Council Tax Rebanding SUCCESS stories

lincroft1710

Theresec said:

Hi, I’m looking for a bit of advice really please. Our house is unique and unfortunately there is no other style of our house in my area to compare against.  There are only 5 detached houses on my road all different sizes/styles and all a lot bigger than our house and all the rest of the houses are either semi-detached or terrace houses which are also a lot bigger than ours.  Looking at the Council tax bandings there are a number of houses on our road which have been rebanded from E to D and these house are all bigger in size than ours. Would it be worth me applying to the VOA for a reband to band D or just leave it?

If the houses which have been re-banded to D are detached, it would be worth asking the VOA for a review. Your home's uniqueness may be the reason it is Band E. Because the top of Band E is 36% higher than the bottom, it may explain why larger houses are in the same band.

carronw1

I bought my property in September 2021. In January this year I received a letter stating my council tax is changing from band A to a band B. I live on a terrace and all my neighbours apart from 1 are all in band A. This house does have a loft conversion but its built to non regs so not classed as a room. Could they use this as a reason why they've put it up and can they do it 16 months after we completed . If it was the other way around I only have 6 months.

I called valuation office and they said it could be that it's valued more because it was decorated nice which I admit I laughed at and replied thats rubbish as not everyone like it lol.

Has anyone heard of them cha going after 16 month.

I have appealed on 22nd January but have not heard anything at all yet. States on email 28 days 

lincroft1710

carronw1 said:

I bought my property in September 2021. In January this year I received a letter stating my council tax is changing from band A to a band B. I live on a terrace and all my neighbours apart from 1 are all in band A. This house does have a loft conversion but its built to non regs so not classed as a room. Could they use this as a reason why they've put it up and can they do it 16 months after we completed . If it was the other way around I only have 6 months.

I called valuation office and they said it could be that it's valued more because it was decorated nice which I admit I laughed at and replied thats rubbish as not everyone like it lol.

Has anyone heard of them cha going after 16 month.

I have appealed on 22nd January but have not heard anything at all yet. States on email 28 days 

Even if the loft room is not built to Building Regs, it would still make your home worth more than one without a loft conversion and if the basic house's value was right at the top of Band A, it wouldn't take much to push it into Band B


A CT band can be increased at any time, there are no time limits. I would contact the VOA and check they have definitely received your appeal

cook_mandy

After checking all the markers, M Lewis suggests, our house should be a D and not E. We have a 4 bed detached. We were quiet under the 1991 valuation by £7,500 [£81,612]  but I can only find 2 houses in my entire road that come close to my house now. The council are demanding I find five! We are in a totally mixed road, you name it, it's in our road.  Nearly all the 3 bed  D's are so much bigger than ours due to extensions and no new tax reviews due to them not moving. The 2 closest matches to our houses that are 4 bedroom  D's have no extensions  but I believe were built AFTER ours. Is being built after our house better or worse? I am also a little worried our house might be pushing the limits due to adding a conservatory and turning the integral garage into utility and shower room. Do these modifications make much of a difference?  It does concern me an appeal might also tip the two matching D's up a notch to an E. But compared to the three E's in my road they are worth a lot more than our house and considerably bigger. Is it worth appealing or too close to call and is that fact we have lived her for 19 years made us way too late. Thank you for any help 

lincroft1710

cook_mandy said:

After checking all the markers, M Lewis suggests, our house should be a D and not E. We have a 4 bed detached. We were quiet under the 1991 valuation by £7,500 [£81,612]  but I can only find 2 houses in my entire road that come close to my house now. The council are demanding I find five! We are in a totally mixed road, you name it, it's in our road.  Nearly all the 3 bed  D's are so much bigger than ours due to extensions and no new tax reviews due to them not moving. The 2 closest matches to our houses that are 4 bedroom  D's have no extensions  but I believe were built AFTER ours. Is being built after our house better or worse? I am also a little worried our house might be pushing the limits due to adding a conservatory and turning the integral garage into utility and shower room. Do these modifications make much of a difference?  It does concern me an appeal might also tip the two matching D's up a notch to an E. But compared to the three E's in my road they are worth a lot more than our house and considerably bigger. Is it worth appealing or too close to call and is that fact we have lived her for 19 years made us way too late. Thank you for any help 

House price indices are inaccurate and the Valuation Office Agency (who deal with CT, not the council) will not entertain them as evidence. 


 Is being built after our house better or worse? Better or worse than what? An impossible question to answer, it will depend on the individual houses.


Do these modifications make much of a difference? Again it depends, an extra shower room can be very desirable as can a utility room and a well built quality conservatory. Both shower and utility will increase the size of your house.


It is to be expected that with a band width of £32,000, you will have many larger houses in the same band.


Try looking in another nearby roads, but unless you can come up with some more similar size 4 bed Band Ds, I think you would  get a "computer says no" type response from the VOA.

Srsmith1

As the VOA uses size of property as well as 1991 values. Can anyone tell me the size of property's in each band please.

lincroft1710

Srsmith1 said:

As the VOA uses size of property as well as 1991 values. Can anyone tell me the size of property's in each band please.

CT bands are based on 1991 values and the VOA will compare not only on size but also on location, age and type of dwelling, so there is no answer to your question


As you had already correctly asked the same question in your own thread, there was no need to duplicate it here. Not only is this frowned upon, but this section of the board is for CT payers to report successes in getting their CT bands reduced

Interested2023

Local Borough Council:   Watford
Council Tax Band Before:   F
Council Tax Band After:   E
Amount refunded:  £5850
Annual saving going forward: £350

I followed all the suggestions from MSE and VOA, and got my reband confirmed within two months of submission. Revised band was backdated to 1993 and I moved in in 1999 so 24 years of overpayment, which was automatically refunded and transferred back to me without needing to do anything within a couple of days of receiving the confirmation.

JJJKaty1973

Hi all, 
my council tax band was changed from a B to an A back in 2019, I have lived in the property since 2012, I spoke to my neighbour recently and she explained that she had been refunded her overpaid council tax. I have subsequently contacted the council tax office regarding my possible overpaid CT and they have replied No and they will not refund backdated council tax which I have overpaid for 6 years. Has anybody else had a similar experience? Is it worth escalating it to the complainants level? 

Thank you 🙏  

lincroft1710

JJJKaty1973 said:

Hi all, 
my council tax band was changed from a B to an A back in 2019, I have lived in the property since 2012, I spoke to my neighbour recently and she explained that she had been refunded her overpaid council tax. I have subsequently contacted the council tax office regarding my possible overpaid CT and they have replied No and they will not refund backdated council tax which I have overpaid for 6 years. Has anybody else had a similar experience? Is it worth escalating it to the complainants level? 

Thank you 🙏  

First check the effective date of the rebanding by looking at https://www.gov.uk/council-tax-bands 


If the effective date is sometime in 2019, then the council cannot make any refund on any CT payment prior to that date. If the effective date is prior to 2019, then you need to further enquire of the council why they will not refund you the overpayment and if you are not satisfied with their reply, you should consider making an official complaint. It may help to get your local councillor on board, especially as there are many council elections next month.