Council Tax Rebanding SUCCESS stories

davidg39

Band before C
Band after A
Annual saving about £300
Council Torbay

Looks like this 2-bedroomed flat was given a second gear valuation, and was banded with the adjacent 3-bedroomed houses when built in 1993. The Listings Officer spent a whole year failing to read my letters properly and raising red herrings. Then, a few days before we were due at a Valuation Tribunal, he offered to drop us by one band. I wrote to say I would rather go to the tribunal, and when he realised I would expose the inefficiency of his office he offered to drop us from C to A. Result! Many thanks to Martin.

Mark2spark

The VO office is now a nightmare since being twinned with the HMRC website Does anyone know if there is a table or listing, of the square metre yardstick that the VO uses to establish the estimated value of properties please?

ie a 2 bed semi (bungalow) should qualify for a banding based on floor area? (is the avenue I'm investigating) Band D seems too high to me.

lincroft1710

There is no such table.

CT bands are based on what a dwelling would have sold for as at 1 Apr 1991. Although a dwelling's size is a key factor in deciding its value, it is not the only thing that is taken into account. In 1991 a 2 bed semi det bungalow could easily have sold for over £68K (Band D minimum) in some areas of the country but not in others.

juls1_2

Hi

Can anyone help with this query,

Does the banding go on what the house was on the market for or what it was purchase for
House purchased mid 1992 3 bed end terraced with drive for 51000 CT band C
Other houses on the road 3 bed mid terrace no drive Band B

Is it worth trying to appeal

1991 Tax Band C - £52,001 - £68,000

Thanks
J:)

lincroft1710

Bearing in mind house prices in most areas were falling between 1991 and 1992, a 1992 purchase price of £51K would suggest an Apr 1991 value in excess of £52K.

purple4mum

BLACKBURN AND DARWEN COUCIL

BAND BEFORE D

BAND AFTER C

ANNUAL SAVING £164

REFUND £2,250

THANK YOU SO MUCH ABSOLUTELY SIMPLE PROCESS.

NO PROBLEMS FROM START TO FINISH
:j:j:j:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::j:j:j

pat1976

Council: Warrington
Previous Band: C
New Band: B
Refund: £1150
On going saving:£100 per annum

My road is predominently 4 bed semis with 3 terraces of 4 3-bed houses. All band C. I realised similar terraces in the surrounding streets were band B so emailed the VO. They sent a questionaire which I didn't fill out in time so they sent a lady round. It took about 15 minutes and I was advised 4 weeks later that we're rebanded to B and refunded £1150 back to 2002.

They did not reband any of my neighbours so I've dropped letters in, as yet no one else has had their band changed.

Bri1

A number of months ago after getting the info from here, my council tax was re-banded from a D to a C with a refund attached, all well & good.

A few months ago we realised that we were given the wrong threshold information for Housing benefit upon our council tax, which we also had to go to an official court appeal to get the 6 month backdate, after winning our appeal at the hearing, the council bloke was not very happy as the judge said they were completely wrong & they should have paid out in the first place, we heard nothing about the backdate being paid, so we chased it up & finally got the couple of hundred pounds credited back to our account, but we never received a letter confirming that we had won at the hearing from the Council or that we would be getting any money back.

Then mysteriously after coming back off holiday a couple of weeks later we got a letter saying that the Council had made a mistake on the re-banding & would be putting it back up to a band D as before, they claim that they have looked at their house value information & decided that we should be back in band D from November, this was the same information that they used when we appealed against the band and won in the first place.

Does anyone think that there is a connection going on here after losing their appeal with the backdating mentioned above or is this just a co-incidence, as it seems a bit suspect to me as this letter came only about three weeks after we finally got the measly backdate on our Council tax account after asking a couple of times following the successful backdate appeal?

As I am disabled and am sick of having to fight for everything I get, is it worth going through all the stress of trying to appeal this banding again as it was a real slog before?

lincroft1710

Bri1 - I am presuming you are in Scotland as in England and Wales CT banding is not carried out by councils, but by the Valuation Office Agency which is part of HMRC. In Scotland CT banding is carried out by the Assessor, who according to the Scottish Assessors Association http://www.saa.gov.uk/introduction.html

Each of the 32 local Councils within Scotland is a valuation authority and responsible for appointing an Assessor who must in turn compile and maintain a Valuation Roll and a Council Tax Valuation List. There are however only fourteen Assessors in Scotland, four are appointed directly by a single Council and the remaining ten are appointed by Valuation Joint Boards comprising elected members appointed by two or more Councils. Where a Valuation Joint Board exists, all the duties, powers and responsibilities of the constituent Councils as Valuation Authorities are delegated to the Board.

So there may not be a connection.

Without knowing all the evidence from both sides it is impossible to advise if it would be worth your while appealing again. If you appeal then if you can't get anywhere with VOA or Assessor then you do have the right to have your appeal heard by an independent tribunal.

quintond

Local Borough Council: New Forest
Council Tax Band Before:F
Council Tax Band After:E
Amount refunded:£3470
Annual saving going forward:£320

Read about this a few weeks ago already received confirmation from Local Authority of refund amount. Just waiting for the credit.

Thanx Martin, A real windfall!