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

savosave

i read somewhere else that changing your band(down) could
adversely affect the value of your property....

Does anyone else have any comments on this ?

mapleoak

Don't know if this is of any use for anyone but had a visit (got a letter warning me in advance) from the Valuation Officer today. He was in the house for no more than 5 minutes, took a few notes on his clipboard (number of rooms, etc) exchanged a bit of small talk, asked if it was OK if he took a photo of the house and was on his way. Asked me why I thought we were in the wrong band (In Band D, 3 Band C one side, 2 on the other) said that he thought "I had a case" but couldn't tell me any more until they had studied it in more detail and said I would hear within the statutory 8 weeks. Seemed a personable bloke, difficult to read one way or the other, but for the price of a phone call, who knows? Anyway, I was expecting a bit of a grilling but it was anything but although he did say they were snowed under, which probably isn't a bad thing. Hopefully my next post will be on the "successes" board. Fingers, toes and eyes crossed.

Maisie

mapleoak wrote:

Don't know if this is of any use for anyone but had a visit (got a letter warning me in advance) from the Valuation Officer today. He was in the house for no more than 5 minutes, took a few notes on his clipboard (number of rooms, etc) exchanged a bit of small talk, asked if it was OK if he took a photo of the house and was on his way. Asked me why I thought we were in the wrong band (In Band D, 3 Band C one side, 2 on the other) said that he thought "I had a case" but couldn't tell me any more until they had studied it in more detail and said I would hear within the statutory 8 weeks. Seemed a personable bloke, difficult to read one way or the other, but for the price of a phone call, who knows? Anyway, I was expecting a bit of a grilling but it was anything but although he did say they were snowed under, which probably isn't a bad thing. Hopefully my next post will be on the "successes" board. Fingers, toes and eyes crossed.

Good luck mapleoak. It looks promising for you.

watcherman

mapleoak wrote:

Don't know if this is of any use for anyone but had a visit (got a letter warning me in advance) from the Valuation Officer today.

Can I ask what you based your claim on, as I just had a 2nd refusal letter today, saying they (the VOA) don't consider the house price indices (ie Nationwide site I assume) as a suitable method of evaluating value.

barnyard_2

Are end terrace houses generally more expensive than mid-terraces, even if they have identical square meterage? My neighbour's house is identical to mine (and has a garage while mine does not) but is one band lower than mine even though it has (a) more garden area, (b) a garage, (c) a double basement. We have neihter (b) nor (c) but our house sold for more than theirs in the early 90s, putting it in band D and theirs in C.
I have been knocked back by the LO several times and am going to a tribunal soon, but only to appeal against the validity of my appeal, not the banding as we have been in the hosue for more than 6 months. Am I wasting my time?

Cheers
Barnyard.

albany_2

Hi
I live in Wales. I have applied for my tax band (from an F to hopefully an E Band) to be looked at as most of my neighbours are E. The Valuation officer said he would look at this from 2003 until now but will not consider looking at backdating from 1991 (we moved in the property in 1993) when I believe it was in the wrong band when we first moved in. I have never contested it before as I was not aware of how to go about it and just wondered if it's possible to have overpayments backdated as the cases for backdating apply for England? Can anyone advise on this please.
Thanks very much, Jay

Hootie19

Does anyone think that "ignorance" is any kind of a defence against not appealing within 6 months of moving into a property?

I had not idea it was even possible to question the banding a house was in until Martin highlighted it.

Would it be acceptable to "argue" that as the "experts" each Council should have been efficient/honest enough to be relied upon to place a house in the correct band, and that a "layperson" would have no reason to question the correctness of the band their house is placed in?

CIS

Would it be acceptable to "argue" that as the "experts" each Council should have been efficient/honest enough to be relied upon to place a house in the correct band, and that a "layperson" would have no reason to question the correctness of the band their house is placed in?

The property's are banded by he Valuations Office , a totally separate organisation to the Councils - the councils have no say in which band you are placed.

jollyanna

If your band is changed to a lower one, will your council automatically send a refund or is it up to the individual to phone up and ask for the refund and explain that you've received notifaction that the property has been rebanded ? ( I'm presuming that the VOA will have informed the council but that they may not act 'til prompted by the tax payer .

majorstu

Hi everyone,

We are trying to apply for a re-banding. We have been in our property since 1976 (so from the start of council tax) but have only recently realised with all the publicity that we are in the incorrect band - band F instead of band E.

We have written to the VOA but they have sent us an invalidity notice. We have appealed against it and the case has been sent to the valuation tribunal. I am suspecting that they will just throw it out because of the six month rule.

Can anyone suggest anything we can use at appeal e.g. case law or other argument to force a rebanding +/- a refund?

Thanks for your time with this.

With best wishes,

Stuart.