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

Stewart_78

No, there would be no compulsory purchase. A planning consultant told me that the likely outcome would be that as I would be in breach of planning at that point but have lived here for over 10 years and have a family and business, that they would probably grant permission for me to stay but it may only apply to me or my descendants ie. if we sell up, it goes back to a holiday let. But it's on it's own title so can be sold no problem.

What I would like to do is get the planning condition removed but he said that is unlikely as there has been no breach so why bother.

Stewart_78

So, question is. Would it be worth me getting a full valuation as you would for probate etc. from an agent? If I get a firm figure, say £200k, can I use this in any way to prove the value in 1991 or whenever it was?

lincroft1710

Stewart_78 wrote: »

No, there would be no compulsory purchase. A planning consultant told me that the likely outcome would be that as I would be in breach of planning at that point but have lived here for over 10 years and have a family and business, that they would probably grant permission for me to stay but it may only apply to me or my descendants ie. if we sell up, it goes back to a holiday let. But it's on it's own title so can be sold no problem.

What I would like to do is get the planning condition removed but he said that is unlikely as there has been no breach so why bother.

If you get the planning restriction removed, the open market value of your home would increase. If there is an appeal process with a planning restriction as there is with a refusal of planning permission, then I would expect you to win as it means another addition to the housing stock of an existing building.

My personal opinion is that the planning restriction is unduly onerous, makes little sense and is in nobody's interest.

It is possible that the VOA would look at a current valuation - it is fairly easy to find an approximate 1991 value. But I would imagine the valuer's fee will be several hundred pounds, the VOA may argue that it is a biased valuation (the valuer is instructed by you) or the VOA may view the planning restriction as irrelevant or the value as a holiday let may not be sufficiently low enough for the CT band to fall.

Stewart_78

Thanks, the planning condition has been a pain as it means we can't get a standard mortgage against it have to have a business loan instead so we can't shop around as much. At the same time I feel like we are paying full CT on it which doesn't seem right. Anyway, they've refused so I guess that's the end of the road. Might look at getting the tie lifted instead.

familyguy321

Hi All,

Hoping someone can help me put together a robust appeal against a decision from the VOA.

I challenged my council tax band within the first 6 months of moving into my property with the following reasons:

Reason for your formal challenge:
The entry for the dwelling shown above is inaccurate

Supporting information:
I am certain that I am incorrectly in Council Tax band C for two strong reasons. Firstly, properties of a similar or larger size on my street are currently in band B. This information has been collected from the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) website. For example, properties 18, 20, 22, 24, 26 and 28 <street name deleted> are all in Band B. These properties are a mixture of terraced and semi-detached houses. My property, at number xx, is a terraced house and has not changed in size since being built. Secondly, I have performed a valuation check on my property to find out what it would have been worth in 1991 - the year council tax bands were defined. Using the property's value (when I bought it in <month deleted> 2015) and house price data sourced from Nationwide, I calculated that my property would have been worth £42,523. This puts it well within the band B range of £40,001 - £52,000. I trust you will look into this and I look forward to hearing back from you soon.

I received the following response from the VOA:

We have considered the points you raised very carefully and have reviewed the information that relates to the current council tax band C effective 13-MAY-1996.

My decision is to: Make no change to the band or the effective date.

I have reached this decision because having considered the issues you raised and evidence of sales and bandings of properties in the area, I am satisfied that the value of the property, reflecting 1 April 1991 values (the date of valuation for all council tax bandings), is within the range of the existing band.

I have also enclosed additional information which I hope you find helpful.

The supporting information gives further details behind the decision to make no change to the band:

The band shown in my 'Decision Notice' (Band C) indicates that, in my opinion, the value of your property in April 1991, the date of valuation for all council tax bandings, would reasonably have been between £52,001 and £68,000. My records indicate that your property is a 3 bedroom terraced house with an external floor area of 82m2. This floor area represents the living accommodation only and does not include any outbuildings such as a garage. To help understand my decision, I have provided some further information which in my opinion supports my decisions.

A table is then included listing 3 properties in the area (including mine) that are in Band C with a floor area range between 80m2 - 83m2.

The last bit of the additional information page states:

I have noted your comments regarding other properties on <street name>. My records indicate that the properties you referred to are slightly smaller than your own property and are without a garage, hence the lower banding.

With regards to using a house price indicator to calculate a 1991 valuation, I should point out that the house price indices cover wide geographic areas which have different property types. These indices only show general trends in house prices. A house price index is not an accurate indicator of value for a specific property and is of very little help in arrive at a council tax band.

Are there are grounds on which I can appeal?

The two things that jump out at me are;
1. There are other properties on the street with garages that are in Band B and of a similar size - ours is a terraced but most of the street are semi-detached.
2. Secondly, how do they calculate what the value of the property would have been in April 1991 when it was not built then?

Any help will be much appreciated.

FG

lincroft1710

Family Guy

1. Ask the VOA for the sizes of the houses in Band B.

2. The same way they calculate values for properties built in 1915, 1965 or 2015, look at 1991 sales of houses of similar type and size.

familyguy321

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Family Guy

1. Ask the VOA for the sizes of the houses in Band B.

2. The same way they calculate values for properties built in 1915, 1965 or 2015, look at 1991 sales of houses of similar type and size.

Lincroft,

Thanks for the response and info.

1. Will do.
2. Where do I get that information from? It would be difficult to find similar houses sold in 1991 as the whole estate did not exist! My house was built during the first phase of development in 1996. The Nationwide house price index calculation indicated a 1991 value comfortably within the Band B range so even if it was +/- 10% out, I would still be within the Band B threshold.

FG

zenmaster

We received a letter from a claims company implying that we may be entitled to a CT rebanding.

Of course, I binned it and got straight onto the council myself.

They declined it straight away but admitted that the (much larger) house next door was classed at band C (we are band F) since it had been noted as "derelict" in their records.

It is not "derelict" by a long chalk - it's in much better condition than ours - our neighbour has just been (quite deliberately) very slow over his renovations.

Can I insist that they carry out a reassessment based on the grounds that we have been living next door to a "derelict" property for the past 20 years or more?

lincroft1710

familyguy321 wrote: »

Lincroft,

Thanks for the response and info.

1. Will do.
2. Where do I get that information from? It would be difficult to find similar houses sold in 1991 as the whole estate did not exist! My house was built during the first phase of development in 1996. The Nationwide house price index calculation indicated a 1991 value comfortably within the Band B range so even if it was +/- 10% out, I would still be within the Band B threshold.

FG

1991 sales info is not in the public domain, so you could try to archive newspaper property ads in 1991, but you would only get asking prices. Alternatively try to find nearby estates of 1980s/90s houses of similar size and type houses and check the bands.

I have found in certain circumstances NW HPI to be 25% inaccurate, it tended to very much underestimate 1991 values. 1996 was a year in which for some parts of the country house prices were on the rise, but in other areas still static.

lincroft1710

zenmaster wrote: »

Can I insist that they carry out a reassessment based on the grounds that we have been living next door to a "derelict" property for the past 20 years or more?

You cannot "insist" on anything. As next door is clearly not currently in a derelict condition, it would have no effect on your CT band.