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

Greenunit

I think I'm in the correct property band but think the admin area is wrong i.e. the Admin Area is London but I live in Buckinghamshire, which is not London or Greater London. In fact one of the tools provided on this site shows we are in the South East excluding London. So the question is - Can the Admin Area affect the cost? 

CIS

Greenunit said:

I think I'm in the correct property band but think the admin area is wrong i.e. the Admin Area is London but I live in Buckinghamshire, which is not London or Greater London. In fact one of the tools provided on this site shows we are in the South East excluding London. So the question is - Can the Admin Area affect the cost? 

It shouldn't as they still have to compare it properties in the same area, regardless of which office is handling the area.
They may just be administrative reasons that areas have been assigned differently.

Janegale

My house was not built until 2002. It is one of four blocks of similar houses on a development. The other three blocks of total 16 houses are all in a lower tax band despite being very similar houses. When I asked the Planning Department they said no change could be made as my block had better views. Is this right?

lincroft1710

Janegale said:

My house was not built until 2002. It is one of four blocks of similar houses on a development. The other three blocks of total 16 houses are all in a lower tax band despite being very similar houses. When I asked the Planning Department they said no change could be made as my block had better views. Is this right?

The Planning Department have nothing to do with Council Tax, did you in fact speak to the Valuation Office Agency (Eng and Wales) or the Assessor (Scot)?

Better views could lead to a higher CT band as the house could be worth more, but unusual unless the views are absolutely spectacular, or the other blocks' views are absolutely dire!

james2020

VOA has asked me to provide 'Evidence of identical, or very similar, properties in your locality' 'to be considered as comparable, you would need to provide evidence of properties in your locality that are: the same type, for example detached or terraced, a similar size, built at a similar time.'
Does anyone know how to search for properties built in a particular year?
I had thought I could search council tax bands by 'with affect from' on the VOA website, or download all data for a postcode and sort it in Excel somehow, but I don't think this possible.
Anyone have any ideas? 
Thanks,

lincroft1710

james2020 said:

VOA has asked me to provide 'Evidence of identical, or very similar, properties in your locality' 'to be considered as comparable, you would need to provide evidence of properties in your locality that are: the same type, for example detached or terraced, a similar size, built at a similar time.'
Does anyone know how to search for properties built in a particular year?
I had thought I could search council tax bands by 'with affect from' on the VOA website, or download all data for a postcode and sort it in Excel somehow, but I don't think this possible.
Anyone have any ideas? 
Thanks,

Either walk, cycle or drive round your area or use Google maps Streetview to look for possible comparables. The VOA will soon tell you if the ones you have chosen are any use 

EWP123

Hello Everyone,
My friend's father sadly passed away last year.  His estate was settled and as part of that process his house was sold with the proceeds going to his children (including my friend).
The new owners of the property have been in touch, via the estate agent, to say they have been successful in rebanding the property to a lower Council Tax Band.  
My friend, an elderly gentleman himself, has asked me if there is a way he and his siblings could expect to benefit from the back-payment that should be returned to the estate, or is this not possible as his father is now deceased?
Any responses greatly appreciated.

lincroft1710

EWP123 said:

Hello Everyone,
My friend's father sadly passed away last year.  His estate was settled and as part of that process his house was sold with the proceeds going to his children (including my friend).
The new owners of the property have been in touch, via the estate agent, to say they have been successful in rebanding the property to a lower Council Tax Band.  
My friend, an elderly gentleman himself, has asked me if there is a way he and his siblings could expect to benefit from the back-payment that should be returned to the estate, or is this not possible as his father is now deceased?
Any responses greatly appreciated.

The executors of the estate should write to the council, identifying themselves as such, giving the exact dates of the deceased's and subsequently executors' occupation of the property and ask that the council refund them any overpayment of CT as they understand the band has now been reduced.

trinity666

Hi,
I am trying to understand how the bands work, I am in a newly built flat (2 bedroom one) and while reading on the recent news on council tax reviews, checked the band in my postcode and found that lot of flats in the same building have a lower band, so wondering how this works in a building like this?
The building mainly has 1 bed flats and 2 bed flats. I see there are a lot of 2 bed flats that are in band C and a few of 2 bed flats in band D (like mine), though I do not have full details of most of the other 2 bed flats, there will be some 50 to 100 square feet feet difference between the various flats, can such small difference make the band different?
Is there anyway one can get the sqft values of each flat? The land registry site seems to only have the price of the flats, I wanted to get this so that I can compare this to mine before referring to VOA as they mention the property compared should be in similar size (but do not know what is the threshold of difference)? 
Thanks

lincroft1710

trinity666 said:

Hi,
I am trying to understand how the bands work, I am in a newly built flat (2 bedroom one) and while reading on the recent news on council tax reviews, checked the band in my postcode and found that lot of flats in the same building have a lower band, so wondering how this works in a building like this?
The building mainly has 1 bed flats and 2 bed flats. I see there are a lot of 2 bed flats that are in band C and a few of 2 bed flats in band D (like mine), though I do not have full details of most of the other 2 bed flats, there will be some 50 to 100 square feet feet difference between the various flats, can such small difference make the band different?
Is there anyway one can get the sqft values of each flat? The land registry site seems to only have the price of the flats, I wanted to get this so that I can compare this to mine before referring to VOA as they mention the property compared should be in similar size (but do not know what is the threshold of difference)? 
Thanks

VOA do not value per sq metre (or sq ft). 50 to 100 sq ft larger is quite a size difference, a double bedroom can measure 100 sq ft. There is no single "threshold of difference", the band break between C and D for a 3 bed 1970s semi could be 100 sq m, but a 1980s semi 2 streets away could be 95 sq m