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

ddks

lincroft1710 wrote: »

The VOA are obliged to investigate any request for a band reduction. The level of investigation will depend on many factors. It could be a cursory glance or it could be a thorough investigation which may take several hours. Or quite possibly it seemed very obvious the band was incorrect. Where there is no clear answer, it can often depend on the mindset of the caseworker.

Some years ago a colleague had to take over cases usually dealt with by another office as that caseworker was away for several months. My colleague reduced quite a few bands. Upon their return to work the caseworker promptly increased all the bands which had been incorrectly reduced in their opinion.

So a subjective rather than objective viewpoint. How do you issues like this get readdressed? There must a route to get these issues resolved, especially where there is no right of appeal?

ddks

Kerrylisa wrote: »

If my estimated 1991 valuation is only £150 within the band C, is it worth contacting the council to check if I should be in band B? From my research online it seems all houses along my road were put in band C.
Would appreciate any advice on this.
Btw, this is my first time on the forum

Hi, if you are using a house price index, it will not be sufficient. You really need to be looking at house prices from 91. Local library for old newspapers.

lincroft1710

ddks wrote: »

So a subjective rather than objective viewpoint. How do you issues like this get readdressed? There must a route to get these issues resolved, especially where there is no right of appeal?

There is no route. You can contact the VOA again, but it is doubtful you would receive what you would consider a satisfactory resolution.

lincroft1710

Kerrylisa wrote: »

If my estimated 1991 valuation is only £150 within the band C, is it worth contacting the council to check if I should be in band B? From my research online it seems all houses along my road were put in band C.
Would appreciate any advice on this.
Btw, this is my first time on the forum

From experience house price indices are about 10% too low on 1991 prices. If you want to query your CT band you need to contact the Valuation Office Agency (Eng and Wales) Assessor (Scot) not thye council.

ddks

lincroft1710 wrote: »

There is no route. You can contact the VOA again, but it is doubtful you would receive what you would consider a satisfactory resolution.

Lincroft- should we be considering the number of reception room and number of bedrooms?
Property A - 5 bed double grg - 189m2 sold 137k in 91
Property B - 4 bed double grg - 169m2 sold 137k in 90

Would a corner plot have any affect on house prices in 91 or is that a myth?

Thanks

lincroft1710

ddks wrote: »

Lincroft- should we be considering the number of reception room and number of bedrooms?
Property A - 5 bed double grg - 189m2 sold 137k in 91
Property B - 4 bed double grg - 169m2 sold 137k in 90

Would a corner plot have any affect on house prices in 91 or is that a myth?

Thanks

VOA tend to work on size rather than number of beds/recep. Corner plot may add something to value, but unlikely VOA would band a corner plot differently from non corner.

mustafa

Hi, I found a question (then lost it) on value or sale price, since then i have also seen that house prices dipped by 30% 1991 to 1994.
Did the checks and property was valued at £66,000 in 1991 but was sold in April 1996 for £61,000. In our very close area we have 44 bungalows on band C with a few others and ours in band D
Nearly all are 2 bed bungalows and we are paying the same as 3 bedroom semi houses. Not sure if this is relevent people live in a 3 bedroom detached 2 doors away and is currently worth £130K more than ours.
This is a 2 bedroom bungalow which has had a concervatory and a dormer bedroom (not sure when ) but still has 2 beds with the stairs up to dormer taking the space of the old bedroom.
Would this take us into Band D.
Thanks. Opinions would be great.

lincroft1710

mustafa wrote: »

Hi, I found a question (then lost it) on value or sale price, since then i have also seen that house prices dipped by 30% 1991 to 1994.
Did the checks and property was valued at £66,000 in 1991 but was sold in April 1996 for £61,000. In our very close area we have 44 bungalows on band C with a few others and ours in band D
Nearly all are 2 bed bungalows and we are paying the same as 3 bedroom semi houses. Not sure if this is relevent people live in a 3 bedroom detached 2 doors away and is currently worth £130K more than ours.
This is a 2 bedroom bungalow which has had a concervatory and a dormer bedroom (not sure when ) but still has 2 beds with the stairs up to dormer taking the space of the old bedroom.
Would this take us into Band D.
Thanks. Opinions would be great.

It will depend on the actual sales evidence from 1991 (not a value calculated from a sale at a later date). Without knowing that evidence it is impossible to decide whether or not Band D is correct. The comparison with the property 2 doors away is not relevant, dissimilar houses will be in the same band because of the band width.

If you believe your band is wrong, appeal if you are inside 6 month time limit, or ask for a band review, if outside it.

mustafa

Thanks, what concerns me at the moment is that 3 of the 44 2 bedroom bungalows very close have improvement markers and are still in band C along with 41 others?

lincroft1710

mustafa wrote: »

Thanks, what concerns me at the moment is that 3 of the 44 2 bedroom bungalows very close have improvement markers and are still in band C along with 41 others?

Until those bungalows are sold their bands will not and cannot be reviewed on account of improvements carried out by the current owners.