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

wheresMyMoney

Hi all, I am in a block of flats, all one building in 3 blocks but with the same layouts in all blocks. My current band is C. After checking the gov site for each properties banding, 2 of the 27 properties are band B whereas the rest are band C - the 1991 check for my properties value falls into band B. My question is - does the Neighbours check pass with 2 out of 27 neighbouring properties having a lower tax band (as per the "MSE/reclaim/council-tax-bands-change#neighbours" checks)?! Thanks for reading, any advice as to whether I should make a claim is most welcome!

lincroft1710

wheresMyMoney wrote: »

B. My question is - does the Neighbours check pass with 2 out of 27 neighbouring properties having a lower tax band

The 2 Band Bs may have been wrongly banded or may have been reduced. If the flats were built prior to 1993 and there is a date alongside these 2 bands, then they will have been reduced.

If the 2 Band Bs have always been Band B and are incorrect, then if you ask for a band review, their bands will probably be increased.Also bear in mind that the House Price Indices are only approximate and will often show a value 10% less than the actual 1991 value.

wheresMyMoney

lincroft1710 wrote: »

The 2 Band Bs may have been wrongly banded or may have been reduced. If the flats were built prior to 1993 and there is a date alongside these 2 bands, then they will have been reduced.

Thanks for that. I have checked and the 2 Band B properties both have a With Effect From date, whereas the Bands C properties have no With Effect From date. So, that's good a good sign, they have been reduced? As for the age of the building I'm 99% sure it was built before 1993.

lincroft1710

wheresMyMoney wrote: »

Thanks for that. I have checked and the 2 Band B properties both have a With Effect From date, whereas the Bands C properties have no With Effect From date. So, that's good a good sign, they have been reduced? As for the age of the building I'm 99% sure it was built before 1993.

Please let us know if you're successful or not

simons1974ace

Hi, I wonder if anyone can advise if it's worthwhile making a claim.

I rent a semi and my house is a band higher than the neighbour who has exactly the same house. There are no other neighbours apart from one detached house which was built at the same time and is much larger throughout, this is the same band as ours.

This seems crazy.

These house are all around 10 years old. The online estimate by Nationwide puts us down a band, to match our neighbour.

I have some questions that I hope someone more knowledgable can help with

1) I've been here 7 years, is that too late?
2) There is a chance my neighbours band is wrong (though unlikely given the size of the other house in the area) in which case if they put theirs up, would this be back dated?
3) I work at home, would this effect the valuation?

Thanks muchly!
Simon

lincroft1710

simons1974ace wrote: »

Hi, I wonder if anyone can advise if it's worthwhile making a claim.

I rent a semi and my house is a band higher than the neighbour who has exactly the same house. There are no other neighbours apart from one detached house which was built at the same time and is much larger throughout, this is the same band as ours.

This seems crazy. Their band could be too low.

These house are all around 10 years old. The online estimate by Nationwide puts us down a band, to match our neighbour.

I have some questions that I hope someone more knowledgable can help with

1) I've been here 7 years, is that too late?

You can ask for a band review, but if the band isn't changed there is no appeals procedure

2) There is a chance my neighbours band is wrong (though unlikely given the size of the other house in the area) in which case if they put theirs up, would this be back dated?

No

3) I work at home, would this effect the valuation?

No. However if, for example, you used your garage solely for carrying out vehicle repairs for other people or had a room which was a dedicated treatment room, these could be subject to business rates

Thanks muchly!
Simon

It may be worth asking why are the 2 houses in different bands and just hope it is yours that is in the wrong band.

veemee

Hello all,
I have just discovered from looking on Direct.Gov that our council tax band was originally an F but was downgraded to an E. I called the council who said that this happened on 1/4/2000. We're almost certain that that we never received a refund for the 7 years of overpayment. Does anyone have any experience of trying to claim a refund from a historic band change? Have Googled without much success.

Many thanks!

lincroft1710

veemee wrote: »

Hello all,
I have just discovered from looking on Direct.Gov that our council tax band was originally an F but was downgraded to an E. I called the council who said that this happened on 1/4/2000. We're almost certain that that we never received a refund for the 7 years of overpayment. Does anyone have any experience of trying to claim a refund from a historic band change? Have Googled without much success.

Many thanks!

You first need to check the effective date of the band change, if it is 1 Apr 2000, then there would have been no overpayment. If it is 1 Apr 1993, then there is a possibility that the refund was credited to your CT account and you paid less CT that year.

You will have to ask the council to check their records, they will probably still retain them (as they're on computer). But if they say you were refunded, you've no way of disproving this or proving you never had a refund.

veemee

lincroft1710 wrote: »

You first need to check the effective date of the band change, if it is 1 Apr 2000, then there would have been no overpayment. If it is 1 Apr 1993, then there is a possibility that the refund was credited to your CT account and you paid less CT that year.

You will have to ask the council to check their records, they will probably still retain them (as they're on computer). But if they say you were refunded, you've no way of disproving this or proving you never had a refund.

We were Band F from 1st April 1993 then changed to Band E on 1st April 2000. Not sure on the 'effective date' though.
Will give them another call and see if they can shed any light.

lincroft1710

veemee wrote: »

We were Band F from 1st April 1993 then changed to Band E on 1st April 2000. Not sure on the 'effective date' though.
Will give them another call and see if they can shed any light.

The effective date is the date from which the new band is applicable, hence if the effective for the Band E is 1 Apr 2000 then you won't be due any refund. If the effective date is 1 Apr 1993, then you would be due a refund of any overpayment made between 1993 and 2000.