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

petewhit

hi ive just had a letter from the voa saying my council tax band has gone down from band c to b. ive been in this house since 1994 and i believe im entitled to a rebate for all the years of over payment from my council. must say it was very unexpected.

bagand96

I bought a property in April of this year and have just had a letter from the VOA saying they are looking at my banding due to improvements by a previous owner.

My house was local authority built in the 1950s. The people I purchased from had lived in it for over 30 years, and they themselves purchased it from the local authority and were the first and only private owners. There are no improvements or extensions from when it was built.

On checking the gov.uk site I see my house is band C along with a couple of others. However the majority are band B (all houses being the same style ex local authority). The one thing I notice, all of the band B houses have a mark in the "improvement indicator" column. Mine does not and neither do the others that are Band C.

Question being, is it the case that due to a sale or something, the houses near me have been rebranded down to B? And can I expect mine to be? Obviously having just bought it no rebate is due but it would be a nice bonus to drop a band...

bagand96

Actually it's worked the other way round than I thought. Ive had a revised council tax bill today saying my house has moved from band B to C so I've gone up a band. Ive had no notification from the VOA though.

So I'm guessing all the houses around mine have an improvement indicator and when a relevant transaction takes place (sale) they could also be remanded to C?

I'm going to contact VOA and ask for an explanation. Their letter refers to improvements but like I say there aren't any.

lincroft1710

bagand96 wrote: »

I'm going to contact VOA and ask for an explanation. Their letter refers to improvements but like I say there aren't any.

It sounds as if your home was in the wrong band from the start of Council Tax. The VOA may have sent the notification of increase when the previous owner was still living there. Or it may have gone to him on a mail redirection.

David_Bluestone

I successfully contested my Council Tax Band from Birmingham City Council from Band B down to Band A with a refund of £500+ and a lowering of annual price by £100+. However, it was a struggle. The initial cursory response was that "after viewing all my information" I was in the right Tax Band (I would question they even read my information). I sent the rejection letter to the Council Tax appeal tribunal only to be told that it wasn't an official rejection letter. Getting back to the VOA and after much mumbling it was given another look and success. There is a lot more to this with emails and letters passing back and forth but in essence don't take "no" for an answer. My basic premise of my property being valued at less than £40,000 in 1991 was the thing they could not get around in spite of gobbledygook "improvements, double glazing, new kitchens". So back dated refund from when I moved in in 2006. Thanks.

sunflow

Hi all,

My neighbour and I are challenging our council tax banding, currently a
E when nearby properties recently sold around our purchase price and of similar size are a D. I've asked the listings officer previously for details on how all 4 bed, 3 story properties on a neighbouring road were performing around 1st April 1991 and was advised to wait for the regulation and submit comparable properties in response. He implied we couldn't list every house and could only request up to the same number of properties in the regulation so we choose 3 properties on the neighbouring road mentioned and a similar number from a couple of other locations within the same council borough and ward.

Unfortunately we've now heard back and none of the comparable properties we choose sold within a few months either side of 1st April 1991. There are approximately 20 houses on the neighbouring road as band D, is there a way we're able to confirm if any sold around 1st April 1991 as the listing officer advised previously he can only check specified addresses? Given the Land Registry website allows us to search for postcodes within date parameters I'm amazed the listing officer can't extend his search. Any advice would be gravely appreciated.

lincroft1710

The LO is correct, if he sends you details of 30 properties, you can also choose 30, but if he only sends 3, you are also restricted to only 3. There is no second bite of the cherry - if your chosen properties fail to provide useful sales evidence, you cannot ask for details of any others.

1991 house sale details are not in the public domain, so there is no easy way you can obtain these.

sunflow

lincroft1710 wrote: »

The LO is correct, if he sends you details of 30 properties, you can also choose 30, but if he only sends 3, you are also restricted to only 3. There is no second bite of the cherry - if your chosen properties fail to provide useful sales evidence, you cannot ask for details of any others.

1991 house sale details are not in the public domain, so there is no easy way you can obtain these.

Thanks for responding, really appreciated. Do you know of any way to obtain sale prices for a street around April 1991? The VOA officer who measured my property advised that I could ask the LO how certain roads were performing so the approach appears to vary depending on who you speak to within the VOA. All very confusing

lincroft1710

You can of course ask the LO, but he may give a very vague answer. I would suggest that you ask the LO why these other houses are in a Band D. However there is a possibility that Band D is incorrect and the LO may decide to increase their bands.

Does the evidence the LO has given you definitely show that Band E is correct?

sunflow

lincroft1710 wrote: »

You can of course ask the LO, but he may give a very vague answer. I would suggest that you ask the LO why these other houses are in a Band D. However there is a possibility that Band D is incorrect and the LO may decide to increase their bands.

Does the evidence the LO has given you definitely show that Band E is correct?

Thanks for taking the time to reply. The LO has chosen two roads in Southwark (SE19) with band E properties on as part of their submission alongside one example road for band D and band F properties. Of the band E properties within the LO submission, one road is 4 bedroom properties and the other 5. The RCA measurements are similar size, however, ours is a 3 bed and a different borough.

I've found band D properities of a similar size within Lambeth (SE27) where we live on 3 separate roads, a mix of 3 and 4 bedrooms. One sold for £146k more less than a month before. However, the LO has mentioned that ours are new build properties and our comparable properties Victorian or 1930s but that's all there are in the immediate area.