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

raob2d

I am not positive, but have been told that is the case.

At the time I was too pleased to receive the refund and neglected to enquire about the interest. Too soon old, too late smart.

Jotts

welshgasman wrote:

Now I am confused as I have just read this on the voa site. It appears to be working slowly now.

snip

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The Welsh Assembly Government sets the council tax bands for Wales. The table below shows the current range of values for each band:
A up to £44,000
B £44,001 to £65,000
C £65,001 to £91,000
D £91,001 to £123,000
E £123,001 to £162,000
F £162,001 to £223,000
G £223,001 to £324,000
H £324,001 to £424,000
I £424,001 and above


These bands came into effect on 1 April 2005.
endsnip

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So do I check for value in 2003 or 2005.?

It also states that any appeal must be made by 30/09/2006 for incorrect banding, so it appears that they have covered themselves.

I'll make a request anyway and see what they come up with.

The new bands came into effect as of 1st April 2005 so your new banding Council Tax bill started from 1st April 2005.

But obviously you cannot set a date to value a property on the same day as the band comes into effect. So the valuation date is 1st April 2003.

Therefore that gives the Valuation Office and the Council 2 years to Reval all of Wales before they issue the bills.

So, the Valuation office in Wales look at the value your house would be as of 1st of April 2003.

Hope this clears your confusion. Any other questions I will try and answer.

Also, before you received your bill from the council the Valuation office sent out letters to all properties around the end of 2004 (I think, don't quote me on this bit) to inform the council tax payer what their new bands would be.

In these letters the Council Tax Payer was then given about 18 months to appeal the band (up to 30th Sep 2006).

The usual time length for an appeal (this has always been the same going back to 1993) was 6 months.

So due to a revaluation the Valuation Office gave Council Tax payers an extra 12 months to appeal.

In normal circumstances you may only appeal within 6 months of being a new tenant or if there have been any changes to the property, you will need to speak to the Valuation Office or see their website for full details (when its working).

However the Valuation will ALWAYS look into your current banding however you may have lost your right to appeal if they do not agree that you are in the incorrect band.

If they agree though they will reduce.

To appeal is when you and the Valuation disagree and therefore it goes to a tribunal who decide who is correct.

Jotts

raob2d wrote:

I am not positive, but have been told that is the case.

At the time I was too pleased to receive the refund and neglected to enquire about the interest. Too soon old, too late smart.

Not too sure about interest repayments as this is a council issue and every council have their own policies.

However I don't believe that they do repay interest, I think it is just seen as the Council Taxpayers responsibility to check they are in the correct banding in the same way as to whether they are paying the correct income tax.

Altarf

Altarf wrote:

I suspect that there might be a sudden tightening up of the 6 month rule.

SteveUK wrote:

there cant be a tightening of it, how can you tighten a rule that is already clear ? if you have been in the property less than six months you can appeal - if over six months you can request a review and ask them to consider the band

But they were not previously applying the rules correctly. I 'requested a review' where they disagreed that there had been an error in my banding, but then they treated it as a appeal sending it forward to tribunal. As I was beyond the 6 months (by about 6 years) they should not have done and my case should have been closed.

I suspect that the rules will now be more strictly applied.

Terry_Vass

I'm seething. Having watch the 'Tonight' programme on Council Tax I find that compared to other similar properties, we appear to be over paying council tax.

Why am I seething? Because three years ago I spent an afternoon on the phone to the local council regarding this problem - I had a suspicion that we were over paying council tax - and they fobbed me off saying we couldn't do anything about it and we should wait for the Lyons report.

So if anybody is going to contact MEDWAY Council regarding getting their house rebanded - DON'T BE FOBBED OFF by them. I'm now considering legal action against them.

CIS

So if anybody is going to contact MEDWAY Council regarding getting their house rebanded - DON'T BE FOBBED OFF by them. I'm now considering legal action against them.

You can complain to the Council all you like, its not their issue - the Council can only band as per the information supplied by the Valuations Office, they have no power to raise or lower bands.

Jotts

Terry_Vass wrote:

I'm seething. Having watch the 'Tonight' programme on Council Tax I find that compared to other similar properties, we appear to be over paying council tax.

Why am I seething? Because three years ago I spent an afternoon on the phone to the local council regarding this problem - I had a suspicion that we were over paying council tax - and they fobbed me off saying we couldn't do anything about it and we should wait for the Lyons report.

So if anybody is going to contact MEDWAY Council regarding getting their house rebanded - DON'T BE FOBBED OFF by them. I'm now considering legal action against them.

Please everybody do not waste your time speaking with the Council if you are enquirying your Council Tax Band.

It is the Valuation Office who deal with the Banding of properties.

The council deal with Bills and Payments.

If you agree that your band is correct but disagree with the amount or require any discounts e.g single person then speak to the Council.

Penguinloz

Terry_Vass wrote:

I'm seething. Having watch the 'Tonight' programme on Council Tax I find that compared to other similar properties, we appear to be over paying council tax.

Why am I seething? Because three years ago I spent an afternoon on the phone to the local council regarding this problem - I had a suspicion that we were over paying council tax - and they fobbed me off saying we couldn't do anything about it and we should wait for the Lyons report.

So if anybody is going to contact MEDWAY Council regarding getting their house rebanded - DON'T BE FOBBED OFF by them. I'm now considering legal action against them.

If you live in Medway contact the Tunbridge Wells Valuation office, and ask for a review of banding. The Councils have nothing to do with re banding and there isn't much the council can do,It is down to you to ask for it to be looked at- the switchboard number for the south East Valuation office group is 01892 796700.
this covers West and East Kent (not greater kent IE Bromley,Sidcup etc), East and West Sussex.

BaileyB

Would like some advice.

My band atm is C and looking at prices in 1991 and 2005 (last house sold on my road) my band should be A according to the table.

Now most of my road is C so i'm not the odd one out. But the problem is i'm in Wales so not sure what the right way to go is as i got rebranded in 2005. I moved in July 04.

Any help?

Jotts

Mr_Kennedy wrote:

Would like some advice.

My band atm is C and looking at prices in 1991 and 2005 (last house sold on my road) my band should be A according to the table.

Now most of my road is C so i'm not the odd one out. But the problem is i'm in Wales so not sure what the right way to go is as i got rebranded in 2005. I moved in July 04.

Any help?

Firstly ignore 2005 prices. You need to look at what it was worth in April 2003. As that is the valuation date used for Wales 2005 is when you started paying for that new band.

When you say the house on your street sold in 2005 did it sell for less than £44k. If it did and it is identical to your house and is a TRUE SALE then query it.

By a TRUE SALE I mean. It wasn't an ex council (local authority) property that was purchased at a discounted price from the council. If so then this sale will not be valid. It must be a sale on the Open Market. Also it cannot be a discounted purchase e.g a divorce settlement.

Now assuming that it is a genuine sale are there any other sales in the street. It may be possible that one house sells for a bargain price BUT three other identical houses on that street sold for £90k their true value.

If after all this the houses in your street are truely selling for less than £44k then phone the Valuation Office who will look into your band and if it is incorrect will reduce. As they look at your new band they will also look at the 1993 band and if this was wrong also will reduce that.

BUT it is the responsibility of the Council Taxpayer to check that they are in the correct band in the first place and therefore it seems that unfortunately its your responsibility to get your appeal in within time.

However give them a call and ask them to look into it. BUT do your homework and have your facts ready.