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

JCD_Capulet

Thanks for the pointer Lincroft

daveyrussell

Hi All

I checked my propery price and it should be in banding A as worth less than £40k in 1991. I checked this on 4 seperate sites. Logged with VOA and provided all this evidence. They stated that their records show similar properties in the area sold for more and my infomation is not accurate. I asked where they get their information from so i can check it, they said under the data protection act i am not allowed to see these figures. This cannot be fair. I said it is like playing poker and someone who says they won but will not show their cards.
I have given information from a house price sold last years and crossed that with Nationwides house price calculator and again they said that is not accurate.
All information i have given they stated is not accurate.

I will go to a tribunal as i feel this is unfair and i am correct and they are wrong, but it is a joke how they fob you off like this

lincroft1710

daveyrussell wrote: »

They stated that their records show similar properties in the area sold for more and my infomation is not accurate. I asked where they get their information from so i can check it, they said under the data protection act i am not allowed to see these figures.

VOA do have actual sale prices and are correct in saying they cannot disclose these as pre 1994 house prices are not in the public domain and also historically they are legally prevented from disclosing them. House price indices can be very inaccurate and from experience can show from a 10% to 25% undervalue.

However if you have submitted a valid appeal and it gets to the stage of a Tribunal hearing, then the VOA are allowed and have a statutory duty to disclose relevant sale prices prior to the actual hearing.

Hikerwild

Hello, the V.O.A. have have said that my house is in fact two houses, and now they want two lots of council tax from us. They said it has been altered or modified and "could" be used as two self contained units. Does any body have experience with this? There is only one electricity and water supply etc and only my family that live here which we have done since 1954. Thanks

lincroft1710

Hikerwild wrote: »

Hello, the V.O.A. have have said that my house is in fact two houses, and now they want two lots of council tax from us. They said it has been altered or modified and "could" be used as two self contained units. Does any body have experience with this? There is only one electricity and water supply etc and only my family that live here which we have done since 1954. Thanks

Over the past 20 years there has been statute and plenty of established case law on this aspect. Does each "house" have :

Facilities for preparation of food, facilities for washing, a WC, room for sleeping, eating, living, and can be accessed without going through the main rooms of the other house.

If so then the VOA are probably correct. Shared utility supply is not relevant when considering self containment. If you could tell us the exact accommodation of each house, if would be helpful.

In certain circumstances, dependent relatives are exempt from paying Council Tax, if the second house is classed as an annex.

MontyWomble

Hoping someone may be able to help...

We bought a house in June 2012 and are in a band D. We believe we should be in a band C based on;

Both of our neigbours houses sold for not much than the banding limit some 6-7 years after 1991!

We have been through the process and denied rebanding, but would really like to find out the true value of our / neighbours houses in 1991 by looking at house inflation and working backwards.

Does anyone know where % house inflation (historic) is saved on the internet? Found some bits from ONS but not exactly what I need.

Other ideas appreciated!

Thanks

lincroft1710

MontyWomble wrote: »

Both of our neigbours houses sold for not much than the banding limit some 6-7 years after 1991!

We have been through the process and denied rebanding, but would really like to find out the true value of our / neighbours houses in 1991 by looking at house inflation and working backwards.

From experience by 1997/8 after bottoming in 1994/5 many house prices had risen to 1991 levels.

There are various house price indices but they tend to be around 10% inaccurate. A true value would only be found by looking at actual 1991 sales of nearby houses of the same or similar types. Unfortunately although the VOA have this information, it is not in the public domain.

MontyWomble

Hi Linda,

Thanks for this. There are only 4 properties the same on our road and the earliest sale I can find is for 1996.

I have now found the Nationwide calculator which puts us at £66.1k in 1991.

Any other ideas?

Thanks!

lincroft1710

MontyWomble wrote: »

Hi Linda,

Thanks for this. There are only 4 properties the same on our road and the earliest sale I can find is for 1996.

I have now found the Nationwide calculator which puts us at £66.1k in 1991.

Any other ideas?

Thanks!

My name isn't Linda, I'm a guy! My username is address orientated.

What is the 1996 sale price? Knowing this will tell me how accurate the NW calculator is. If you can source archived 1991 newspaper property adverts it will you an idea of asking prices. Also try and find any nearby houses of a similar type and size which are in Band C.

JCD_Capulet

I'm still pursuing a re banding for my flat. Here's the update.

I live a tenement block, one of four on this side of the street. In all four blocks there are two ground floor flats (2 beds) six upper floor flats, three on each level all consisting of one bedroom and currently band B. These blocks were converted in 1992 from 2x three bedroom flats on each level into the current 3x1 bedroom flats on each.

At the far end of the street and the street behind me there are a further ten tenements of the same original size, all three bedroom flats on the upper levels and band B.

Today I contacted my local council office directly and they put me in touch with the local SAA officer. I've submitted to him the information I put together and he's now going to look into it again.

He's told me if I don't hear back from him by tomorrow I should do so by Monday. Fingers crossed.