Council Tax Rebanding SUCCESS stories

carolann1977

Our council tax refund went right back to when we were rebanded so this was many years

carolann1977

chutchinson wrote: »

Trafford Council
Currently Band F

I have been told that my appeal to the valuation officer has been rejected and I have no right of appeal to the Independent Tribunal as my "proposal to alter the valuation list" is not valid. Anyone had this before ?

Thank you.

We were told that but the council decided to pay up in the end so keep pushing

maffs

Hi Guys,
I was successful in claiming my band E house was actually a band D. Wales then revalued (legal robbery) and i ended up paying the band E price again . Some tips though.

1. Look for houses in your area for similar size etc and then use voa revaluation website.
to see if they are payingless council tax due to their banding than you.
2. Telephone your local office and speak to someone - get there name, state a rapport tell them your intention and gleam some info from them.
3. Sounds weird but dont use the word, 'APPEAL' in your correspondence. If you do so, it'll generate a cycle of paperwork and obvious delay. Write to the revaluation office and ask them to 'investigate' whether you are paying too much, citing the evidence that you have gathered using the voa website.

It goes without saying that a good rapport with a revaluation officer (who may come out to visit you) will go a long way to helping you save some money.

Best of luck

Chris

Shanker

My wife and I own a flat that we rented for 18 months because we couldn't sell it. We never really wanted to be landlords, it was a holiday home and then we actually moved into the area with the intention of selling it but of course the market went tits up!

We were rebanded, (well before England), and went from Band A to Band C, (do not pass GO and do not collect £200!).

We appealed and were successful. The person who did the re-evaluation admitted that he only sat outside and summarily compared it with everywhere else.

We are now Band B.

We are still trying to sell and there isn't a stick of furniture in there. Thing is the greedy Conwy Council still demand we pay full Council Tax. So we live in the area, within half a mile of the flat and we are paying two lots of CT although we barely require any of the services we are paying for on the flat.

How do we get out of that?

I suppose the best way is to become an MP!

hss

EPPING FOREST/ESSEX

We live in a 2bed mid-terrace property in Loughton Essex. A basic house, not extended and band D. However it would appear all houses in this location, even extended, are all in band D. I challenged them the first time, they quoted 1991 and refused to reband and refund.
I contacted them again and someone did a home visit, he seemed to agree with my opinion and I felt hopeful, yet again he wrote quoting 1991 and turned the appeal down.
I phoned him up and he told me I could write to his team leader. When I queried I didn't think I could appeal he told me it was asking for another opinion.
So I wrote to the person concerned explaining what I was told to write, the letter got passed back to the first person and again it was turned down.
It would appear that as long as you continue to live in your property, you can extend as much as you like and it's not until you sell that the band will change.
On top of that, out eldest son has a learning disability and still lives at home with us. I was told I might get the council tax reduced because of this but as you can guess, it is means tested and other conditions resulting in us not even bothering to apply.

How unfair is this? I think because Loughton is in some people's mind an 'affluent area', they think people who can afford to live there can afford to pay whatever the council tax is. We are not a well-off family.

Also you would think by reducing the banding would help the housing market?

Any comments please?

elrick

Not only did we succeed in getting the band corrected from G down to F - we just got a cheque for £3000 for overpaid Council Tax over the last 16 years:beer:

lincroft1710

hss - can only assume that Valuation Office Agency has evidence that in 91 basic 2 bed houses like yours sold for more than £68,000 (Band D min). Some extensions would not affect band, and if current owner has carried extensions after 1 Apr 93, band cannot be increased because of this.

The reduction on account of disability is something that council deal with, it will not entail a band reduction. Your son may not be eligible but try this link : www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/FinancialSupport

I'd doubt if lower council tax bands would help housing market, in any case it would mean much higher amount to pay per band.

lincroft1710

mr-tom - it would depend on reason for reduction. Check effective date of reduced band on Valuation Office Agency website. Whatever that date is then any overpayment of council tax from that date should be refunded.

If there has been a recent change in locality which would reduce property value e.g. new motorway right outside back door, then effective date of reduction would probably be sometime this year, so council would reduce amount required for 2009/10 bill.

I would check personally with council if the above is not the case.

DubDriver

chutchinson wrote: »

Trafford Council
Currently Band F

I have been told that my appeal to the valuation officer has been rejected and I have no right of appeal to the Independent Tribunal as my "proposal to alter the valuation list" is not valid. Anyone had this before ?

Thank you.

There are two roads you can take to get the VOA to check your banding:
1) Make a "proposal"
2) Ask for "a review"

1) A proposal (know also as an appeal) can only be made if you fit into one of the reasons listed on the VOA's website under the section > Council Tax > Who can appeal*

If any of them do apply then your proposal will be valid and the VOA will have to check your band.

If they will not change your band you the additional right to take it to the independent tribunal.

If none of the reasons listed apply to you then your proposal is invalid.
(This sounds like what has happened to you).
Next you would have to disagree that their decision that your appeal is invalid is wrong. As the list* of reasons why one can make an appeal are clear then you'd be waisting your time!

2) The VOA normally automatically offer callers who can not make a proposal the other alternative know as "a review". You should call them and explain that you would like a council tax banding review and give the reasons why you think you are in the wrong band. i.e Don't mention the words "appeal" or "proposal"!

The important difference between "a review" and "a proposal" is that the latter gives you additional rights in that you can take the VOA's decision not to reband you to the independent tribunal. Where as "a review" means that if the VOA will not change your band then there is nothing more you can do. However as we have seen a large majority of success stories have been dealt with under a "review" rather than "proposal" and where there is a genuine error the VOA have been happy to correct it.

HMS-Imlovingit

I moved into my house in Nov 2003. It is a band D but the others around are a band c. Mine is a large 5 bed corner terrace so wondered if that was the reason? They all have have 5 beds but mine is a bit bigger