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

rabialiones

Sassy_girl wrote: »

I followed the details on the page and from 1994 till now I got back just over 3k all relatively simple to do I have now typed up a step by step guide for my neighbors who are also on the wrong banding

hi, could you give me a link to details page as when i click on original link in first post, it takes me to an invalid page


i have looked on voa site and after inserting my post code noticed that majority of houses on my road are on the lower band than i am



thanks

rabialiones

i have been looking through these posts, and noted that some people have received a backdated payment for a number of years, yet in some posts it states that there is a six month period since occupation that it the voa has to be informed/requested to reduce the band.

we have been in present property for about 6 years and just noted the band , thought we were on lowest one and we are not
can someone please help with this and also inform me if i have to apply to council or voa


thanks

lincroft1710

rabialiones wrote: »

i have been looking through these posts, and noted that some people have received a backdated payment for a number of years, yet in some posts it states that there is a six month period since occupation that it the voa has to be informed/requested to reduce the band.

we have been in present property for about 6 years and just noted the band , thought we were on lowest one and we are not
can someone please help with this and also inform me if i have to apply to council or voa


thanks

You are out of time to appeal your CT band, therefore you can only ask the VOA to review your band, giving reasons why you think it should be lower. If the VOA say no there is no recourse to a Tribunal Hearing or any other authority.

Devon1972

Hi, i think i have a case for reclaiming council tax, however my house was only built in 1998. Does this make it not appkicable to fhe orignial valuation ptoblem and therefore unable to challenge fhe banding?

berzsebet

HI,
Im confused with the process - not even sure if I am writing the right place as Im not a huge forum user - maybe 1-2x in my whole life - anyhow I've tried the following:
- all the similar houses are classed as band C in my street/immediate area
- so, if all has the same banding, than what next? how to ask for the reassessment? the value in 1999 was £64K - this is on webpage, confirmed, on the Isle of Wight - done the valuation and it is suggested that it was around £48K - which is band B - I know this is not acceptable as evidence, so I needed more "digging"
- paid for land registry/title register and got exactly the same page I already have - that I owe my house ! - this is not what I wanted - I wanted the purchase history but didn't got it - where can you obtain the history of sales ? I am confused now - I know how much I paid for it - worst is Im poorer by £3 ! for an info I already knew - so before I spend any more money, can someone help me please ? thanks

lincroft1710

Devon1972 wrote: »

Hi, i think i have a case for reclaiming council tax, however my house was only built in 1998. Does this make it not appkicable to fhe orignial valuation ptoblem and therefore unable to challenge fhe banding?

No. For CT purposes, all dwellings in England and Scotland are valued as if they had existed and were on the market for sale as at 1 April 1991. In Wales, the date is 1 April 2003.

MDS1973

Do we have a case?
We recently purchased a 3 bed link detached.
The previous owners had the garaged converted to use as a 4th bedroom, but as we are a family of 3, we have no use for the garage as a bedroom and just use it as a sitting room.
The previous owners mustn't have declared the 4th bedroom and as result got away with any rise in tax.
With the previous owners selling the house as a 3/4 bedroom property, the local government upped our council tax from band C to band D after approx 6 months, my guess is they have seen the advertised sale and acted on it.
Is it possible for us to challenge the tax band, or would it be rejected because of the conversion of the garage?
Any help would be greatly received.

ddks

berzsebet wrote: »

HI,
Im confused with the process - not even sure if I am writing the right place as Im not a huge forum user - maybe 1-2x in my whole life - anyhow I've tried the following:
- all the similar houses are classed as band C in my street/immediate area
- so, if all has the same banding, than what next? how to ask for the reassessment? the value in 1999 was £64K - this is on webpage, confirmed, on the Isle of Wight - done the valuation and it is suggested that it was around £48K - which is band B - I know this is not acceptable as evidence, so I needed more "digging"
- paid for land registry/title register and got exactly the same page I already have - that I owe my house ! - this is not what I wanted - I wanted the purchase history but didn't got it - where can you obtain the history of sales ? I am confused now - I know how much I paid for it - worst is Im poorer by £3 ! for an info I already knew - so before I spend any more money, can someone help me please ? thanks

All sales data pre 1995 is not available to the general public, so you won't be able to access the data.
All bandings in the England are based on sales of similar properties in the area from around 1991.
If all the properties similar in size to your property are all allocated the same council tax band, then I'd presume you might be in the correct band.
You could ask for a review but you have no appeal rights unless you are a new owner (6months of purchasing property) or there has been a material reduction.
You could look at previous Valuation Tribunal Service decisions which have been heard in your area.

ddks

MDS1973 wrote: »

Do we have a case?
We recently purchased a 3 bed link detached.
The previous owners had the garaged converted to use as a 4th bedroom, but as we are a family of 3, we have no use for the garage as a bedroom and just use it as a sitting room.
The previous owners mustn't have declared the 4th bedroom and as result got away with any rise in tax.
With the previous owners selling the house as a 3/4 bedroom property, the local government upped our council tax from band C to band D after approx 6 months, my guess is they have seen the advertised sale and acted on it.
Is it possible for us to challenge the tax band, or would it be rejected because of the conversion of the garage?
Any help would be greatly received.

Any extensions carried out by the current owners cannot be reflected in the banding until the property is next sold. Nothing to do with the previous owners not declaring any changes.
It is the duty of the Valuation Office (VO) to determine and allocate council tax bands. Every local authority has a duty to notify the VO of any changes to properties in their area. Any changes would have been picked up by the local authority. The VO does not have enough staff to trawl through sales/marketing information.
You should have had a letter from the VO stating the increased band, you can appeal within 6 months of the issue date.
It all comes down to 1991 sales of similar properties within the area. Unfortunately sales data pre 1994/95 is not in the public domain, so there is no way to access the information.

amypullen81

Hi all
Some advice please. Out house was a new build 5 years ago. Our neighbours are on the same band as us but on doing the second check (valuation in 1991) it states we should be a band lower. Should I challenge this ?