Council Tax Rebanding SUCCESS stories

lincroft1710

Leigh - as your proposal was invalid, the purpose of the hearing on 28 Oct is to determine whether or not the proposal has been validly made. The accuracy of the band will not be considered, although the chairman of the hearing may ask the Assessor if he has investigated your band.

Any improvements or alterations carried out prior to the last sale (which would be the 2006 sale to yourself) can be reflected in a dwelling's band.

Without knowledge of 91 sales of similar houses it is not possible to decide if the Assessor's belief that new k and b would mean a higher band has good foundation. Sales evidence may well prove this theory, but as you did not make a valid appeal he cannot disclose his evidence to you.

My personal view is that the Assessor is taking rather a hard line, but this an opinion rather than a statement based on factual evidence.

leigh14

thanx Lincroft1710, my main concern is that other houses in my street & adj street are in the same situation but are still band A.I was thinking about contacting a lawyer (first consultation is free) because it is much the same in our whole town, some 3 & 4 bedroom houses are also band A.
Personally i dont think a 13yr old kitchen & bathroom that i have had to replace myself is a good enough reason.I have a copy of a letter
from the council to a resident when she purchased her house in Feb 1992
which states it was valued at £25,700 which is band A. Hopefully the appeal comittee alow me to proceed with my appeal. If the assessors are right should this mean that until i bought the house in 2006 my band should have been A.

lincroft1710

Lawyers are far from experts in Council Tax so don't waste your time contacting one. Chartered Surveyors are the people who can best advise, although they tend to deal with with non domestic rating appeals rather than CT. BUT they don't come cheap and if even if you won your case you will have to pay their bill as no costs are awarded at Valuation Appeal Committee hearings.

If your appeal is found to be valid (which is extremely unlikely) then it would be listed for hearing at a later date.

Valuations for RTB purposes are on a different basis to those for CT purposes and the date is 10 months after 1 Apr 91, at a time when house prices were in decline and this is only £1300 below band break, so this is not that much help to you.

If your home had a new kit and bath installed by 1 Apr 93, the this could be reflected in banding. If you look at basis of banding, value as at 4/91, character etc as at 4/93 or date of last sale, then house would be correctly valued as having new k and b, no sale in 2001 so still look at 93 character.

I would be inclined to make a list of all Band A houses you consider the same/v. similar to yours and ask Assessor to explain why you're B when they're A. He may try to fob you off by saying their bands are wrong.

leigh14

Thanx again Lincroft :undecided not sure what to do now, citizens advice said there is chartered surveyors volentary service which may help but c a has to contact them on my behalf. even thought about local news paper but not sure about that either now.

Cumbrian

Barrow Borough Council
Band before C Band after B
Refund £1600+
Saving £150/year

Followed advice on here, found that 2 out of 4 houses were in Band C and the other 2 in Band B. A quick phone call and a 2 month wait but successful in the end. Many thanks for the tip. Have been overpaying for 16 years!
The other house has also got a refund.

:j

redsclubbedup

success

Bromsgrove:
Was - Band C
Now - Band B

No Refund - as we have only just moved in their !

On that note however the previous owners, who were really good with us throughout the sale had lived at teh house for 16 years before we brought it. As the cletter stated that the tax has been taken back to April 1993, does this mean they could potentially get a refund for the 16 years they have lived their - I would like to contact them if that is teh case. I assume that now we have been rebanded, they can't revoke the decision if I do this ???

lincroft1710

The previous owner is definitely entitled to a refund of any overpayment of CT, the council have no say in the actual banding, that is the province of the Valuation Office Agency.

moffat2000

North Lanarkshire Council
Was Band F
Now Band E
Refund £3873.83 !!!!

In 2006 my father started an appeal against his council as his house was two council tax bands above every other house on the street, including the one he is attached to.
As he had been in the house since 1979, he was claiming to drop two council tax bands and have it back dated to 1st April 1993.
He continually received the same response. He was "time barred" from an appeal as he only had 6 months to claim the house was banded incorrectly. In frustration he gave up.
In 2008 my parents retired overseas and rented the house out. The first tenants stayed for 6 months then moved on. The house sat empty for two months and my father became liable for council tax on the property once more.
I took this opportunity to lodge another appeal on my father's behalf. My thinking was that he should no longer be "time barred" as he had only just became liable for the house, albeit for a second time. Instead of claiming for some 15 years of overpayments, I claimed for two months. I felt if the council rebanded the property then I could follow up the appeal with a claim on the previous 15 years.
I then received a letter to explain that I would have to appear in front of an appeal board to put forward my case for rebanding the property. At this point the letter also made it clear that I could withdraw my appeal at any time!
I chose to continue.
I then received a phone call from the local assessors office asking to view the property. I met with the local assessor at the house and after taking measurements etc he agreed that the house was not a band F property but was too big/valuable for a band D.
He admitted that the property had been incorrectly banded in 1993 and that if I was to withdraw my appeal then the review panel would be cancelled and the property would be dropped by one band.
I had no problem with this and I withdrew my appeal.
My parents received a cheque for almost £4000, 15 years of overpayments.
A truly wonderful retirement present for my mum and dad.

A knighthood for Martin Lewis!:T

jacqui19

Local Council Mid Suffolk
Council Tax Band before B
Council Tax Band after A
Amount refunded £625 approx

Thanks Martin I followed everything , checked my neighbours and found 1/2 the street was paying A band the other B, I challenged mine and got a Cheque for nearly £500 and the rest was deducted from th remaining DD for this year.

AprilShowers

Local Borough Council: Birmingham
Council Tax Band Before:Band B
Council Tax Band After:Band A
Amount refunded:£800ish

Very straightfoward. Not sure on exact amount, as we are have arrears on our account, and about £300 has been sequestered by the council to bring us up to date. However, before this happened we called and were told that money is never retained, a cheque is always sent out, so we are appealing and hope to get the rest of the money back.
We feel we are entitled to it despite our arrears, as we have a repayment plan and are sticking to it. Best thing we have done this year!