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

Altarf

Altarf wrote:

I suspect that there might be a sudden tightening up of the 6 month rule.

Robbins wrote:

I approached Stratford District Council who could not help and redirected me to the valuation office in Birmigham. I was told by an assistant that because I had lived in the house for the past 25 years, I was given 6 months to appeal against the coucil tax banding from 1991 and that it was now too late.

Zebedeee wrote:

I am in a simillar situation to you (ie. outside the six months) and am currently trying to 'persuade' the VOA to revalue the property.

maniac_uk wrote:

I phoned my Listing Officer this week with my case which is good because my neighbour, in the same house, had his revalued from F to E in 1993 and our house is the same. However I have received a letter saying they will review my valuation and if I have any other evidence to send it in, which I am going to do. BUT the letter also says:

"If I am satisfied no alteration is appropriate I will let you know by letter but would advise you that if this is the outcome you will not be able to appeal against my decision."

barnyard wrote:

I appealed on-line and was rejected because:
'As you are aware your appeal was registered as invalid because you did not appeal within the required 6 months from when you became the Council Tax payer for the property.
'Just to confirm that the Tribunal will only deal with the question of the validity of the appeal only and will not be able to discuss the band'.

winnie8art wrote:

According to the Exeter Valuation Office, they will not consider any claims if you've lived in the property since 1991 and didn't appeal by 30th November 1993 - according to them this is the law!

stephanieandrobert wrote:

hi i got a letter stating the 6 month rule

Is it a coincidence that since the TV program the 6 month rule is now being enforced.

Hootie19

When comparing house CT bands, does it have to be a comparison in your own street?Does it mean that if all the houses in the immediate vicinity are Band D, then chances are that it's correct? Or should you go by the 1991 valuations?

It seems the other houses in our Close, like ours, are Band D, as is the next Close along, which runs parallel and also Band D in the street which runs between the two Closes.

However, two or three streets away, but in the same estate, built by the same builders at the same time (we know this as the man who put our new bathroom in a couple of years ago did his apprenticeship on this estate), similar style houses to ours range from Band A to Band C (I really can't see them being Band A!). The only difference between some of the houses is they have a downstairs bathroom, and ours is upstairs.

We did the recent house sale price, and the most recent price in our Close is December 2005 and at a price of £100,000. There's NO WAY we can believe the house sold for that small price, as the house next door to us sold 11 months earlier for £182,000. If we use the £100,000 sales price, it puts us in Band A, but if we use the more realistic £182,000 price, it puts us in Band C.

I'm a bit confused about this six month rule that's being mentioned though.

On a "without prejudice" basis lol, do you think it would be worth us trying to get our house rebanded? I'm a bit worried as the previous owners have added a rear single room extension, a 3ft extension to the lounge at the front, and had converted the passageway between the garage and the house into a toilet and shower room (damned stupid move - we now have no access from the front of the house to the back, so any garden rubbish etc has to come right through the house!). and I don't want to find the Council decide to put us UP a band. We pay quite enough to them already without making it any more!

Could we possibly cite a reason for challenging as the school at the end of the road adding a 4+ unit and thereby attracting increasing it's pupil numbers. Also attracting all the extra traffic from the mummies whose little darlings can't possibly walk to school as it's too hot/cold/wet/far etc. Sometimes I literally cannot drive in or out of our Close for the stupidly parked cars. God forbid we ever needed to get an Ambulance or Fire Engine up the Close at school in/out time!

Sorry - I have a dreadful habit of waffling on in forum posts!



ETA : Just used the alternative site to work out the banding linked from the Success Story thread, and it says our house should have been classed as Band B!

I suppose if all the houses in our street have been wrongly banded, then someone has to be the first to get it put right!

gatchamandave

Now is the time to yield a sigh...

emkate

Hi, did not know to reduce band you had to apply by 1993 so they turned me down, has anyone overcome this please

Zebedeee

emkate wrote:

Hi, did not know to reduce band you had to apply by 1993 so they turned me down, has anyone overcome this please

Hi emkate

Check out my post #602 and numerous other posts to see how to overcome that one.

Hope that helps!

Altarf

Altarf wrote:

Is it a coincidence that since the TV program the 6 month rule is now being enforced.

gatchamandave wrote:

No - not really. It's always been enforced, there are usually a couple a month cross my desk, but in light of the programme more people are seeking to register appeals belatedly.

Well my experience was that when I used the VOA website last June site to "make an appeal against this banding" (to quote from their site) my application was treated by them as an appeal, not a review of the correctness of the register by the VOA, despite the fact I have been in my house 6 years.

The VOA rejected my contention that it should be in a lower band and listed it for a tribunal. We went back and forth with the 'appeal' (with it being listed and postponed for several tribunals), before the VOA agreed with me and reduced the band.

Prior to the TV program there are hardly any posts in the two threads about people being rejected for being past the 6 months, now there seem to be quite a few. It could be coincidence.

pilt_2

Hi
Can anyone tell me if the number of bathrooms in a house has any bearing on the banding. we live in a new estate and most of the houses on our road are in band D ours and a couple of others are E and I think the only difference is an extra en-suite. should that bump us up a band?

CrustyMcMuffin

I've followed the steps in the article and it would seem our house is in D when it should maybe be C, at least according to the 1991 price but the majority of our neighbours houses are also D and a few are E so do you reckon it's worth appealling? Our neighbours are a band D despite them having a 3 bedroom house and ours is just a 2 bedroom.

MSE_Martin

Crust McMuffin

To reiterate what i say in the article

At this point I must throw in a serious warning. You're about to ask for a banding 'reassessment', not a 'decrease', so be warned there's a chance your band may increase. Do be very sure you've done your research, don't just do a speculative challenge. Preferably both the indicators above have shown you're in the wrong band; though by far the most important indicator is your band compared to neighbours' in similar properties

I think i'm going to make this more bold as many people are missing the messge which is essentially

A. Only Voa site shows a rebanding is due Chances: OK
B. Only 1991 indicator shows a rebanding is due Chances: Poor
C. Both VOA and 1991 indicator show a rebanding is due. Chances: Good

As there is always a risk of an upbanding - i would be reticent about a speculative application with a 'poor' chance.

Would it help if I phrased it like this?

Martin

CrustyMcMuffin

Yeah that's definitely a lot clearer as it's giving the 1991 valuation less importance. I was tempted to try a reassessment mainly on the strength of the 1991 valuation which as I realise now wouldn't be the best way to approach this. Thanks for your help.