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

lincroft1710

blindman wrote: »

I have just searched through all the bumpf I got when we paid off the mortgage.

I have found documents
14th Aug 1989
NHBC Insurance on the new house was valued at £85 K

30th March 90
First buyer bought from builder at £85K

6th Aug 91
House revalued due to separation of first buyers £75K

23 August 96
Sold at £75K

Would this be classed as evidence to support my claim of changing the banding from "E" to "D"

I did not have this information when I bought in '96 and just had to rely on the Council Officer.

Thanks

If you're in England, it sounds like a Band D to me!

Sherman999

Thanks Martin and MSE, went through your procedure to check my council tax band and discovered that all surrounding properties in my street were on a lower band and had been for 20+ years.
I received over £3000 rebate and now pay £28 less a month.
The whole procedure took about a month from my first email to receiving the rebate, I can highly recommend that anyone that is not 100% that their band is correct should check using MSE's guide.

NLP7

Can anyone give me some advice. Back in April I put in request for the valuation team to look at my Banding as the house next door which is identical had been changed to a lower band. I received a letter which I assumed was just acknowledging my form and then waited the time set out for the claim. I did not hear anything so I rang the number on the letter and was then informed by the case worked that they had decided to look at the whole area so I had to wait for someone to go out and do this. Today I’ve rung and been told this still has not been done, there is no time scale for this to be done and they can’t tell me when they’ll make their decision. I’ve looked and lots of people in the road and surrounding roads with the same property have had the reduction. Have I been miss informed is there a time frame and should I have had more communication from the case worker other than a letter with three lines on it. When I first contacted them?

CIS

NLP7 wrote: »

Can anyone give me some advice. Back in April I put in request for the valuation team to look at my Banding as the house next door which is identical had been changed to a lower band. I received a letter which I assumed was just acknowledging my form and then waited the time set out for the claim. I did not hear anything so I rang the number on the letter and was then informed by the case worked that they had decided to look at the whole area so I had to wait for someone to go out and do this. Today I’ve rung and been told this still has not been done, there is no time scale for this to be done and they can’t tell me when they’ll make their decision. I’ve looked and lots of people in the road and surrounding roads with the same property have had the reduction. Have I been miss informed is there a time frame and should I have had more communication from the case worker other than a letter with three lines on it. When I first contacted them?

At the moment you really have 2 options - 1) wait or 2) make a complaint.

As far as I'm aware though there is no statutory time-frame for the re-assessment to be undertaken where it simply a case of asking them to review the band.

lincroft1710

NLP7 wrote: »

Have I been miss informed is there a time frame and should I have had more communication from the case worker other than a letter with three lines on it. When I first contacted them?

Not knowing the precise details of the estate, means I can only generalise. The VOA no longer has the resources to prioritise cases such as yours where many dwellings are involved and possibly different types.

Communication actually wastes caseworkers' time as it takes then away from investigating the problem. Be patient, if your band is lowered any overpayment will be refunded

blindman

blindman wrote: »

I have just searched through all the bumpf I got when we paid off the mortgage.

I have found documents
14th Aug 1989
NHBC Insurance on the new house was valued at £85 K

30th March 90
First buyer bought from builder at £85K

6th Aug 91
House revalued due to separation of first buyers £75K

23 August 96
Sold at £75K

Would this be classed as evidence to support my claim of changing the banding from "E" to "D"

I did not have this information when I bought in '96 and just had to rely on the Council Officer.

Thanks

CIS wrote: »

There's nothing to stop you asking.

lincroft1710 wrote: »

If you're in England, it sounds like a Band D to me!

Update to my claim to the VOA:

Added to my detail above I also found a similar property in the street that was a lower banding. :T

I duly contacted the VOA, got a quick reply and then submitted all the paperwork and the address of the other property with a lower banding.

Six weeks on I have have my reply from the VOA:

He says NO :mad:

Firstly in the letter he quotes the WRONG address I gave for comparison:- It's not even my street!! :cool:

Then says that property "banding represent value significant factors that are specific to that property. ....."can be effected by size ((it's BIGGER!)
modernisation (It has a conservatory!)
Character (same as mine)
Parking (we both have drives for parking).

Lastly he says
I have taken accounn ot the points you raised :rotfl: and the evidence available to me
BUT will not state what that evidence is::mad:

I am not confident this VOA has done a thorough job (letter has typos and the wrong address)

How on earth can I query this?


Cheers.

lincroft1710

blindman wrote: »

Update to my claim to the VOA:

Added to my detail above I also found a similar property in the street that was a lower banding. :T

I duly contacted the VOA, got a quick reply and then submitted all the paperwork and the address of the other property with a lower banding.

Six weeks on I have have my reply from the VAO:

He says NO :mad:

Firstly in the letter he quotes the WRONG address I gave for comparison:- It's not even my street!! :cool:

Then says that property "banding represent value significant factors that are specific to that property. ....."can be effected by size ((it's BIGGER!)
modernisation (It has a conservatory!)
Character (same as mine)
Parking (we both have drives for parking).

Lastly he says
I have taken accounn ot the points you raised :rotfl: and the evidence available to me
BUT will not state what that evidence is::mad:

I am not confident this VAO has done a thorough job (letter has typos and the wrong address)

How on earth can I query this?


Cheers.

Write back and politely point out the errors in his letter. If you cannot get any satisfaction then this is the webpage for complaints about the VOA

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/valuation-office-agency/about/complaints-procedure

One thing the VOA did get right, they are not suppose to disclose evidence in non Valuation Tribunal cases

blindman

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Write back and politely point out the errors in his letter.

Polite email already sent. :cool:

If you cannot get any satisfaction then this is the webpage for complaints about the VOA

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/valuation-office-agency/about/complaints-procedure

One thing the VOA did get right, they are not suppose to disclose evidence in non Valuation Tribunal cases

Thanks for the reply and the link to the complaints.

I'll see if I get a response to my email pointing out the glaring error.

Seems unfair that VOA can just say "I have found evidence-but I'm not telling you what it is"

I'm thinking of taking all the measurements of the lower band house (square footage, parking access etc) along with mine and sending that to the VOA as this seems to be the crux of the matter.

Cheers.

lincroft1710

blindman wrote: »

Thanks for the reply and the link to the complaints.

I'll see if I get a response to my email pointing out the glaring error.

Seems unfair that VOA can just say "I have found evidence-but I'm not telling you what it is"

I'm thinking of taking all the measurements of the lower band house (square footage, parking access etc) along with mine and sending that to the VOA as this seems to be the crux of the matter.

Cheers.

Sales evidence was supplied to the VOA by the Stamps Office and later Land Registry on the understanding it was to be treated as confidential. When CT came into effect, Parliament had to give VOA permission to quote sales evidence at or just prior to a VT hearing and at no other time.

VOA measure houses and bungalows to Gross External Area, so that is how you need to measure the house(s)

blindman

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Sales evidence was supplied to the VOA by the Stamps Office and later Land Registry on the understanding it was to be treated as confidential. When CT came into effect, Parliament had to give VOA permission to quote sales evidence at or just prior to a VT hearing and at no other time.


But I can get sales evidence for my house and others that was sold in the 1990's
Why are the earlier years sale evidence a secret?


VOA measure houses and bungalows to Gross External Area, so that is how you need to measure the house(s)

Stupid Q:


Gross external area is the area of the whole plot ie. the area inside the boundaries for the house?


Thanks