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

neetugopal

Ours is a new home built in year 2002. Couple of houses in our street are in lower band than us. How do I check 1991 price as my house was not built then.

tarinilie

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

no the VOA does not come under the juristiction of LGO - they are not local govt ! they are a civil service dept .They do have a complaint sprocedure which you can follow

however I can't actually grasp what you think they have done wrong??

Maisie

tarinilie wrote: »

no the VOA does not come under the juristiction of LGO - they are not local govt ! they are a civil service dept .They do have a complaint sprocedure which you can follow

however I can't actually grasp what you think they have done wrong??

Hi tarinilie. It was just a question in case my appeal came to that!

Maisie

Newbe wrote: »

I followed all the instructions about checking banding with neighbours etc and it shows that 4 of the houses in our crescent - all similar properties - are on a lower banding than ours. If I get in touch with the council about this will I be able to change our banding to the lower banding as the other 4 or will it increase their banding to the same as ours? I don't want to ring and cause difficulties for these 4 neighbours so would be grateful for some advice from anybody out there who can help! Thanks....

Newbe. It could go either way!
You should contact the voa not the council if you're considering trying for a reband.

Look on the voa site and see if the other houses have had their band lowered at any time. If so you have some evidence to support any claim you might make.

If you read through this thread there are cases like yours and you can get some ideas how to proceed.

HTH. maisie

guppy

DebbieR wrote: »

I applied about six weeks ago for our band to be lowered as I thought I had plenty of proof that we were in the wrong banding. I got the usual two letters via email saying I was out of time etc but they would re-assess my band. After hours of research I sent off a long letter explaining my reasons and saying that I had details of similar houses(taken from estate agents brochures) if they needed them to compare with my house. I meticulously copied all the details of the houses and cross referenced the with the VOA site to make sure I was right. I've now got a bog-standard letter saying they're not going to do anything as they think they're right. The reasons they give are a) the house price calculator is based on national prices- I told them I'd used the one showing regional Stockton on Tees prices.b) the houses I'd compared mine with could have had extensions etc so they should be in a higher bracket now-I've got the estate agent details, they're all fairly new houses and don't seem to have been altered in any way.c) other smaller houses in the same band in my street have appealed at tribunal and have been refused so the banding is right-I'd already checked on the VOA site and according to that none of the houses have had a tribunal hearing, would it definately show up? They've taken absolutely no notice of the fact that I mentioned a similar house in the next street having its banding reduced by tribunal. Sorry to be long-winded but I'm just so frustrated at having spent so much time on research. Does anyone have any pointers as to whether I can go further on this? Thanks

Sounds like you've done your homework. It might be worth phoning the VOA and asking to speak to the person that dealt with your case. You could ask them to at least address the specific issues you've mentioned.

pingua

jamesiebabie wrote: »

Pingua,

It's a bummer when they do this, but it is the law. They have a tracking system and raise a case called a CR10. This logs a report of any possible change to the house. Once the sale has gone through, the computer goes 'ping' and away the inspectors go.

The VOA will probably ask for the area as they are likely to devalue the extension to a £/m2, so if your extension is worth £9000 and the area 10m2, this would equate to £900/m2. They are then likely to index this back and add it to the original value and see if this takes into a new band. More aften than not, most properties do not go up, but if your property was already borderline then it may well go up a band.

I wish you well and I hope it does not go up. By the way, you do not have to send them plans or any other details. Let them earn their money and give them a trip out. hopefully it will be a rainy day!!

Gosh you know your stuff well!!!!

To be honest the area of extension is large so if we were to go up we would be the only house on the whole estate to go up from C to D- not a huge estate - house numbers go to 40. But the value of the house has not gone up that much with the extension.( Others have had extensions only upwards not outwards. We have no garden as such.)

I have been looking all night at the other sites and it all seems so random.

Not many houses round here have sold in the last 9 months but a couple of the ones that have -
sold june 06 - 25 grand more than we paid still in C
sold nov 06 - 38 grand more than we paid still in band C
sold nov 06 - 14 less than we paid band C

There are others but it is so mad they range from a-z for no apparent reason.

Do you know, I think I know the banding of every house in the village. And some way off !!!!

With us it probably is boarderline so what do I do , fill in the form and write a letter with the above examples or just leave it and see what they do next ??

I mean it really is all wrong and wonkey. Bloody inflated house prices - if they ever re-value everyone will go up - how much more tax is it possible to take????????

golden_boy

Hi i do not know if this has been asked before could not see on the thread lived in my previous property for 20 years moved a mile up the road 2 years ago we were in band c,still friendly with old neighbours they appealed years ago and were put in band b and they are in a slightly larger property can i still claim a rebate for being wrongly charged,thanks in advance for any help

Maisie

golden_boy wrote: »

Hi i do not know if this has been asked before could not see on the thread lived in my previous property for 20 years moved a mile up the road 2 years ago we were in band c,still friendly with old neighbours they appealed years ago and were put in band b and they are in a slightly larger property can i still claim a rebate for being wrongly charged,thanks in advance for any help

golden boy.

This is a much asked question.

As you have left the property it's too late for you to try for rebanding.
However if the current owners have applied for rebanding and have been successful you can ask for your part of the refund. (Approach voa if necessary and if a refund is due)

Look on the voa website and see what band the house is now. The present owners may have applied for rebanding and been successful. You can apply then.

There are several cases of the same issue on this thread .

good luck. maisie

stabs

I followed the advice posted a few weeks ago and to my delight found that my house fell some £8000 into the lower tax band on 1991 house prices which meant my house should have been banded in band D not E as it is. I also found that a number of similar looking properties in my street alone were banded one lower than mine.
Armed with this information I contacted my local VOA who stated that as I had been in the property more than six months I had no right to appeal formally however they would review the bandings for me. I received a reply a few weeks after which in short stated that they believed the band my property was in was correct and they would not alter it.
I contacted them to challenge the decision they made and was told that I had no right to a tribunal because I had been in longer than six months, this I find extremely unfair. They did state however that they would have the decision reviewed by somebody else within their office.....well call me cynical but if the decision changes when it is being reviewed by somebody from the same office then I will eat my hat.
Does anybody know if there is another channel I can pursue once the inevitable decision comes back from the same office? Surely the right to a tribunal cannot be removed because I didn't properly appeal within six months of moving in?
Your comments are welcome.:mad:

jamesiebabie

pingua wrote: »

Gosh you know your stuff well!!!!

To be honest the area of extension is large so if we were to go up we would be the only house on the whole estate to go up from C to D- not a huge estate - house numbers go to 40. But the value of the house has not gone up that much with the extension.( Others have had extensions only upwards not outwards. We have no garden as such.)

I have been looking all night at the other sites and it all seems so random.

Not many houses round here have sold in the last 9 months but a couple of the ones that have -
sold june 06 - 25 grand more than we paid still in C
sold nov 06 - 38 grand more than we paid still in band C
sold nov 06 - 14 less than we paid band C

There are others but it is so mad they range from a-z for no apparent reason.

Do you know, I think I know the banding of every house in the village. And some way off !!!!

With us it probably is boarderline so what do I do , fill in the form and write a letter with the above examples or just leave it and see what they do next ??

I mean it really is all wrong and wonkey. Bloody inflated house prices - if they ever re-value everyone will go up - how much more tax is it possible to take????????

Pingua,

Sit back, relax, enjoy the battle. If I was you I would wait and see what they do, if you don't have a response within the next couple of weeks, then by all means hit them all that you have got. You could even copy in your MP if you are that miffed, that sometimes brings them to heel quite sharpish!!;)