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

Fluke_2

Hi,
I have just come across this info and have read it with interest. Maybe somebody can answer a couple of questions for me?

Properties in my area in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland are valued at around 120K, working backwards shows about 39K in 1991.

My tax bracket is currently (and has been since moving in 11 years ago) Band D - 45 - 58K. According to the Scottish assessors table should have been band C (35 - 45K). The difference in CT per year is approx £160.00.
Q1 Can I appeal back to the date I bought the property?
Q2 Has Scotland had a revaluation?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Fluke

tad2106

I did the calculations this morning but am slightly confused. I'm in the same band as neighbours (C) but when there haven't been any houses for sale like mine for ages and knowing exactly how much we paid for it in 1985 (£29,999) I used the calculator to go forward to 2006 which valued us at £144,000 and then back to 1991 giving us £46,500 which means we should be in Band B. To double check I also put in the price we paid in 1985 (£29,999) and just went forward to 1991 which gave us just under £48,000 (still £4,000 within Band
Is this save to go with do you think or should I find out current value from other sources? Thanks

mishkanorman

I did this about 9 years ago, after we purchased our first house. I cant even remember where I found out about it !

It wasnt as easy as saying " I think its wrong " and them changing it, Our first objection was met with a visit by a lady who walked around our house, measured 2 walls and then said "yes, its the correct banding" The whole vist only lasted a few minutes.

I then informed her that I would take the matter further, and she was very reluctant to let me know i could at this point , trying everything possible to put me off (theres lots of paperwork yada yada) It was several weeks after that we received our appeal hearing date in which a panel would discuss our case and inform us of the decision. We were advised it wasnt necessary to attend but I decided to anyway.

I had collected a lot of information on our village, the valuation office gave me sales prices for all houses in ours and similar postcodes. This is where I felt we had the strongest argument as the 'similar' postcodes were locations on the other side of the nearest city and were in fact suburbs and not villages. On the day of the appeal I went along to the offices and listened in to the previous appeal, the persons argument was "we dont want to pay that much, so we think you should lower it" !!!
The panel consisted of 2 men in their late 50's and a middle aged woman, and my case worker was also there. They started off by looking at the valuation figures and sale prices, then they were shown photos of my house and the two neighbouring ones (we were a middle terrace of 3) At this point I interrupted as the information they had was incorrect, the photo showed my house and half of next doors all as my property, the plans for the garden also included a portion from either side doubling the outside space we had. If I hadnt attended I wouldnt have known that the information they held was so wrong, all of which had been supplied by the valuation officer.

The meeting lasted around 40 mins and I was given a chance to give my reasons for believing it to be too high, which included the lack of facilities (no street lights, no bus service, no shops, in comparison with the other locations). Our house was also the smallest and only one of its kind in the village. They then had a brief discussion and they found in my favour lowering it to Band A. informing me that they had only found in favour of 1 other person as a panel !

It was incredibly daunting facing the panel as I was only 18 at the time and my very unhelpful valuation officer did all she could to put me off. However we received a rebate and the reduction was substantial,


Good luck to any one who is trying this, my advice is investigate everything fully and make sure they you have got reasonable cause to request a review and it isnt done just to save money.


HTH


Mishka

mishkanorman

edit as very long post came up twice !!

gatchamandave

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

gatchamandave

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

Cymrogog

Jotts wrote:

Hi Cymrogog

Due to your name I'm assuming you live in Wales.

If that is correct I have to tell you that would would assume you are currently in the correct band. Band C.

Wales had a revaluation in 2005 using a date of 1st of April 2003.
Band C for the Reval is properties exceeding £65k up to £91k.

If you purchased the property in 2001 at £59k and house prices have grown then that would clearly put you into a band C as of 1st April 2003.

The confusion here is England HAVE NOT HAS THEIR REVALUATION and are still assesed at 1991 values.

So I would suggest that your Band C is correct.

HOWEVER what band were you in pre 1st April 2005??

Thanks Jotts,

You were right about my name, I am a Welshman, but actually live in England!!

How does that affect me now then? Do you think we could claim?

bigbadbri

I recently remortgaged in Sept 06 and the house was valued at £95,000 so if i put that in the calculator its comes up with 1991 value of £32,000 (approx) therefore below £40,000 should be band A (Currently in band . But the my house needs work doing to it which has de-valued the property which wasn't an issue in 91.

I have yesterday had a reply from VOA about how i have no right ect but they will review the banding, and if I have any evidence then to submit this. But has anybody submitted any evidence that has helped? because i'm not sure i have anything that will help.

What strikes me is that there are some really nice house on my street and half pay band A and half are band B, but mine is shamefully one of the worst. Does this affect their decision at all or is it all based on 1991?

mary_mo81

Don't know if anyone can help me.

We moved in May 06 from a 1 bedroomed flat paying the same council tax as our neighbours who had a 3 bedroom/ 4 storey house. We lived in the flat for 3 years. Do you know if we can still back claim on this property even though we have moved out? Or can you only claim against the property you currently reside in?

After seeing this article i now feel so stupid for not thinking before that we were paying way over the odds!!

Mary

rpjjuk

Hi everyone - need help with this. Checked my council tax banding (band My house is is the same as all the others in my street (2up 2down terrace) and every house is band b except one - the one belonging to our local councillor !
This house had it's banding changed in 1993 to band A.
Checked my house value in 1991 and was 39000 although I doubt it was worth that even.
I have lived here for 29 years and since then an industrial park and new road have been built at the rear of my property with all the associated noise.
I also have the main London railway line at the bottom of my garden which makes properties on my side of the road sell for less.
Halfway along my road it changes name and the houses become 3 bedroom bay and forcourt - they are also in band B.
Is it worth trying to get my house rebanded ?
Any advice would be welcome.