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

hogan53

Hi
Does anyone know if its worth my while disputing my C banding....as there are exact build type properties approx 1,000 yards away.
These are on band B.
Cheers

lincroft1710

hogan53 wrote: »

Hi
Does anyone know if its worth my while disputing my C banding....as there are exact build type properties approx 1,000 yards away.
These are on band B.
Cheers

Worth trying. However when I was working in VOA, a large town had 3 estates of the same house type, a mile or so apart, 1991 prices showed Band C for 2 beds on 2 of the estates, but Band B for the 3rd.
So it may be correct.

hogan53

Hi
They have the exact same dimensions and bedrooms.
Why band B for one area and band C for another?
Cheers

Karl123

Hi,

I have lived in my semi-detached 3 bedroom property since 2006 and since the properties were built on my street in 1979 it has had no extensions or garages built.

Recently I have challenged my Council Banding as in 1st April 1993 my property was valued around £36000 - Band A. I and 13 other similar properties are in Band B, including two 'Detached' houses (with garages), Semi-detached property with garage and two properties with extensions (converted garages). They are all significantly higher property value than mine.

In the 'Review Of Banding' they replied

'..Many other bandings have not been challenged and therefore have been accepted. I am of the opinion that a stage has now been reached when enough bandings have been agreed or determined or are unchallenged to establish a pattern of values, a tone of the list.'

'....It is now no longer apropriate or often necessary to look back at individual property values from many years ago'

They said that I have no right to appeal and that the Listing Officer stated that they already don't believe I am in a positition to make a proposal that they will accept as 'valid' ???

How do I make a "proposal to alter the valuation List" ?

lincroft1710

Karl123 wrote: »

How do I make a "proposal to alter the valuation List" ?

You cannot make a valid proposal as you are out of time.

It is 1991 values that are used for CT bands not 1993, and if your home's 1993 value was £36K, because of the falling house market, it may well have been worth more than £40K in 1991.

The only thing you can do is try to find similar nearby 3 bed semis in Band A and if you find any ask VOA why these are A and yours is B

lincroft1710

hogan53 wrote: »

Hi
They have the exact same dimensions and bedrooms.
Why band B for one area and band C for another?
Cheers

Perhaps homebuyers believe your estate is better and are willing to pay more for houses there.

chocho_2

Hello
I was wondering if anyone would be able to inform me if I could put an appeal in for the Banding on a property I used to own.
I was on the VOA website and noticed that the exact same property next to mine is in a lower Band.

The property was a semi detached property.

Thanks in advance for replies.

Ps this forum is great for advice.
Also if posted in the wrong place apologises.

lincroft1710

No, only the current occupier can make a proposal. You will have to contact that person and ask them if they are willing to make a proposal or if they have lived there more than 6 months to query the band.

Sponge

Well, without having to do any chasing, the council sent us a letter saying our old house has been rebanded from a B to an A and they owe us a refund. The paperwork asked us how we wanted the money and then to post it to them. We provided bank details for a BACS transfer and we should get it next week (it takes 15 working days). The money will go towards the rewire of the house we're now in. Happy days!

sghughes42

I've just gone through the request for a reevaluation process and been rejected - wondering if anyone can comment whether it is worth taking things further?

The house is a two bed detached bungalow. The close is a newer development than the rest of the houses in the area, comprising a mix of detached 2 bed bungalows, detached 3 bed houses and 3 bed semis.

The bungalows are all in Band C, except one which was revalued to a band B. The detached 3 bed houses are also Band C, the semis are Band A.

As I'm only renting I have no past history going back to the 90s, but looking at recent prices, the bungalows seem to be selling at around the same price as the semis, with the detached houses being about 30-50k more.

My claim was rejected for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I'd compared my house with the 3-bed semis on the basis that the values are similar currently and they have one extra bedroom which would, to me anyway, counter the advantage of being fully detached. However, I was told it is only allowable to compare with houses of the same type.

The other reason it was rejected was that out of the four bungalows, two hadn't been challenged so were taken as the banding being accepted. This doesn't make much sense to me, as the only one that was challenged was reduced...

The one that was reduced was because they don't have a garage, the others do. However, they have three UPVC conservatories on the house, mine only has a wooden sun-room. Also, the garage is too small to actually be used for a car. Also, one of the semis has had a big extension with a built-in garage but that hasn't been increased from a band A so that doesn't seem consistent.

Does any of that seem to give reason for an appeal or am I stuck by only having three other properties to compare with?

Also, aren't they supposed to send someone out to value the property? Certainly no-one called to look around so unless they just did a walk-past valuation I can't see that this was done.

FWIW, the other houses in the area are ex-council. They are considerably bigger with much larger plots, and most are in band A, but none are bungalows so, if the rule on comparing like with like is correct, I can't make a comparison to them...