Council Tax Rebanding SUCCESS stories

lincroft1710

The VOA will not disclose 1991 sales details unless a valid appeal has been made. You may be able to find asking prices if you look for archived editions of local property papers.

JLLGLP

lincroft1710, Thanks for a straightforward answer. That is exactly what I needed. Step Two of the offensive will see me hitting the archives.

Sooozie

Bristol City Council
Rebanded E to D
Repayment £3,000
Annual saving £260

Over the moon :j. Success at a rebanding from E to D after 3 attempts over a 15 year period, and finally a repayment (back to 1996). The message is, if you truly believe in your case then .... DON’T GIVE UP!

In summary:
Attempt 1 – just a casual letter back in 1996 saying I paid less for my house in 1996 (£87.500) than the lower band limit of £88,000. This was dismissed, and I did not know how to take it forward.

Attempt 2 – 2009/2010.
Lots of letters with evidence supporting my case. It came to a halt, as the VOA kept saying they had evidence my banding was correct from 1991 sales info. I did not have access to that information - so the process halted. I was very frustrated by the poor responses and the VOA not taking on board my comments/ evidence.

Attempt 3– July 2011.
I came across the Mouse Price website – which has sales info back to 1995, which helped my case further. I was concerned they may not revisit my case again, but I said things such as :-

“I have now uncovered further information which supports my case. I understand that you have a legal obligation, irrespective of whether you have looked at this before, to ensure my property is in the right band"

And

“I feel so strongly about the unjustness of this case, that if this is not corrected I shall present the information to my MP for review and advice on the next course of action. This effectively amounts to theft of my money over the past 15 years without any legitimate basis”

That was sufficient for my case to be re-examined, a visit by a VOA officer to measure up and take a good look at other nearby properties to compare sizing/ bandings etc. She effectively apologised whilst she was here that they had not visited at Attempt 2.

So highly delighted and finally satisfied with the decision. Huge thanks to this website/ Forum for all the info and support to keep going for it!

spurboy

Local Borough Council: Leicester City
Council Tax Band Before: G
Council Tax Band After: F
Amount refunded: £3750
Annual saving going forward: £200 approx

We tried appealing about 11 years ago. This turned out to be a farce. We telephoned the council and they sent someone out. Unfortunately I was at work and my wife was looking after our sick grandson when the person visited. The person looked around wandered up the road and said we would hear from them. A few weeks later a letter came and in summary said that we are on the correct band and we should not to appeal again.

Anyway used moneysaving expert procedure and added a sprinkling of Google street view photos of local houses similar to ours, along with some old estate agent details to our appeal.

All done and dusted in 2 months. Refunded all the way back to 1993.

I can't help but notice that they don't appear to move more than one band! maybe this policy.

Off to the shops now!

CIS

We tried appealing about 11 years ago. This turned out to be a farce. We telephoned the council and they sent someone out. Unfortunately I was at work and my wife was looking after our sick grandson when the person visited. The person looked around wandered up the road and said we would hear from them

The council have no say on the banding - its all down to the Valuation Office.

lincroft1710

spurboy wrote: »

I can't help but notice that they don't appear to move more than one band! maybe this policy.

More likely that the property was only one band overassessed. Very, very few properties are more than one band out.

geoffky

I appealed after a couple of months of moving into our house last year and was refused by the voa but i reckon they did not listen as tesco have built a express store right next door to me and i reckon that must of changed the rate....where do i go from here..

lincroft1710

geoff - if Tesco have built a brand new store next door since you moved in, you have the right to make a valid appeal on the grounds of a physical change and material reduction, the 6 month rule doesn't apply in these cases. However the nuisance may not be sufficient to put your home into a lower band, so there's still no guarantee of success.

geoffky

lincroft1710 wrote: »

geoff - if Tesco have built a brand new store next door since you moved in, you have the right to make a valid appeal on the grounds of a physical change and material reduction, the 6 month rule doesn't apply in these cases. However the nuisance may not be sufficient to put your home into a lower band, so there's still no guarantee of success.

SORRY it was before we moved in and i challenged because the rate has not changed even though they built tesco next door.

Turquoise

My elderly parents have no idea about computers and internet and the ease with which neighbouring properties council tax bands can be checked. I checked for them and discovered that they were paying the same as the bigger houses on their road and that their next door neighbour was in a lower band.

I contacted the valuations office on their behalf, completed the form which was sent and 2 weeks later my parents received a letter to say that their banding would be lowered and they would receive the overpayments back to 1993. Result!

Oldham Council. Lowered from Band C to Band B. £2000 refunded.

If you are ok with you're own council tax band, please do a check for your elderly relatives as they are the least likely to look into this and challenge.