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

lincroft1710

ahar wrote: »

they had successfully challenged the band for a neighbour and seeking our permission to try and challenge our banding for 30% of the refund.

They probably won't be so keen to act for you when they realise you've only been there 7 months! 30% of the difference between 2 bands over less than a year isn't a lot of money.

You could easily write to the VOA and say "I understand a similar neighbouring house has had its band reduced and I would ask that the band of my house be reduced accordingly". If there's a reduction you'll get 100% of the refund.

tazz61

hi everyone I need help with this one.
I just received a letter from the council saying that council tax appeal has been proposal treated as invalid by assessor, in term of regulation 27(2) please serve on me within four weeks of the date of service of this notice a stating :-
a) your reasons or further reasons for the disagreement giving rise to the appeal or
b)that you don't intend to make further representions.

pls help what do I need to write on this letter to get my appeal through..
thank you william

lincroft1710

If you made your appeal more than 6 months after becoming the occupier, your appeal is invalid and there is no point in contesting the invalidity.

allybee13

Last weekend our neighbour who lives at 10 My Street, in an identical house to ours, informed us that he had succeeded in having his house re-banded from a Band E to a Band D and had received confirmation that he would have his over payments refunded back to 1993. He's been the homeowner since the mid-70s which is way beyond six months!

I submitted my proposal on the SAA website a few days ago and have received a rejection letter stating that my proposal exceeds the 6 month period laid down by statute and informing me that I can appeal the decision within 4 weeks.

I've sent an appeal via email on the basis that the identical 3-bed semi-detached property at 10 My Street was revalued outwith the six month period and has therefore set a valid precedent for my house at 6 My Street to be revalued.

Identical houses in surrounding streets are a mixture of Band E and Band D so it appears that some people have successfully challenged their banding whereas others haven't appealed. Due to the varied banding I didn't use this as a basis of my appeal and just stuck to the re-banding of number 10.

Does anyone have any experience of this with the SAA? Does my basis of appeal seem valid?

Thanks for any advice,
Ally

lincroft1710

Proposals outside the 6 month time limit will always be treated as invalid and any appeal against such invalidity will invariably fail.

The Assessor is obliged to investigate the band whatever the outcome of your appeal, so if the facts are as you say, your band should eventually get reduced.

Your neighbour may just have written to the Assessor asking him to investigate the band rather than making a formal appeal.

allybee13

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Your neighbour may just have written to the Assessor asking him to investigate the band rather than making a formal appeal.

He's getting back his 20 years of overpayments so I think he has taken it further than requesting that the band be investigated.

I don't understand how they could do this with him but not with us.

:mad:

lincroft1710

Making a proposal invokes a legal process. An invalid proposal will generate a lot of paperwork but will concentrate on whether or not the proposal is valid rather than whether or not the band is correct.

If you did appeal the validity, a subsequent tribunal would just look at validity and ignore any banding issue.

I'm ex VOA (English and Welsh equivalent of Assessor) and a letter requesting investigation is taken seriously. I reduced many CT bands following a simple letter from the taxpayer.

allybee13

Thanks - I'll wait and see what their Assessor says when he's been to see the property. Their letter said they'd send someone to investigate the banding at their convenience.

I've seen a few successes on the CT Successes forum with this council where they've claimed back years of overpayments after having their home rebanded. We've been here 10 years so it's not an insignificant sum of money that we've overpaid! It seems entirely unfair that there is a 6 month limit when it wasn't well publicised that you could appeal.

lincroft1710

I don't know if it's the same north of the border, but English councils' CT bills or accompanying literature do mention the right to appeal against the band.

paulshouse

My house was successfully re-banded in 1995 but I have recently received notification of an appointment to inspect. I would think it is because a neighbour failed in their attempt last year to have theirs reduced. All the houses on the estate vary slightly in design and are marginally on a band limit (from the eight that have sold since 1999 using the Nationwide price calculator, four show to be in a higher band than they should be and the other four are correct)

I appreciate I cannot get house selling prices for 1991 from the VOA but can I request the documentation from the original appeal be made available? Is it likely to have been digitised as their website claims?

If this is not disclosed/avialable can I use this as a basis for an appeal to the tribunal which would allow the VOA to disclose the 1991 selling prices they are using?

Is there anything else I should be asking the VOA to provide?