Council Tax Rebanding SUCCESS stories

tuffers1

Council - North Lanark shire

Hi All, Fantastic work

Looking for some help, I have just challenged my tax banding as I feel that we are in the wrong banding. Now I have done all that has been reported on this site and I feel without question my banding is wrong.
After contacting the council I got told that my claim was invalid due to timescale but I did have the chance to appeal, which is what I done.
The council gave me a chance to write down why I think the banding is wrong so I gathered all the evidence and sent it off. Within a few weeks I got a letter saying that my claim was invalid and didn’t even get to the panel.
Now the question I have is can they just basically dismiss my claim without explanation or is there some other route I can go down.

lincroft1710

tuffers - if a formal appeal (by on line appeal form, letter in form of appeal or hardcopy appeal form) is made outside 6 month time limit it is invalid, no argument! However you should ask the Assessor to check your band as you think it is wrong, but if he is adamant that the band is correct that is the end of the matter.

sarab66

Local Borough Council: Bromley
Council Tax Band Before: E
Council Tax Band After: D
Amount refunded: £1,555.59 over ten years
Annual sa:Tving going forward: About £100

Didn't get round to it for a while and then started the process in July, I didn't hear back until October and then it all started moving fairly quickly and got the money back at the beginning of December.

I'm in a semi and the mirror was in a band lower, so would have been hard for them not to agree. The Bromley website indicates that it will only review the current year but they automatically re-evaluated back to purchase date.

There's a chain reaction happening with neighbours now that I've told them.
:beer:

MAXCAT67

Coreden yours was just the type of post I was looking for!! I was knocked back by the Nottingham VOA in 2008 and have been seething ever since. My 4 bed detached is in the same valuation bracket as the larger 5 beds (I also found that three of the five beds were in band C as the valuation had been done "off plan"....) I now have the details of a 5 bed that was recently up for sale and had thought of putting together a case with both sets of measurements and photographs. Your success story has given me hope!

mortgageslayer

Hi everyone!
Has anyone done Tonbridge and Malling Council?

the_lock_man

Authority:- Portsmouth
Previous Band:- D
New Band:- C
Rebate:- Approx £1350
Ongoing Saving :- £150

Couldn't have been easier - simple letter to the Southampton VOA office, response within a couple of days (even during the snow!), another week later, we get a new bill from Portsmouth, detailing the rebate, and a day later, the rebate paid straight into our bank account. Not often you can say that Portsmouth City Council acted quickly and efficiently.

Thanks for the excellent advice and weblinks, Martin! :beer:

Tintin327

Bristol City Council
Was D
Now C
Rebate £600+
£170 reduction going forward
Always felt I had a good case, but put off by 6 month rule. Followed web advice and constructed strong argument. Decision and rebate within 2 months. Had to remind myself this isn't free money, but money I was due because of an inaccurate assessment.

Battersea

Local Borough Council: East Dorset
Council Tax Band Before: F
Council Tax Band After: E
Amount refunded: £3700
Annual saving going forward: £350+

After a protracted battle with the VOA I managed to get the above reduction. Our original purchase price for the property was not conclusive enough for them to be an obvious candidate for rebanding and they said 'No, not with 190 square metres ground area' (which was the figure they had on record for our cottage). In the discussion that followed they said they don't count floor area below 1.5m high. Well, a thatched cottage often has a second floor that is compromised by the roof and when I worked out the area using this rule it was some 25% smaller. I finally got the rebanding after some 6 months of perseverance. I have not seen this useful information anywhere despite doing many internet searches and hope it helps others who are struggling to get the right banding. Now, if anyone can help me/advise me on how to get interest on the council tax refund I'd be really pleased to get any information!

mark_holub

Local Borough Council: Waltham Forest
Council Tax Band Before: C
Council Tax Band After: B
Amount refunded: 500ish
Annual saving going forward:100ish a year

The process was actually really easy. I contacted the valuation board in Barking by email at the start of January, they rang a few days later to confirm the details and within 2 week I already had a cheque from the council! Thanks so much for your help...I hope others can do the same!

lincroft1710

Battersea - the council will not pay any interest on the refund as there is no provision for this in Council Tax law. In very exceptional circumstances the VOA have been known to pay interest and as they made a fundamental mistake it may be worth asking them if they would pay interest - but don't be too optimistic as they are also not under any legal obligation.

The VOA have used the minimum 1.5m headroom since 1960s, previous to that it was 1.2m.