Council Tax Rebanding SUCCESS stories

MrsB124

lincroft1710 said:

MrsB124 said:

I have received a copy of the response by email today, which was not changed for the reasons below. But we did not challenge this in 2007,we moved in there in  2006???? So not sure what the message about 2007 or 2000 means either as the previous owners bought it in 1989 - I know they had a mortgage for £80000 but no idea what their deposit would have been 🤷‍♀️.......,.....

2007, a case was dismissed by the Valuation Tribunal, due to want of prosecution. The Band F was deemed correct, and the sales evidence supplied at the time was considered to be supportive of the current Band F.

 

They state that the sale in 2000, was not considered, due to being sold in a poor state of repair at the time.

Any idea, I presume you can’t appeal as they didn’t mention that in the letter 🤷‍♀️

Many thanks 

It would appear that an appeal was made in 2006/7 and went to a Tribunal hearing. Because the person who made the appeal failed to attend the hearing and presumably did not ask the Tribunal to hear the appeal in absentia, the Tribunal (quite correctly) dismissed the appeal. The CT band was  investigated and from sales evidence the VOA clearly thought it correct, so in the circumstances would have asked the Tribunal to dismiss the appeal.

I am not sure if you have quoted the email verbatim or the VOA response was slightly vague, but there is a possibility the VOA are referring to an identical dwelling on which there was an appeal rather than an appeal on your home. If there is doubt, I would ask for confirmation that the appeal was on your home.

A previous Tribunal ruling whether dismissal or determination will virtually always result in the VOA automatically rejecting any further request for a band review.

Because a valuation for CT purposes has to assume the dwelling being good repair, any sale of the dwelling at a time when it was in poor repair has to be ignored.

There is no appeals procedure in place and even if there was what could you appeal against?  There is both supporting sales evidence and a VT decision.

Thank you for your time.
I pasted text straight from their letter.

I have proof of the mortgage taken out in 1989 on our property at £80k  (but not how much deposit - but at 13.5% interest rate, from what we know of them, I would doubt they had over £30k as their deposit In 1989, which is what would be needed to make it a Band F). 

We are not  aware of any Tribunal Hearing? How would we go about finding out about this please, as we moved here I n 2006 and would definitely be aware if we were meant to attend a tribunal - unless we didn’t receive it 😱  (Road & Drive with exactly the same name next to each other and deliveries always going to the wrong one 🥺!!!!!)

I’m presuming VOA have copies of all of the exact sale prices and would definitely refer to those registry prices before making a decision?   so it wouldn’t be worth me checking Archives/newspapers for Adverts or prices? 

The 15 houses 300 yards away (same style houses although they have extra bedrooms) are all Band D, so 2 bands lower than ours, which I also send details of, but were not referred to in their response either.

Many thanks for all of your help. 😉👍

lincroft1710

MrsB124 said:

lincroft1710 said:

MrsB124 said:

I have received a copy of the response by email today, which was not changed for the reasons below. But we did not challenge this in 2007,we moved in there in  2006???? So not sure what the message about 2007 or 2000 means either as the previous owners bought it in 1989 - I know they had a mortgage for £80000 but no idea what their deposit would have been 🤷‍♀️.......,.....

2007, a case was dismissed by the Valuation Tribunal, due to want of prosecution. The Band F was deemed correct, and the sales evidence supplied at the time was considered to be supportive of the current Band F.

 

They state that the sale in 2000, was not considered, due to being sold in a poor state of repair at the time.

Any idea, I presume you can’t appeal as they didn’t mention that in the letter 🤷‍♀️

Many thanks 

It would appear that an appeal was made in 2006/7 and went to a Tribunal hearing. Because the person who made the appeal failed to attend the hearing and presumably did not ask the Tribunal to hear the appeal in absentia, the Tribunal (quite correctly) dismissed the appeal. The CT band was  investigated and from sales evidence the VOA clearly thought it correct, so in the circumstances would have asked the Tribunal to dismiss the appeal.

I am not sure if you have quoted the email verbatim or the VOA response was slightly vague, but there is a possibility the VOA are referring to an identical dwelling on which there was an appeal rather than an appeal on your home. If there is doubt, I would ask for confirmation that the appeal was on your home.

A previous Tribunal ruling whether dismissal or determination will virtually always result in the VOA automatically rejecting any further request for a band review.

Because a valuation for CT purposes has to assume the dwelling being good repair, any sale of the dwelling at a time when it was in poor repair has to be ignored.

There is no appeals procedure in place and even if there was what could you appeal against?  There is both supporting sales evidence and a VT decision.

Thank you for your time.
I pasted text straight from their letter.

I have proof of the mortgage taken out in 1989 on our property at £80k  (but not how much deposit - but at 13.5% interest rate, from what we know of them, I would doubt they had over £30k as their deposit In 1989, which is what would be needed to make it a Band F). 

We are not  aware of any Tribunal Hearing? How would we go about finding out about this please, as we moved here I n 2006 and would definitely be aware if we were meant to attend a tribunal - unless we didn’t receive it 😱  (Road & Drive with exactly the same name next to each other and deliveries always going to the wrong one 🥺!!!!!)

I’m presuming VOA have copies of all of the exact sale prices and would definitely refer to those registry prices before making a decision?   so it wouldn’t be worth me checking Archives/newspapers for Adverts or prices? 

The 15 houses 300 yards away (same style houses although they have extra bedrooms) are all Band D, so 2 bands lower than ours? 

Many thanks for all of your help. 😉👍

Forget the 1989 mortgage, you don't know how much deposit was involved so it is of no use. 

Forget smaller houses down the road, not comparable.

The VT website allows you to access VT decisions but only those from within the last 6 years, so as I suggested you will have ask the VOA about the VT decision they quoted.

Archived newspaper ads will only give asking prices and at best the street in which the property is situated. The VOA evidence may not have been from your street or even the same estate, but they have details of at least 99.9% of all property transactions.

If there are other houses of exactly the same type as yours in the street or adjoining street check their bands. 

MrsB124

lincroft1710 said:

MrsB124 said:

lincroft1710 said:

MrsB124 said:

I have received a copy of the response by email today, which was not changed for the reasons below. But we did not challenge this in 2007,we moved in there in  2006???? So not sure what the message about 2007 or 2000 means either as the previous owners bought it in 1989 - I know they had a mortgage for £80000 but no idea what their deposit would have been 🤷‍♀️.......,.....

2007, a case was dismissed by the Valuation Tribunal, due to want of prosecution. The Band F was deemed correct, and the sales evidence supplied at the time was considered to be supportive of the current Band F.

 

They state that the sale in 2000, was not considered, due to being sold in a poor state of repair at the time.

Any idea, I presume you can’t appeal as they didn’t mention that in the letter 🤷‍♀️

Many thanks 

It would appear that an appeal was made in 2006/7 and went to a Tribunal hearing. Because the person who made the appeal failed to attend the hearing and presumably did not ask the Tribunal to hear the appeal in absentia, the Tribunal (quite correctly) dismissed the appeal. The CT band was  investigated and from sales evidence the VOA clearly thought it correct, so in the circumstances would have asked the Tribunal to dismiss the appeal.

I am not sure if you have quoted the email verbatim or the VOA response was slightly vague, but there is a possibility the VOA are referring to an identical dwelling on which there was an appeal rather than an appeal on your home. If there is doubt, I would ask for confirmation that the appeal was on your home.

A previous Tribunal ruling whether dismissal or determination will virtually always result in the VOA automatically rejecting any further request for a band review.

Because a valuation for CT purposes has to assume the dwelling being good repair, any sale of the dwelling at a time when it was in poor repair has to be ignored.

There is no appeals procedure in place and even if there was what could you appeal against?  There is both supporting sales evidence and a VT decision.

Thank you for your time.
I pasted text straight from their letter.

I have proof of the mortgage taken out in 1989 on our property at £80k  (but not how much deposit - but at 13.5% interest rate, from what we know of them, I would doubt they had over £30k as their deposit In 1989, which is what would be needed to make it a Band F). 

We are not  aware of any Tribunal Hearing? How would we go about finding out about this please, as we moved here I n 2006 and would definitely be aware if we were meant to attend a tribunal - unless we didn’t receive it 😱  (Road & Drive with exactly the same name next to each other and deliveries always going to the wrong one 🥺!!!!!)

I’m presuming VOA have copies of all of the exact sale prices and would definitely refer to those registry prices before making a decision?   so it wouldn’t be worth me checking Archives/newspapers for Adverts or prices? 

The 15 houses 300 yards away (same style houses although they have extra bedrooms) are all Band D, so 2 bands lower than ours? 

Many thanks for all of your help. 😉👍

Forget the 1989 mortgage, you don't know how much deposit was involved so it is of no use. 

Forget smaller houses down the road, not comparable.

The VT website allows you to access VT decisions but only those from within the last 6 years, so as I suggested you will have ask the VOA about the VT decision they quoted.

Archived newspaper ads will only give asking prices and at best the street in which the property is situated. The VOA evidence may not have been from your street or even the same estate, but they have details of at least 99.9% of all property transactions.

If there are other houses of exactly the same type as yours in the street or adjoining street check their bands. 

Thank you very much.

the 15 houses quoted were exactly the same Style and probably same builder - they are all dormers and there aren’t many others in our area,  The 15 + at top of our road all have  MORE bedrooms than ours, but overall footprint in m2 are probably the same. They are Band D and link detached like ours, but theirs have tandem garages and ours have standard double garage.

I will email them and ask about VT. Is it possible to request from Land Registry for price our property sold for? I’m sure it’s unlikely, but would reassure me that we were in correct band either way then even if they charge for this service 😉👍

thanks a million for all of your help 😉👍

DubDriver

MrsB124, You can search Land Registry transactions here
https://landregistry.data.gov.uk/app/ppd
On my estate it displays 15 transactions but I know there have been more than that and my own is missing so it doesn’t appear to be very comprehensive.

MrsB124

DubDriver said:

MrsB124, You can search Land Registry transactions here
https://landregistry.data.gov.uk/app/ppd
On my estate it displays 15 transactions but I know there have been more than that and my own is missing so it doesn’t appear to be very comprehensive.

Many thanks👍

I’ve had a quick look but the site only goes back to about 1995, do wondered how/where VOA get their valuations from, unless they are all on microfiche and only they can access them? 🤔 
would be nice to be able to pay for a copy, just for peace of mind at least 😉👍

DubDriver

Oh yes, 1995, sorry I forgot to mention. You could ask them if older stuff is available for a fee, doesn’t it say on their website?

All of the VO’s property transaction data is stored on their computer system, data goes back to at least the late 80’s.

lincroft1710

MrsB124 said:

DubDriver said:

MrsB124, You can search Land Registry transactions here
https://landregistry.data.gov.uk/app/ppd
On my estate it displays 15 transactions but I know there have been more than that and my own is missing so it doesn’t appear to be very comprehensive.

Many thanks👍

I’ve had a quick look but the site only goes back to about 1995, do wondered how/where VOA get their valuations from, unless they are all on microfiche and only they can access them? 🤔 
would be nice to be able to pay for a copy, just for peace of mind at least 😉👍

The VOA have received details of all property transactions since 1910. Originally these were copies of a form completed by buyer's solicitor and sent to Stamps Office, I have seen literally tens of thousands of these forms. Currently sales details are downloaded from Land Registry. In the mid 1970s nearly all the pre 1963 records were destroyed and those remaining were microfilmed then destroyed.

There is no public access to VOA records of property sales.

lincroft1710

MrsB124 said:

lincroft1710 said:

MrsB124 said:

lincroft1710 said:

MrsB124 said:

I have received a copy of the response by email today, which was not changed for the reasons below. But we did not challenge this in 2007,we moved in there in  2006???? So not sure what the message about 2007 or 2000 means either as the previous owners bought it in 1989 - I know they had a mortgage for £80000 but no idea what their deposit would have been 🤷‍♀️.......,.....

2007, a case was dismissed by the Valuation Tribunal, due to want of prosecution. The Band F was deemed correct, and the sales evidence supplied at the time was considered to be supportive of the current Band F.

 

They state that the sale in 2000, was not considered, due to being sold in a poor state of repair at the time.

Any idea, I presume you can’t appeal as they didn’t mention that in the letter 🤷‍♀️

Many thanks 

It would appear that an appeal was made in 2006/7 and went to a Tribunal hearing. Because the person who made the appeal failed to attend the hearing and presumably did not ask the Tribunal to hear the appeal in absentia, the Tribunal (quite correctly) dismissed the appeal. The CT band was  investigated and from sales evidence the VOA clearly thought it correct, so in the circumstances would have asked the Tribunal to dismiss the appeal.

I am not sure if you have quoted the email verbatim or the VOA response was slightly vague, but there is a possibility the VOA are referring to an identical dwelling on which there was an appeal rather than an appeal on your home. If there is doubt, I would ask for confirmation that the appeal was on your home.

A previous Tribunal ruling whether dismissal or determination will virtually always result in the VOA automatically rejecting any further request for a band review.

Because a valuation for CT purposes has to assume the dwelling being good repair, any sale of the dwelling at a time when it was in poor repair has to be ignored.

There is no appeals procedure in place and even if there was what could you appeal against?  There is both supporting sales evidence and a VT decision.

Thank you for your time.
I pasted text straight from their letter.

I have proof of the mortgage taken out in 1989 on our property at £80k  (but not how much deposit - but at 13.5% interest rate, from what we know of them, I would doubt they had over £30k as their deposit In 1989, which is what would be needed to make it a Band F). 

We are not  aware of any Tribunal Hearing? How would we go about finding out about this please, as we moved here I n 2006 and would definitely be aware if we were meant to attend a tribunal - unless we didn’t receive it 😱  (Road & Drive with exactly the same name next to each other and deliveries always going to the wrong one 🥺!!!!!)

I’m presuming VOA have copies of all of the exact sale prices and would definitely refer to those registry prices before making a decision?   so it wouldn’t be worth me checking Archives/newspapers for Adverts or prices? 

The 15 houses 300 yards away (same style houses although they have extra bedrooms) are all Band D, so 2 bands lower than ours? 

Many thanks for all of your help. 😉👍

Forget the 1989 mortgage, you don't know how much deposit was involved so it is of no use. 

Forget smaller houses down the road, not comparable.

The VT website allows you to access VT decisions but only those from within the last 6 years, so as I suggested you will have ask the VOA about the VT decision they quoted.

Archived newspaper ads will only give asking prices and at best the street in which the property is situated. The VOA evidence may not have been from your street or even the same estate, but they have details of at least 99.9% of all property transactions.

If there are other houses of exactly the same type as yours in the street or adjoining street check their bands. 

Thank you very much.

the 15 houses quoted were exactly the same Style and probably same builder - they are all dormers and there aren’t many others in our area,  The 15 + at top of our road all have  MORE bedrooms than ours, but overall footprint in m2 are probably the same. They are Band D and link detached like ours, but theirs have tandem garages and ours have standard double garage.

I will email them and ask about VT. Is it possible to request from Land Registry for price our property sold for? I’m sure it’s unlikely, but would reassure me that we were in correct band either way then even if they charge for this service 😉👍

thanks a million for all of your help 😉👍

My apologies, I misread your previous post (old age!)

It is not the footprint that matters but total size, i.e. both floors added together, however these houses have more bedrooms but tandem garages (which would be less valuable than a double garage). What about number of bathrooms? Do you know the exact difference in layout between the 2 house types? Were there any sales of these around the time you bought yours?

MrsB124

lincroft1710 said:

MrsB124 said:

lincroft1710 said:

MrsB124 said:

lincroft1710 said:

MrsB124 said:

I have received a copy of the response by email today, which was not changed for the reasons below. But we did not challenge this in 2007,we moved in there in  2006???? So not sure what the message about 2007 or 2000 means either as the previous owners bought it in 1989 - I know they had a mortgage for £80000 but no idea what their deposit would have been 🤷‍♀️.......,.....

2007, a case was dismissed by the Valuation Tribunal, due to want of prosecution. The Band F was deemed correct, and the sales evidence supplied at the time was considered to be supportive of the current Band F.

 

They state that the sale in 2000, was not considered, due to being sold in a poor state of repair at the time.

Any idea, I presume you can’t appeal as they didn’t mention that in the letter 🤷‍♀️

Many thanks 

It would appear that an appeal was made in 2006/7 and went to a Tribunal hearing. Because the person who made the appeal failed to attend the hearing and presumably did not ask the Tribunal to hear the appeal in absentia, the Tribunal (quite correctly) dismissed the appeal. The CT band was  investigated and from sales evidence the VOA clearly thought it correct, so in the circumstances would have asked the Tribunal to dismiss the appeal.

I am not sure if you have quoted the email verbatim or the VOA response was slightly vague, but there is a possibility the VOA are referring to an identical dwelling on which there was an appeal rather than an appeal on your home. If there is doubt, I would ask for confirmation that the appeal was on your home.

A previous Tribunal ruling whether dismissal or determination will virtually always result in the VOA automatically rejecting any further request for a band review.

Because a valuation for CT purposes has to assume the dwelling being good repair, any sale of the dwelling at a time when it was in poor repair has to be ignored.

There is no appeals procedure in place and even if there was what could you appeal against?  There is both supporting sales evidence and a VT decision.

Thank you for your time.
I pasted text straight from their letter.

I have proof of the mortgage taken out in 1989 on our property at £80k  (but not how much deposit - but at 13.5% interest rate, from what we know of them, I would doubt they had over £30k as their deposit In 1989, which is what would be needed to make it a Band F). 

We are not  aware of any Tribunal Hearing? How would we go about finding out about this please, as we moved here I n 2006 and would definitely be aware if we were meant to attend a tribunal - unless we didn’t receive it 😱  (Road & Drive with exactly the same name next to each other and deliveries always going to the wrong one 🥺!!!!!)

I’m presuming VOA have copies of all of the exact sale prices and would definitely refer to those registry prices before making a decision?   so it wouldn’t be worth me checking Archives/newspapers for Adverts or prices? 

The 15 houses 300 yards away (same style houses although they have extra bedrooms) are all Band D, so 2 bands lower than ours? 

Many thanks for all of your help. 😉👍

Forget the 1989 mortgage, you don't know how much deposit was involved so it is of no use. 

Forget smaller houses down the road, not comparable.

The VT website allows you to access VT decisions but only those from within the last 6 years, so as I suggested you will have ask the VOA about the VT decision they quoted.

Archived newspaper ads will only give asking prices and at best the street in which the property is situated. The VOA evidence may not have been from your street or even the same estate, but they have details of at least 99.9% of all property transactions.

If there are other houses of exactly the same type as yours in the street or adjoining street check their bands. 

Thank you very much.

the 15 houses quoted were exactly the same Style and probably same builder - they are all dormers and there aren’t many others in our area,  The 15 + at top of our road all have  MORE bedrooms than ours, but overall footprint in m2 are probably the same. They are Band D and link detached like ours, but theirs have tandem garages and ours have standard double garage.

I will email them and ask about VT. Is it possible to request from Land Registry for price our property sold for? I’m sure it’s unlikely, but would reassure me that we were in correct band either way then even if they charge for this service 😉👍

thanks a million for all of your help 😉👍

My apologies, I misread your previous post (old age!)

It is not the footprint that matters but total size, i.e. both floors added together, however these houses have more bedrooms but tandem garages (which would be less valuable than a double garage). What about number of bathrooms? Do you know the exact difference in layout between the 2 house types? Were there any sales of these around the time you bought yours?

Thank you 👍

yes the footprints added together are the same, for a few different house, in fact a few may be slightly bigger as they have 4 upstairs bedrooms, so have a bigger m2 upstairs, but are very similar if not bigger than ours.
They all  have bathroom upstairs and one downstairs, but one of the ones I’m comparing has A  bathroom and en-suite upstairs and is 2 bands lower. That one sold 9 months before ours for 6k less than we paid for ours.

Does garage space need to be included, as that will equalise it?

lincroft1710

MrsB124 said:

lincroft1710 said:

MrsB124 said:

lincroft1710 said:

MrsB124 said:

lincroft1710 said:

MrsB124 said:

I have received a copy of the response by email today, which was not changed for the reasons below. But we did not challenge this in 2007,we moved in there in  2006???? So not sure what the message about 2007 or 2000 means either as the previous owners bought it in 1989 - I know they had a mortgage for £80000 but no idea what their deposit would have been 🤷‍♀️.......,.....

2007, a case was dismissed by the Valuation Tribunal, due to want of prosecution. The Band F was deemed correct, and the sales evidence supplied at the time was considered to be supportive of the current Band F.

 

They state that the sale in 2000, was not considered, due to being sold in a poor state of repair at the time.

Any idea, I presume you can’t appeal as they didn’t mention that in the letter 🤷‍♀️

Many thanks 

It would appear that an appeal was made in 2006/7 and went to a Tribunal hearing. Because the person who made the appeal failed to attend the hearing and presumably did not ask the Tribunal to hear the appeal in absentia, the Tribunal (quite correctly) dismissed the appeal. The CT band was  investigated and from sales evidence the VOA clearly thought it correct, so in the circumstances would have asked the Tribunal to dismiss the appeal.

I am not sure if you have quoted the email verbatim or the VOA response was slightly vague, but there is a possibility the VOA are referring to an identical dwelling on which there was an appeal rather than an appeal on your home. If there is doubt, I would ask for confirmation that the appeal was on your home.

A previous Tribunal ruling whether dismissal or determination will virtually always result in the VOA automatically rejecting any further request for a band review.

Because a valuation for CT purposes has to assume the dwelling being good repair, any sale of the dwelling at a time when it was in poor repair has to be ignored.

There is no appeals procedure in place and even if there was what could you appeal against?  There is both supporting sales evidence and a VT decision.

Thank you for your time.
I pasted text straight from their letter.

I have proof of the mortgage taken out in 1989 on our property at £80k  (but not how much deposit - but at 13.5% interest rate, from what we know of them, I would doubt they had over £30k as their deposit In 1989, which is what would be needed to make it a Band F). 

We are not  aware of any Tribunal Hearing? How would we go about finding out about this please, as we moved here I n 2006 and would definitely be aware if we were meant to attend a tribunal - unless we didn’t receive it 😱  (Road & Drive with exactly the same name next to each other and deliveries always going to the wrong one 🥺!!!!!)

I’m presuming VOA have copies of all of the exact sale prices and would definitely refer to those registry prices before making a decision?   so it wouldn’t be worth me checking Archives/newspapers for Adverts or prices? 

The 15 houses 300 yards away (same style houses although they have extra bedrooms) are all Band D, so 2 bands lower than ours? 

Many thanks for all of your help. 😉👍

Forget the 1989 mortgage, you don't know how much deposit was involved so it is of no use. 

Forget smaller houses down the road, not comparable.

The VT website allows you to access VT decisions but only those from within the last 6 years, so as I suggested you will have ask the VOA about the VT decision they quoted.

Archived newspaper ads will only give asking prices and at best the street in which the property is situated. The VOA evidence may not have been from your street or even the same estate, but they have details of at least 99.9% of all property transactions.

If there are other houses of exactly the same type as yours in the street or adjoining street check their bands. 

Thank you very much.

the 15 houses quoted were exactly the same Style and probably same builder - they are all dormers and there aren’t many others in our area,  The 15 + at top of our road all have  MORE bedrooms than ours, but overall footprint in m2 are probably the same. They are Band D and link detached like ours, but theirs have tandem garages and ours have standard double garage.

I will email them and ask about VT. Is it possible to request from Land Registry for price our property sold for? I’m sure it’s unlikely, but would reassure me that we were in correct band either way then even if they charge for this service 😉👍

thanks a million for all of your help 😉👍

My apologies, I misread your previous post (old age!)

It is not the footprint that matters but total size, i.e. both floors added together, however these houses have more bedrooms but tandem garages (which would be less valuable than a double garage). What about number of bathrooms? Do you know the exact difference in layout between the 2 house types? Were there any sales of these around the time you bought yours?

Thank you 👍

yes the footprints added together are the same, for a few different house, in fact a few may be slightly bigger as they have 4 upstairs bedrooms, so have a bigger m2 upstairs, but are very similar if not bigger than ours.
They all  have bathroom upstairs and one downstairs, but one of the ones I’m comparing has A  bathroom and en-suite upstairs and is 2 bands lower. That one sold 9 months before ours for 6k less than we paid for ours.

Does garage space need to be included, as that will equalise it?

Garage size should not be included.

What is the accommodation of your home?

As an observation the Band D houses appear to be underbanded, can you give the actual date and price the one with en suite sold for please.