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

Big_Banny_3

Well a success story here.

I appealed online

Got the old "Invalid appeal letter"

Appealed anyway.

(This does then set the ball in motion as to them Having to reassess your property anyway regardless of the appeal)

I got a second letter about the invalidity of my appeal. and that it would have to go to Tribuneral.

I got a letter within a week with a date for tribuneral end April.

All the literature that you get still says you should still try to TALK to the Listings officer to try to resolve the case before it get to court.

So I left it a few days and rang my local office ( SALFORD)
I spoke to a very nice woman concidering how many of these she must be dealing with. I put my case about all the houses around me and the one I am attached to (semi) being in a lower band than me and that they had been re-banded in 1999 and i had not. She took my number and asked me for a few hours to look in to the case and other properties around me. She phoned me back withing the hour and agreed that i should have been in "B" and that I would get back my overpayments from April 1999. And have my band reduced.

So happy bunny here. I suggest to most that a calm and well mannered conversation with the Listing Officer or a delegated member of the LO will get you a long way.

As for intrest on the money I dont think so.

Glad to be in the right band is enough.

guppy

Maisie wrote: »

jamesiebabie. Does the voa come under the jurisdiction of the Local Govt Ombudsman and is it worth going to them if all else fails with rebanding?

Thanks.

Maisie

The VOA is part of HM Revenue and Customs, first stop should be the local VOA customer service manager (details on their website) then The Adjudicators Office:

http://www.adjudicatorsoffice.gov.uk/

Or you can write to your MP.

I would imagine these routes are more relevant to poor customer service however than disputed valuations.

guppy

MinMoz wrote: »

What tact do I take now? Spent the last 6 months getting past the non-existent but threatened appeal hearing.

...Havent even bothered taking the unfair stance but can see from their website that a 3 bedroom house in the street was rebanded in 2001 to band B. Does this set a precedence for the street?? Does it work this way? Can they just ignore their previous decisions because they are getting inundated now?

Have you actually spoken to anyone to say why you believe it is wrong? They are less likely to take any action if you don't make your arguments clear.

MinMoz

guppy wrote: »

Have you actually spoken to anyone to say why you believe it is wrong? They are less likely to take any action if you don't make your arguments clear.

Hi guppy,

Yes, spoken to the very nice lady a few times. There seems to be great inconsistency within my area of streets as she was preparing a report for her boss outlining her findings.

I am assuming that her decision is based on my house only and not upon a comparison with next doors larger house. Given that she claims to have records of sales of my house type within the C banding it seems unlikely that I will be successful. Quite why the houses with an extra bedroom and bathroom are the band below me will remain another of those local authority mysteries!?

Does anyone think that the re-branding of a house with an extra bed&bath in 2001 to band B should set a precedence for my street??

Cheers.

jo7679

jo7679 wrote: »

Hi, I'm new here so would appreciate any advice..

I moved in and mortgaged my house in 1981, as I bought it for £16,800..which by the calculator on this site I would be just over the mark making my Band B correct but I re- mortgaged in 1986 to £18,500 which by the calculator would put me in Band A and seeing as the banding didn't get done until 1991 I don't think the value at that time would have greatly increased..

The other thing is that on my block of houses were all a B except my next door neighbour who is an A!! but it's the same style of house.

I just need advice on if it would be to me advantage to claim or is it a waste of time

Any advice appreciated

Jo

Could any-one please offer any advice, you seem to know what you are talking about, I told one of my neighbours about this site and they moved into their property (which is the same as mine) in 1997 and paid £37,000 so they are looking into it. I'm still unsure wether it'll be worth my while.

Jo

redlady

Hello all...

i recieved an "acknowledgement of invalid proposal due to time limits letter" today and its basically just a stock response and im sure as many others have had it says if i do not respond my proposal will be treated as at an end after four weeks yet he goes on to say that if he doesn't hear from me he shall still carry out an informal review of my band as a matter of courtesy.

Do i write back again now as i feel like i outlined everything very well in the first letter to them? Dont really want to look like im repeating myself here and wondered what my response to this letter should be. it does say i can appeal against the invalid classification if i disagree with it but really i am outwith the 6months and so what do i do from here?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Maisie

jo7679 wrote: »

Could any-one please offer any advice, you seem to know what you are talking about, I told one of my neighbours about this site and they moved into their property (which is the same as mine) in 1997 and paid £37,000 so they are looking into it. I'm still unsure wether it'll be worth my while.

Jo

Jo Are those the full market valuation prices or discounted prices (I mean ex-council discount).

Are you in England? As Wales and Scotland have different systems.

jo7679

Those are the market prices, they are private and never been council, sorry also, I'm in England!!! think everyones telepathic lol

Jo

Maisie

redlady wrote: »

Hello all...

i recieved an "acknowledgement of invalid proposal due to time limits letter" today and its basically just a stock response and im sure as many others have had it says if i do not respond my proposal will be treated as at an end after four weeks yet he goes on to say that if he doesn't hear from me he shall still carry out an informal review of my band as a matter of courtesy.

Do i write back again now as i feel like i outlined everything very well in the first letter to them? Dont really want to look like im repeating myself here and wondered what my response to this letter should be. it does say i can appeal against the invalid classification if i disagree with it but really i am outwith the 6months and so what do i do from here?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Redlady. Look at Zebedees post #941 and some of the others. Your claim doesn't have to end because of the 6 month rule.
It's a common problem but you have to have lots of evidence to overide the 6 months rule. Have you got market valuation reports or have you been to the library to get archived market prices for 1991?

You will have to dig around to try and get proof of house prices for 1991. Some people are going to the Land Registry for information.
Voa are turning down claims based on the Nationwide 1991 house prices so you need something more than that. You will have to reply before the 4 weeks they state or will turn you down.

Afraid you'll have to do your homework and get more evidence to back you up. Have you read through this thread? There's lots of information to help with claiming and people should read the posts. It does give you a background on which to base a claim and everyone should read through before attempting a rebanding.

I'm in the same boat as you and only have the 4 weeks to reply (2 weeks gone!) so spending a lot of time trying to get more evidence to go ahead.

It's a long slog as many of us are finding but hopefully if we get the rebanding it will be worth it in the end.

Good luck and if zebedee/jamesiebabie/guppy are around I'm sure they'll give you more advice.

maisie

Maisie

jo7679 wrote: »

Those are the market prices, they are private and never been council, sorry also, I'm in England!!! think everyones telepathic lol

Jo

Jo. Have you any other evidence on prices than the Nationwide house price 1991 list? As I explained in my previous post to RedLady you do need more evidence than that.

Have a look through the posts for inspiration. (I know the thread is long but there's lots of factual information on it).

Some of the other more knowledgable posters (jamiesibabie/zebedee/guppy)
might have more advice later for you.

Good Luck.

Maisie