Council Tax Re-banding - Help!

Halite

The other day my mother filled in a council tax re-banding request as we both discovered that a few neighbours had successfully appealed against their own banding and were reduced from band G to band F. The area which we live in is a mews development, so all houses are pretty identical, give or take a few on the end with an extra bedroom or two. We live in the smaller one of these houses and have one less bedroom than most other houses in this development, so we thought that we had a pretty good chance at getting our band re-evaluated.

This morning though we got an invalidity notice through the door claiming that our reason was not valid. Mum said that the reason for re-assessment she put on the letter was that other houses in our development had successfully had their banding re-assessed (and actually gave the house numbers of these houses). The notice stated that the house numbers mum gave in the letter had not had their council tax re-banded (even though on the directgov website it states that they have been re-banded) and that we weren't able to make a proposal on these grounds. Additionally, we were sent a leaflet saying that claims such as the one my mother made could only be made if our neighbours have had their tax re-banded in the past 6 months (which I believe it's been more than 6 months now).

So, at the moment we are both a bit stuck for ideas. We could appeal against this, saying that other neighbours have had their band reduced, but they could turn around and state the 6 month thing. At this point we're thinking about putting in a new re-assessment request but are a bit stuck for reasons for re-assessment (since our main point was the neighbours). If anyone has any advice they can give on council tax re-banding it would be very much appreciated - thanks!

lincroft1710

If your mother made an online appeal against the CT band, then if she has lived in the house longer than 6 months or the properties she quoted did not have their bands reduced by a decision of a Valuation Tribunal within the past 6 months, then the appeal is invalid.

There is nothing you can do to get round the time limits, these are crucial in determining the validity of an appeal.

She should forget this appeal and either write, phone or e-mail VOA asking them to review her band in light of the band reductions of the neighbours.

This may sound like a lot of red tape. It is. But CT law is specific on when appeals can be made and much time is wasted disputing validity of appeals, when the time should be spent getting the band correct.

Halite

Thank you so much for this, definitely cleared up a lot of confusion we both had! We made the request through the post so we'll post a new one asking for a review. Thank you again for your advice