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

lincroft1710

madtrekker said:

Hello. I would like some advice if anyone can help. We're in band E. The other 3 houses in our street that are most like ours are also band E, but a group of 6 larger houses a bit further down the road are all band D. Checking our house price in 1991 using the Nationwide calculator gives a value of £72K, meaning we are very much near the bottom of band D so I have no idea why we were ever in band E. There hasn't been any improvement to the property by way of extensions etc.

So, should I try and pursue a campaign to reband us from E to D, or is it pointless due to the fact that the houses most like ours are also in band E? I've lived in the property for more than a year.

NW calculator is inaccurate and cannot be relied upon as evidence for a reduced CT band. There is a possibility that the Band D houses have been underbanded. I would see if you can find some more houses similar to yours and if they tend to be in Band D then approach the VOA.

dotty12_2

As a newbie I apologise if I have the wrong forum. Here goes-I own a house. I live elsewhere. My daughter lives on the house alone. She is an a level student at a specialist boarding college. She stays there during term time. Due to lock down the college has followed the govt's rules and so she has spent over 250 days this tax year at her home, studying online during term time.
Our council have sent ME a bill for having an empty unoccupied property. My daughter, despite eating sleeping and having her being at her home of the last 12 years, is "deemed" as residing at the college. The college has been empty for most of the year.
I have an agreement with my daughter that she can live at the house for as long as she likes. I don't have need of it. We see this as a verbal licence to occupy the house. Our council have requested documentation of the licence. Does anyone know of a cheap licence that I can copy and paste to satisfy our council? Or are there any other ideas out there to square this circle. Neither my daughter nor I can afford to pay the unoccupied rate. 
Cheers 
Dotty 

lincroft1710

dotty12_2 said:

As a newbie I apologise if I have the wrong forum. Here goes-I own a house. I live elsewhere. My daughter lives on the house alone. She is an a level student at a specialist boarding college. She stays there during term time. Due to lock down the college has followed the govt's rules and so she has spent over 250 days this tax year at her home, studying online during term time.
Our council have sent ME a bill for having an empty unoccupied property. My daughter, despite eating sleeping and having her being at her home of the last 12 years, is "deemed" as residing at the college. The college has been empty for most of the year.
I have an agreement with my daughter that she can live at the house for as long as she likes. I don't have need of it. We see this as a verbal licence to occupy the house. Our council have requested documentation of the licence. Does anyone know of a cheap licence that I can copy and paste to satisfy our council? Or are there any other ideas out there to square this circle. Neither my daughter nor I can afford to pay the unoccupied rate. 
Cheers 
Dotty 

Can I clarify the following please.

1. your daughter is a full time student and is over 18 years old.

2. when not at college she resides alone at the house you own but do not occupy

3. she has lived alone at this house for 12 yrs.

If the above are all correct it would appear the house is your daughter's main residence. She just "lodges" at the college. Further if she is classed as a full time student, she would be exempt from paying CT on the house. 

dotty12_2

Hi
She is nearly 19. When not at college she lives in the house.
She has lived at the house for 12ish years. The last 2 years alone since her mum moved out. She is a full time student.
I feel that charging me, the freeholder, for having an empty house is nonsensical, particularly when she is actually living there during lock down. With college holidays that is over 250 days this tax year. I doubt if legislation actually addresses situations like this and the council are defaulting to trying to get as much revenue as they can. I think the answer to this kafkaesque conundrum is to make her a licensee. In actual fact we have had a verbal license agreement from the date her mum moved out. A licensee becomes responsible for the council tax and the freeholder is absolved. 
The council are asking for documentation of the  verbal license agreement {really} I'm hoping someone can guide me to something on the Internet that I can cut and paste and send to the council to put the matter to bed
Cheers 
Dotty 

CIS

dotty12_2 said:

As a newbie I apologise if I have the wrong forum. Here goes-I own a house. I live elsewhere. My daughter lives on the house alone. She is an a level student at a specialist boarding college. She stays there during term time. Due to lock down the college has followed the govt's rules and so she has spent over 250 days this tax year at her home, studying online during term time.
Our council have sent ME a bill for having an empty unoccupied property. My daughter, despite eating sleeping and having her being at her home of the last 12 years, is "deemed" as residing at the college. The college has been empty for most of the year.
I have an agreement with my daughter that she can live at the house for as long as she likes. I don't have need of it. We see this as a verbal licence to occupy the house. Our council have requested documentation of the licence. Does anyone know of a cheap licence that I can copy and paste to satisfy our council? Or are there any other ideas out there to square this circle. Neither my daughter nor I can afford to pay the unoccupied rate. 
Cheers 
Dotty 

If she's resident at the house you have as her home and she's only been leaving the property for college for term time then I think there's a good argument that she remains resident at the house for council tax purposes. There doesn't have to be a formal agreement in writing for her to be regarded as resident but it is assistive for the purposes of a determination -a licence can simply be in writing, there's overall no formal requirements. There's far more ways to show residence than just a licence agreement.
I spend all day, every day, arguing with councils regarding council tax residence etc (it's my day job) and the one thing that you do find is that each and every council are different to deal with - some are easier than others to deal with.

dotty12_2

Thanks CIS. 
The council are not unsympathetic but are insisting on some sort of documentation to prove that my daughter is a licencee. In you experience how do I need to frame the document? What do I need to include? 
My daughter does indeed reside at the address and only leaves there for college during term time. The kicker is that this year the college has been closed for most of the time due to covid lockdown. She has been at home studying online. The council's position is that the house is unoccupied even though my daughter is at home.
I just need to.find the right way to get the council to see sense. What do you suggest. 
Cheers 
Dotty

Magdalena81

I’ve completed a proposal form on the VOA’s website and just got a letter rejecting my request. I bought my house as a new built in 2011. Since NW price checker can be inaccurate how do I establish what my house would have been worth in 1991? I’ll ring VOA as they advise in the letter that in some cases it may be possible to review our banding even if the initial proposal was not a valid request. Any other advice on how to build a strong case?

CIS

dotty12_2 said:

Thanks CIS. 
The council are not unsympathetic but are insisting on some sort of documentation to prove that my daughter is a licencee. In you experience how do I need to frame the document? What do I need to include? 
My daughter does indeed reside at the address and only leaves there for college during term time. The kicker is that this year the college has been closed for most of the time due to covid lockdown. She has been at home studying online. The council's position is that the house is unoccupied even though my daughter is at home.
I just need to.find the right way to get the council to see sense. What do you suggest. 
Cheers 
Dotty

I'm not sure why they are asking for proof she's a licensee, there's no legal requirement for that. If they are insisting on it then they are incorrect - for a start there's no need for a family member to form the legal relationship needed for a licence (and given the situation, forming a legal relationship would almost certainly be a tenancy and not a lease - long lines of case law in this area).

I argue with council's all day, every day, and they often end up with deep dives into case law and legislation because they're so unwilling to cooperate. Some councils just won't accept things - I have two clients at the moment who we are taking to tribunal because councils just stick their fingers in their ears and go 'la la la'. From what you have posted though, as long as you could evidence it, it's certainly the sort of case I would push with if I had your case as it sounds like you are correct (it'll almost certainly involve arguing legislation and case law though).

lincroft1710

Magdalena81 said:

I’ve completed a proposal form on the VOA’s website and just got a letter rejecting my request. I bought my house as a new built in 2011. Since NW price checker can be inaccurate how do I establish what my house would have been worth in 1991? I’ll ring VOA as they advise in the letter that in some cases it may be possible to review our banding even if the initial proposal was not a valid request. Any other advice on how to build a strong case?

Find out the CT bands of other houses of a similar type and size in the area. If they are lower than yours, then use these to support your case.

dotty12_2

Thanks CIS again.
I agree that I am right and the council are not. The problem is their computer keeps sending me bills with the threat of court action if I don't pay up. There is no hostility between us, in fact when I call them they are really quite understanding. However they insist that I need to show them a document that will show the licensee relationship. I imagine it's just a box ticking exercise at their end. I'm very happy to do it to keep them sweet. My problem is I haven't a clue how to draw up the document. Hence my initial post hoping somebody could steer me to a website I could cut and paste from or paraphrase. Any ideas anybody?