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

peter999

peter999 wrote:

Can anyone get into Valuation Office website (https://www.voa.gov.uk) ??

Still seems overloaded after yesterday's Tonight program special.
Martin certainly knows how to increase traffic to someone's website !!
.

Still cannot get into the VOA website.

Maybe they've shut it down
-that's People Power for you !!

peter999

BargainMad_3

What is the best house price calculator that people have been using ?



Forgive me for being cynical but I am sure the VOA have pulled the plug on their website - the "try again later" screen still appeared at 2.00 am this morining.

Big_Bird_4

Has anyone successfully claimed a revaluation/refund for a property that they no longer own?
Before we married my OH had a one bedroomed flat. It was banded the same as 2 and 3 bedroomed flats in the same building.
OH sold the flat several years ago but we think we paid too much council tax on it for five or six years and were wondering if there's any chance of claiming it back even though we now live somewhere else.
Has anyone managed this?

tarinilie

prudryden wrote:

True. It seems that the only reasonable and fairer way of obtaining needed funds for local government to operate would be a small income tax on one's earnings. Therefore, the more you earn, the more you pay. The less well off would pay a proportionately less amount. They could still have a property tax, albeit much smaller amounts.

I disagree - a 'small' income tax would particularly hit dual income young familes in relatively smaller accommadation on average wages.

True - pensioners living in large expensive houses would benefit.

The less well off would not necessarily pay proportionately less.

I think a luxury tax - Vat at 20-25%- should run along side a property tax - particularly on electrical imports.

Sagar_Fuzz

I followed all the article's instructions, and spent about an hour on it two saturdays ago collecting my evidence. We have lived here for less than 6 months, and it is the most poll, oh, sorry, COUNCIL tax I have ever paid (Arun District Council). The person in charge of our case was polite, pleasant and responded very quickly to my letter. He came round the following week to inspect the property, and agreed we were in the wrong band. We have now dropped from a band D to a band C. I had asked to be dropped to a band B, but after talking it through with him, I agreed a C banding was fair.

The other good news is that it is very likely the other five flats on our block will also be dropped a band - I can't wait to tell my neighbours!

So thank you MSE. You've helped six flats lower their council tax, and I have told countless friends who all were not aware you could even challenge the bands.

All it took was one hour, and we will get lots of money back and save about £300 a year, yay!

Jotts

Apologizes in advance for the long post and deviating from point to point. But hopefully this can be a worthy post.

As someone who actually worked for the Valuation Office until 2006 I can give you some facts. A lot of the people in the Valuation Office are blamed for work that was done by Estate agents and are believed to be part of the council which they are not. Yes there are some lazy slobs in the agency but this is true in all walks of life. There are a lot of great honest fair people who I had the pleasure to work with for many years.

A lot of what was said on Tonight with Trevor McDonald WAS TRUE however a lot of it was sensationalized or partially true.

Firstly can I clarify there are two BIG differences in regards to Wales and England (apologizes Scotland as I have no knowledge of working in Scotland) which were skipped. Wales have had a Revaluation in 2005. England were due to have one but this has been postponed. Why?

Political reasons. I.e there is an election coming up and the Labor party have chickened out on a revaluation. :T Wales were guinea pigs BUT it was the Welsh Assembly who decided to have it done early.

Now the Estate Agent Mr Goodwin (who owns his own succesful Estate Agency Williams and Goodwin) mentioned that in 1991-93 the Council Tax Bands were done by Estate Agents. This is partially true. They assisted the Valuation Office. And yes it is true that it was done by them driving around in their cars. BUT what was failed to be mentioned that the Estate Agents were well paid to do this job and in my opinion some of them did a very poor job of it. Not because of the limits that were put on them getting their info but also because a lot of them didn’t even drive around. They were paid to band a certain amount of properties as well as carry out their own duties as estate agents. Now this will inevidantly mean they would spend more effort on selling houses which was their main income than banding properties. So a lot of them are as much to blame for the poor information held by the Valuation Agency

Not all Estate Agents are the same. Some did work hard but a lot of them didn’t. And so if there was a street of houses they would just look at one house (if that for some of them!!) then assume that all the others were identical.

Please also take into account the amount of properties in the UK and the amount of people it would need to individually inspect every property and you are talking about a LOT of people. It simple just isn’t possible.

And now if you look at the amount of people who work for the Valuation Office today it will NEVER be done. It just isn’t humanly possible. Although when propety tax was first used many many years ago in the 50s/60s a lot of homes were internally inspected so details were taken and these have to an extent been updated/ corrected although many haven't. Also the Valuation Office still to this day(well they did last year!!) inspect properties that they visit such as new properties or properties that they are asked to look at.

Ok going back to Council Tax Banding. Can I also just clear something up. I personally don’t agree with the structure/system of Council Tax but this is something POLITICIANS decide not the people who work at the Council or the Valuation Office. Personally I believed the Poll Tax to be fairer although that still wasn’t the fairest system either. There are pros and cons to every system. For example an elderly person living alone in their property is likely to be worse off than a house of four well paid adults. And if an income based system was used would a hard working high earner feel let down if they lived next door to somebody who took advantage of the welfare benefits? It’s a difficult one to solve.

Another point I’d like to clear is this. The Council DOES NOT decide which Council Tax band you are in. The Valuation Office does this. And they are independent from the council. They are funded by the Government and NOT the councils. The Council are the people who BILL you. They decide how much each Band must pay and how much the bill will go up each year. They then decide where the money goes. Each council decides what they do with their income from Council Tax. Therefor you could be in the same band as someone who lives in a different region but pay a lot more.

Whether you have your bins collected regularly, never see a police officer, live alone or have a pot hole in your road HAS NOTHING to do with the Banding of your house.

The Band on your house is decided by the VALUE of your house. If you live in a million pound house (valued at the valuation date) and have no bin collection, have a ½ mile unkept track to your house never seen a police officer in your whole life while living there you should still be in the highest band even though the council houses on an estate in the village are only band B but have there streets polished, bins collected daily and have their own in house police officer.

Currently the Council Tax bands in England are decided on the VALUE your home would fetch if it was to have been sold on the open market on the 1st of April 1991. Even if your house was only built yesterday they would assume it was there in 1991 and value it at 1991 valuations.

In Wales your property is valued as of 1st April 2003.

Any alterations or extensions? Currently in England if the alterations were made after 1st April 1993 then they are ignored UNLESS the property was taken out of the list e.g the property was derelict in 1996 and it was incapable of being lived in and for example was valued at a Band C in 1991. In 1998 it was renovated, modernized and extended then completed and habitable in 1999. The house as it was in 1999 would be valued at 1991 values and banded for example Band E.

So currently if you live in England and have extended or made alterations to your house after Apr 1993 these are not taken into account UNLESS your house is sold. It can then be revalued and the new buyers would receive a new Band if it was to increase.

BUT when England has their Revaluation it WILL be taken into account. So if you have an extension on your house your band could increase, even if you recently have your council tax reduced due to a 1991 valuation.

In Wales any alterations or extensions made before 1st April 2005 were taken into account for the Revaluation. Any that were made after this date are not but WILL be when there is the next revaluation. Estimated in 2013 but totally dependant on Politicians.

My advice to all is this. You MUST do your homework. Remember you can go down, stay the same or GO UP!!!

1.)Check what band (A-H in England or A-I in Wales) you are in. Not the fact that your bill amount seems high.

2.)Then check for similar type/size properties in your area (Not your daughter who lives 100 miles away) What band are they in? You can do this by checking the website https://www.voa.gov.uk or council websites or even go to the Valuation Office or Council Office. Which will obviously suffer lately due to Press coverage.

3.) Be patient and polite. You are unlikely to be the only person enquiring and the person may not be so eager to help you if you are rude or aggressive.

4.) Use the many websites that are available to get a valuation on your property for either 1991 or 2003. Estate agents may also help but remember the market has changed dramatically in the last few years.

5.) If after all your homework you believe that your band is incorrect. Telephone or write to the Valuation Office. You may not be able to formally make an appeal but they will look into the band. If you are able to appeal make an appeal giving all your reasons. (Being a certain age, living alone, no bin collection etc etc is NOT a valid reason).

6.) Be patient. Yes this is your money we are talking about but you are not the only one enquiring about your band and there are only a handful of staff at the Valuation Office. And a lot of them take pride in getting their work correct fair and proper and are willing to correct anything that is incorrect.


If you are in the wrong band you band will be changed. If they believe it is correct they will (or should) give their reasons why they believe it to be correct.

This is all about getting the band correct and not about a secret windfall system! When I worked for the agency I believed in a fair correct system. If I discovered an incorrect banding I would correct it. Even on rare occasions having to tell people their band would be increasing.

Oh and another point raised last night was the fact that one neighbor was reduced and the other wasn’t. Now this is something that also annoys me. Certain offices carry out what is known as consequentials.

For example If one house on an estate was reduced due to an error and all the others on the same estate were TOTALLY IDENTICAL and there were no differences then we would have reduced the whole estate (increases would also be made). However this wasn’t always done at the same time due to time restraints. But they would all be reduced as of the same date.

To me if this isn’t being done this is wrong. The offices I worked in always believed in being fair and correct. Yes mistakes are made but if we are informed or notice them in time we would fix them.

Sorry for the long rant but I wanted to clarify some of the issues that were mentioned. I no longer work for the government as they aren’t the best payers but a lot of the people I worked with over the many years are worth a hell of a lot more than they are paid and aren’t always dealt with politely.

Also can I also mention DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING THE MEDIA TELL YOU REGARDING COUNCIL TAX. for example A property with a great Sea view will always be worth one that doesn't. This isn't a new sneaky thing VIEW TAX? Having an extra bedroom will mean your house could be worth more than one that has less.

Scaring people makes people take notice but what is being told isn't always true. Sells papers and fills 24hour news schedules.


Please treat people how you would like to be treated.

For Reference:

Band Value of your home on 1st April 1991 in England

A Up to and including £40,000
B £40,001 - £52,000
C £52,001 - £68,000
D £68,001 - £88,000
E £88,001 - £120,000
F £120,001 - £160,000
G £160,001 - £320,000
H More than £320,000


Band Value of your home on 1st April 2003 in Wales

Range of values Valuation band

Values not exceeding £44,000 A
Values exceeding £44,000 but not exceeding £65,000 B
Values exceeding £65,000 but not exceeding £91,000 C
Values exceeding £91,000 but not exceeding £123,000 D
Values exceeding £123,000 but not exceeding £162,000 E
Values exceeding £162,000 but not exceeding £223,000 F
Values exceeding £223,000 but not exceeding £324,000 G
Values exceeding £324,000 but not exceeding £424,000 H
Values exceeding £424,000 I

prudryden

Jott
That was excellent. You spent a lot of your well deserved rest time on providing that information and it is greatly appreciated.

I get the feeling that just because a red route has recently appeared in front of my house, which wasn't a red route in 1991, I can't use that for devaluation of my house is concerned. Any comments on that?

Jotts

Hi Prudryden

Without physically seeing it its difficult to tell. However I would suggest you contact the Valuation Office.

If there is a Material change in the area it can affect the value of your property. Whether it can affect the valuation enough to affect the band is something worth investigating.

prudryden

Many thanks Jott,
I think I will do that now.

Charleys_Cat

Hi I am a newbie to this and wondered if someone could clarify the situation, I lived in a cul de sac 1992 - 1998 and have just found out that our of 18 identical house T shaped 2 edroomed ones in same cul de sac built same time by same builder in 1992 were all A band apart from me and a neighbour who were Band B, (Ironically the third house in out T block was a Band A ) we have both moved out 1998, is there any way you can reclaim those years after you have moved out? As I would pressume if you had not paid they would chase you for money after you had moved out wouldnt they? Can someone tell me where we stand on the matter Many Thanks