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

lincroft1710

devil_tez wrote: »

my house value back in 1991 was way below the lowest band,

Welsh CT bands are based on 2003 values

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.

VOA may not be aware of the other extensions.


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?

Ring your local VOA and ask if they can give you the link for the relevant webpage.

Cas

We successfully appealed our council tax band with Glasgow City Council and received a letter at the start of July advising that whilst made "your proposal has not been made within the time laid down by statute and is consequently invalid, I am prepared, without prejudice, to alter the entry in the Council Tax list from Band F to Band E ... a formal offer will be issued to you in due course, and the Director of Financial Services will be appropriately advised".

We've now received a Notice of Banding confirming the amendment and it's effective from when the house was built in 1999.:j

A big thank you to all who contributed to this thread!:T

:question: So my question is does the council now automatically refund the overpayments made since we moved into the house in 2006 or do I need to write to them and request the refund?

thewad

I did my mother in laws appeal.
It cost 5 minutes research on here and 2 minute
typed e mail to the relevant VOA office just requesting
they look into it.
It cost me not a penny and got her £1200 back and that
was only going back 13 years.

dubby02

Hi, just wondering if anyone could give me some advise.

I think my last house was banded incorrectly but as i no longer live there can I still find out if it was banded correctly and if so how do I go about it?

Many thanks in advance

Empty_pockets

Hi,

Advice appreciated on whetehr I should ask for a reassesment.

I have an ex-council Bed terrace in York

Purchaced in June 2000 for £41000
Next door purchaced June 2000 for £51950
Directly opposite purchased June 2000 for £43000

I think the £52K purchased was overpriced.

We are all currently band B, do you think I have chance to get changed to Band A??

Does the claim go back the full period you have been in or does it have a cut off?

How do they work out the valuations? I read above about the house being measured for size. Mine is quite large but in a bad area so do they take 'very' local anomolies into account?

I let the house out for a year or two. Would I have to make two claims for say 200-2003 & 2005-2012 or will they work all that out and make one payment?


Thanks.

lincroft1710

dubby02 wrote: »

Hi, just wondering if anyone could give me some advise.

I think my last house was banded incorrectly but as i no longer live there can I still find out if it was banded correctly and if so how do I go about it?

Many thanks in advance

You will have to ask the current occupier if they will check if the band is correct.

lincroft1710

Empty_pockets wrote: »

Hi,

Advice appreciated on whetehr I should ask for a reassesment.

I have an ex-council Bed terrace in York

Purchaced in June 2000 for £41000
Next door purchaced June 2000 for £51950
Directly opposite purchased June 2000 for £43000

I think the £52K purchased was overpriced.

We are all currently band B, do you think I have chance to get changed to Band A??

Does the claim go back the full period you have been in or does it have a cut off?

How do they work out the valuations? I read above about the house being measured for size. Mine is quite large but in a bad area so do they take 'very' local anomolies into account?

I let the house out for a year or two. Would I have to make two claims for say 200-2003 & 2005-2012 or will they work all that out and make one payment?


Thanks.

CT valuations are based on sale prices at 1 Apr 91, both size and locality will have an effect. Band reductions are dealt with by the Valuation Office Agency, if the band is reduced then the council should sort out how much you are owed.

WK77

Hi folks,

I would like to share our story so far and would appreciate any advice that can be offered.....apologies for the rambling post that follows!

We live in a development of 17 houses built around 10 years ago. The location is Ayrshire. There are 3 types of house in the development. 2 larger types of 4-bed detached houses (different layout, but similar overall size and value) and a smaller 3-bed detached house type. The 4 beds have internal floor area of approx 150m2, the 3 beds 100m3. On current prices the smaller houses are valued around £180k to £190k, the larger houses £230k to £240k. We own one of the smaller 3 bed houses.

Recently, the 4-beds were all rebanded from G down to F following a 2 year campaign by one of our neighbours after they had bought their house. Having researched banding of other properties in the town there are many of a similar size and value to ours which are on band E. In fact a comparison with other houses would suggest that ours is pretty much identical to the Band E's in size, no of bedrooms (some of the Es are in fact detached 4 beds) and recent sales prices. And of course location as they are all located in the same small town.

The remaining six 3 beds on our street which were originally on band F and now find ourselves in the same band as the larger properties and have all lodged proposals to change bands down to E. This has been rejected on the "out of time" rule. I had thought that since the decision to reband the others had been taken in the last 6 months this was relevant to our property and we would have a case on that basis but I am told by the Valuation Board that this is only the case if the rebanding of a neighbouring property is the result of a successful appeal to the independent Appeals Committee. Since the rebanding was agreed directly by the Valuation Board it is not considered to be relevant in the eyes of the regulations.

We have been told however, that our appeal will be considered by the Appeals Committee. The person I spoke to told me that they were quite sure that there are properties that they consider the closest match to our house that sold for over £80k (Scottish band F threshold) around April 91. I am not convinced as it seems all the properties in neighbouring streets of a similar size and value to ours are all band E. The Nationwide calculator indicates (with all its limitations) that we would have been £67k in 91. I find it hard to believe that local variability could have added £13k to the price back then!

I think that what I really need is to get access to sale prices from back in 1991. It seems this is the data that the valuation board have access to and I don't; all the online sites only go back 10 years for sale prices. If they are right then so be it, but I would like to be able to judge for myself.

So, is there anywhere that I can access property sale prices back to 1991? I don't mind if there is a nominal charge for access to this.

Another interesting thing I gleaned from talking to the valuation officer was in relation to comparing my house to some of the nearby band Es of a similar size and value. Apparently the Es were the result of a previous appeal by residents which went to the Appeals Committee. The Committee decided against the Valuation Board and the properties were rebanded down to E from an F. As this was a decision of the Appeals Committee and not the Valuation Board, the Valuation Board do not consider this to be a valid comparison for our property. Basically I was told that the Valuation Board think these houses should still be an F so I can't use them as a comparison to our house! It all seems rather perverse and set up to result in inconsistent banding.

Anyway, I'm going to keep plugging away with this and see where we get.

Katerob_2

Hi there
Just some advice where possible.
I brought my house shared ownership in 2010. The full cost was £128 for a 2 bed semi with double driveway. Currently it's banded a c. I have lived in the area for 28 years and the locality, although better is not the best area. I live behind a row of terraced houses on a small new built estate off a busy mainroad.
I appealed to the voa in 2010 - they just said no. They did not even come out.
So
My house band c 2 bed semi , 1 ba 1 wc, double drive. External measurements 77 m2 excluding drive.
2 doors up have the same property with single drive and no wc. External measurements 74m2 babes a B
So I re-appealed but the lady still was not going to come out and see what I have been telling her. All the properties differ in small ways but not major.
Phone call today to say she still thinks their correct on the band but will come out if requested.
Previously houses here were terraced and the only properties built nearer to 1991 semi detached off the main road arw bande a B. they Also believe my house was worth over £52k in 1991 but the calculator says below 52k.
Please help

EM187

Hi, I've had a long exchange of letters with the VOA as I believe my house is F when it should be in E. My house is a one off design in a mile long road and there are no comparable properties in the area at all. My house is detached but much smaller and in a less affluent part of the road than lots of the other band F homes where the facilities e.g. schools, shops, etc are historically much better.

I've raised all these issues, I've sent in private surveyors reports giving a realisitic sale value of my house and estate agents current documents showing that my property isn't worth what the other band F properties are but they just say that this information isn't relevant! They disregard the house price indices totally and say that my valuation was based on actual house size. When I explained that my house is galleried (the 1st floor is much smaller than the ground floor) and that this reduced my actual house "living space" they responded saying that they had looked at the plans when the bands were allocated.
I'm now stumped. Could this be true? Can I ask for proof?
Any advice welcome. Thanks