Council Tax Rebanding SUCCESS stories

terrytjt2808

thank you i challenged my band with the valuation office in late november i heard from them two weeks ago to say i was successful and they reduced my band from e to d. today i heard from my local coucil to say they were reimbursing me with £3960.

saveapacket_2

Just happened to look at government site for tax banding of my house after looking on here voa.gov.uk and found out most of the houses similar to mind were band E and not band F as mine was listed so made a simple phone call to them with the details and my arguements and 9 weeks later without so much as having to fill in a form I got a cheque for £2,051.76! Also I am curently savign £33.40 per month in current payments! Well worth a shot I think!!!:rotfl:

teeny_3

Has anyone recieved a community charge bill from 1990/91 I have today just under £60 they have gone back 20years surely i would have heard from them before today never had a letter or phone call off them in 20yrs can they go back that far and i have lived in the same address for 32years.

lincroft1710

teeny - as it is a form of taxation, the 6 yr rule doesn't apply. It is difficult to believe it's taken this long to chase it up.

mkbswimstar

:mad:Warning and advise needed. I got our house rebanded over a year ago, possibly 2 and now they wanted to check it again and the VOA have been round to see inside the property and may be rebanding me back up again. It may have been rebanded in error! Now what happens to the thousands of £'s they gave to the previous owner and how can this be fair? Shouldnt they have done their research better when they rebanded it in the first place?
You can see my previous post of success under my user name.
Please advise.
Im awaiting the letter, should get it this week.:mad:

lincroft1710

IF VOA did make a mistake in lowering your band they are legally obliged to correct the error, although I have known cases where bands found to have been incorrectly lowered have not been increased. Such inaction does not set any legal precedent.

Fairness is getting a band correct so that it is equitable with bands of other similar dwellings and that band is supported by sales evidence or settled appeals or Valuation Tribunal decisions.

The council cannot reclaim any refund of overpayment it has already paid out.

If your band is increased you do have a right of appeal.

mands247

East Hants
Band before: D
Band After: C
Refund: £600
Savings going forward:£150 a year

After reading the forums on this website i decided to look a bit further. I wasnt sure how the process would work as we rent the property and have done for 4 years. i followed the instructions shown here and noted a few friends' tax bands in the area, were lower than mine, most having bigger properties. I called the relevant people for my district. highlighted that my band was higher than a few others that i knew to be bigger than me. The lady was very plesant, suggested there would be an 8 week wait period due to back log and that a valuator may call/visit to view property.
Two weeks later we received a letter to state that we were to drop to Band C and a week after that the refund of £600 was depositied into our bank account!

Result... for the cost of a few phone calls! now we are putting that money towards immigration! :j
.

christ12345

I did everything on that was recommended but was told a blunt No by the vaulation guy. My house is band G and next door is band F (admittedley it is a different shape and apparently smaller square footage) but the house still looks huge. I was told the council tax you pay is based not on size of plot but on square footage of house. My reply from the valuation office listed loads of houses within the same area with lower or the same band. He basically built a solid case by cherry picking those houses of equal footage and band. As I did not have access to the square footage of houses that he did and listed to me, I could of course not build a case to support my own. If I had that info I could have done a bit more. There are houses nearby that are almost mansions with lower or equal tax bands but all he said was they may have been extended and have not yet been revalued for councail tax. One is a brand new house but still a band lower and clearly douvble the proce of mine!! They even got the square footage of my house wrong. The external dimension of my house do not match what they state. I can contest but looks like I may be hitting my head against a brick wall . I bought my house for 35k lower than what next door were trying to sell theirs at that time but that apparenbtly means nothing as with the valuation calulator that is listed on this website (according to the valuation office at Northants).

Any ideas? I am sure that my house should be F and not G. I think that if they do lower mine they know I could get a hefty rebate and are reluctant to do so.

lincroft1710

I think that if they do lower mine they know I could get a hefty rebate and are reluctant to do so.

VOA have no vested interest in the financial outcome of a band reduction, the refund doesn't come out of their pocket. It may be the case that if your band is reduced others will also have to be reduced entailing extra work for them.

As Band G covers a very wide price range (£160K to £320K) then there will obviously be better/larger houses in same band. If you dispute the size of your house then you should get them to remeasure it.

I bought my house for 35k lower than what next door were trying to sell theirs at that time

If next door didn't sell then this statement is of little use.

that apparenbtly means nothing as with the valuation calulator that is listed on this website

I'm ex VOA and have checked house price calculators estimates with actual sales and found them usually to be at least 10% inaccurate.

As I am presuming you were out of time for valid appeal then there is little you can do other than reiterate your argument and emphasise the Band F houses which you believe are larger than yours. Also look around for other Band F houses which look larger than yours.

powerful_Rogue

Just done a little bit of digging and I believe my property may be in the wrong band. Im currently band b and belive it should in band a.

Ive looked at my neighbours and the whole street is currently in band b.

Looking at band b, this is for properties valued between £40,001 - £52,000 in 1991.

Looking at nethouseprices in 1999 (the furthest is goes back), three terraced houses sold for £30k, £35k and £38k. I can only think that back in 1991 they drove up the road and decided everyone would be a band b and no-one has challenged this.

Taking the most expensive, which was below the threshold - £38k back in 1991 would have been valued at £30k.

Ive sent a FOI to VOA asking for the valuation of terraced properties with two bedrooms and two reception rooms in my street during 1991 and will see what they come back with. Will also enquire with the libary tomorrow to see if they have any old records on microfiche I could view.

If the values were close to the mark, I would take Martins advice and not bother, however I honestly think from the above the entire street is banded incorrectly!