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

Maisie

shelovestobuystuff wrote: »

Yes,I believe she can get a refund too as the previous occupant.She did overpay.

'She' will only get a refund if the current occupiers have successfully had their band reduced. 'She' will then be able to apply for her refund.

Tell her to look on the voa site and see if the band has changed. If not she could contact the new occupants and ask them to apply to the voa for rebanding and then they might all benefit.

HTH. maisie

lucygotit

Hi jamesiebabie,

Thanks for your advice. However after reading info from this website, I went onto the VOA website and checked our banding and clicked on it to question the current banding which sent an email to VOA who in return sent me the questionaire about how many rooms we have. I rung the VOA who said that the questionaire is used to help with the rebanading and also to check that the info I put on that form corresponds with the info they have of our house already.
I am finding it hard finding info to tell them other than that neighbours house is in larger grounds and slightly bigger house so that we are rebanded down to the same as them.
We have been here since it was built in 1983 by my partner.

Any guidance will be appreciated.

deca_321

l am reading all these success stories and l have ha dno luck at all. l ahve been cheated out of the domestic empty rate discount of 50% for 2006. l have been over paying the council for 2 years due to their incompatance and wrongly calculating my discount rates! and they even never gave me the discount rate for a certain year!

Edinburgh council = very dodgy!! and next year l will never be comming back to my place of birth and home = edinburgh!!

jamesiebabie

lucygotit wrote: »

Hi jamesiebabie,

Thanks for your advice. However after reading info from this website, I went onto the VOA website and checked our banding and clicked on it to question the current banding which sent an email to VOA who in return sent me the questionaire about how many rooms we have. I rung the VOA who said that the questionaire is used to help with the rebanading and also to check that the info I put on that form corresponds with the info they have of our house already.
I am finding it hard finding info to tell them other than that neighbours house is in larger grounds and slightly bigger house so that we are rebanded down to the same as them.
We have been here since it was built in 1983 by my partner.

Any guidance will be appreciated.

lucygotit,

OK, that is not a problem. The VOA sent the form as they don't have any or have very few details on your property and that is fair enough. I would like to think that this will be staight forward once you have given them your details. Just stick to the bare facts of your neighbours properties and hopefully you should get the rebanding you wished for.

If this is not the case and the VOA come back to you and sy 'sorry no change', then come back to this forum and we'll try and help on this forum for the next steps.

I wish you all the best.

J

mizmir

Have just looked for two properties for family members. Both aren't quite right in different ways but may not be clear cut so wanted to check what people think.

First is a 3 bed cottage down a private lane in a hamlet with about 5 other but different properties. It is banded E - the same as a farm next door which was recently sold for in excess of £600K! The cottage was bought in 2004 for £240K which gives a 1991 price of £86K - band D at most? Also in Band D in the same hamlet is a 4 bed farm house with acres of grounds (the cottage has a small cottage garden) - so the CT on the cottage is at present higher than the farm though I suspect in 1991 the farm was quite run down. The two other cottages in the hamlet are banded C - both are only 2 bedrooms but both have far more land. I would've thought they were more comparable?

Second is a 4 bed detached house on a small estate - currently banded F - same as all the other detached houses on the street. Semis there are banded E and the one house with a double plot is G so the relationships between the properties seems right. But - the 1991 price based on the most recent sale (of the actual property) would be £101K - band E not F. What are the chances of getting the bands reduced for all?!

guppy

Mizmir,

You have nothing to lose by at least asking the VO to check the bandings. The bandings of the different houses in the hamlet certainly sound unfair.

The house price calculator is only a rough tool though, it won't be evidence enough to get the VO to change the banding alone. It definitely isn't accurate enough to value a particular house to within £2000 over such a long time.

Inconsistent bandings nearby are useful to support your case but evidence of 1990s house prices is better, e.g. a mortgage valuation or estate agent details.

Good luck!

shelovestobuystuff

mizmir wrote: »

Have just looked for two properties for family members. Both aren't quite right in different ways but may not be clear cut so wanted to check what people think.

First is a 3 bed cottage down a private lane in a hamlet with about 5 other but different properties. It is banded E - the same as a farm next door which was recently sold for in excess of £600K! The cottage was bought in 2004 for £240K which gives a 1991 price of £86K - band D at most? Also in Band D in the same hamlet is a 4 bed farm house with acres of grounds (the cottage has a small cottage garden) - so the CT on the cottage is at present higher than the farm though I suspect in 1991 the farm was quite run down. The two other cottages in the hamlet are banded C - both are only 2 bedrooms but both have far more land. I would've thought they were more comparable?

Second is a 4 bed detached house on a small estate - currently banded F - same as all the other detached houses on the street. Semis there are banded E and the one house with a double plot is G so the relationships between the properties seems right. But - the 1991 price based on the most recent sale (of the actual property) would be £101K - band E not F. What are the chances of getting the bands reduced for all?!

You would have to double check this, but I am quite sure that a farm which is classed as a working farm has a reduction in banding for that reason,i.e if its assessed as band E but a working farm then the band is reduced to a D.If the property is sold on and is no longer a working farm then the band would be put back up again.
Just checked details on this for my area,East Ayrshire in Scotland and yes,working farms have their council tax reduced by one band.

mizmir

shelovestobuystuff wrote: »

You would have to double check this, but I am quite sure that a farm which is classed as a working farm has a reduction in banding for that reason,i.e if its assessed as band E but a working farm then the band is reduced to a D.If the property is sold on and is no longer a working farm then the band would be put back up again.
Just checked details on this for my area,East Ayrshire in Scotland and yes,working farms have their council tax reduced by one band.

Sorry - should have made clear - neither of the farms are working farms - just called "farms" and have land.

Boonbetty

VOA is refusing to reband my house on the grounds that there is evidence that similar houses were selling for more than £68,001 (Band D) at or around April 1991. There are only eight end of terrace houses like mine on this estate and having perused the archives of one of the local papers I can't find any of them for sale in 1991. The mid terraces are all Band C and the only difference is an end wall plus a side entrance three foot wide.

I have now asked VOA to supply the evidence which they claim to have and they have written to say that I may have to pay for such evidence. Does anyone know if they can do this?

Also can they refer to end of terrace of properties not on this estate as evidence?

poorperson

Boonbetty wrote: »

VOA is refusing to reband my house on the grounds that there is evidence that similar houses were selling for more than £68,001 (Band D) at or around April 1991. There are only eight end of terrace houses like mine on this estate and having perused the archives of one of the local papers I can't find any of them for sale in 1991. The mid terraces are all Band C and the only difference is an end wall plus a side entrance three foot wide.

I have now asked VOA to supply the evidence which they claim to have and they have written to say that I may have to pay for such evidence. Does anyone know if they can do this?

Also can they refer to end of terrace of properties not on this estate as evidence?

I'm in a similar position but I certainly wouldn't pay. I've gone to the Land Registry under the Freedom of Information Act; I'm waiting for a reply.