Council Tax Rebanding SUCCESS stories

lincroft1710

theloft wrote: »

I think you will find that Council Tax did not start until 2003, so it can't be backdated to 2002. But still a good result and welcome to the club!

Council Tax started 1 April 1993.

spanv

Council - Lambeth
Band before - D
Band after - C
Refund £500

After living in our flat for 3 years I noticed a neighbours flat for sale and the estate agents details said 'band C'. As we are band D I wondered why this was. Following the advice on this site I discovered ours and one other flat in the street were D. All the others were band C.

I appealed to the VOA and was initially rejected - the first person I spoke to said our flat must be bigger than the neighbours which it isn't. (And on reading this site further I discovered that isn't how it works anyway). I was told I could ask for an investigation which I did - despite being a bit worried everyone else on the street might end up band D!

A few weeks later a lady from the VOA called to check some details such as whether we have double glazing, a conservatory and something else I can't remember.
We don't, and she said she could see a definite discrepancy but she needed to check the value in 1993.
We've now received letters to say we've been rebanded to C. Result! We've also received letters for the previous owners who I guess will also be due a rebate. Need to try and track them down now!

Thanks Martin and everyone else for the advice on this.

theloft

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Council Tax started 1 April 1993.

Which is exactly what I said .

lincroft1710

theloft wrote: »

which is exactly what i said .

NO!!!!!!! You said 2003!! I quoted your post in my reply! And you were replying to a thread which asked about backdating to 2002.

nuttytart_2

:mad:
We put in a claim in March 2008 and we are STILL waiting for a decision!! We are in band E, there are 5 other properties the same as ours in 2 streets, and all but 2 are in band D which is our argument. We are in the Huntingdonshire District Council area and the claim is being dealt with by Cambridge VOA.
Anyone else had their claim take this long? Every time I speak to the VOA I am told it is a difficult case and they have been promising us a letter since Feb this year.

Ian_in_Heather

Council - Mid Beds District
Band before - D
Band after - C
Refund £550

I no longer live at the address that was under debate - cheque turned up out of the blue last week. :j

I decided that as they had sat on £550 of mine for about 10 years I wanted to play on a little further...

The last year I was in the property I couldnt keep up with the bills and had £60 bailiff fees added by the council.

I argued, that as they were in receipt of £550 when they were chasing me for £400, that the bailiff fees should ALSO be refunded as they were invalid and could also be seen as retrospectively illegal (they were chasing an invalid debt after all).

Had a phone call from them today saying that they'd have a second cheque for a further £60 issued by the end of the week.

Could have knocked me down with a feather - I was only doing it because I was annoyed that they'd sat on it for 10 years, I never expected them to agree! :rotfl:

cheeky

just wanted to pick some brains here. These are the houses in our road:

z..z..y..x..y..y..y..y..y..y..y

We (x) and the houses immediately around us (y) are band F. All are the same 1930's design - except we are the only one that doesnt have a loft/extension(extra bedroom/bathroom). The houses 2 doors away (z) are different design but are band E. When i calculate prices of ours (x) and the house 2 doors away (z) back to 1993, they are both band E. When i put the prices of some of the (y) houses they come up band F

Is it worth asking for a review on ours given the evidence above?? (sorry if its complicated!!)

theloft

lincroft1710 wrote: »

NO!!!!!!! You said 2003!! I quoted your post in my reply! And you were replying to a thread which asked about backdating to 2002.

You are being a bit pedantic as I said "I think you will find that Council Tax did not start until 2003, so it can't be backdated to 2002. But still a good result and welcome to the club! " So I said 2003 and you said 1st April 2003, I can't see the difference, apart from the ACTUAL date. But hey, we are talking about success stories here and I was merely pointing out that you can't get it back to 2002.

lincroft1710

theloft wrote: »

You are being a bit pedantic as I said "I think you will find that Council Tax did not start until 2003, so it can't be backdated to 2002. But still a good result and welcome to the club! " So I said 2003 and you said 1st April 2003, I can't see the difference, apart from the ACTUAL date. But hey, we are talking about success stories here and I was merely pointing out that you can't get it back to 2002.

I think there is something wrong with your ability to read figures I said 1993, repeat 1993, recheck my posts!!!

lincroft1710

cheeky - CT is based on 1991 values not 1993 and house price indices are inaccurate. The extensions may not be reflected in the bands of the other houses and the "z" houses may be smaller than yours.

It may be worth asking for a review of your band but this may highlight that the "z" bands are too low and they could be increased.