraged me to speak to my neighbours if I thought there was a case - so I shall be!

I am also going to check decisions as you suggested as judging by the mix of grades in our development a couple of people appear to have challenged already.

New builds were the entire appeal list today - says a lot!

Thank you :T

lincroft1710

sundevil_rachael wrote: »

New builds were the entire appeal list today - says a lot!

Not really.

It is possible that a decision was taken to list all the new build appeals at the same tribunal. Also many taxpayers who would be within the 6 month time limit, would have bought newbuilds.

When I was dealing with CT appeals, it was unusual for there to be no appeals on a new development even as long ago as the mid 1990s.

devil_tez

I know that MSE says that you shouldn't bother with this if you live in Wales, but when I looked at the bands for my street every one of the houses is on a lower band than me, and my house value back in 1991 was way below the lowest band, so I did the appeal anyway, but I got rejected saying that my house is bigger than the others which is not true, its a mid terrace house and they are all the same, ours has an extension, but so do most of the houses on our street. So I thought I would appeal but when I go to the appeals directgov website it is all based on England only, and I cannot select the welsh county's, what should I do, should I just accept my band?

miriamb_2

Received letters this morning from the council and the VOA, our flat has been rebanded down to a B from a C. We moved in over 2 years ago but raised it as a query. Two valuation officers came round, measured the property, took about 10 minutes. The property plans they had on file were pre-1990!! We're now due refunds for 2010/11 and 2011/12 and this year's monthly payments are reduced. :money:

Excellent result, very happy - thanks Lincroft for your advice! :j