Reclaiming Council Tax

Donnam88

I'm trying to reclaim any possible Coucil Tax and received the following letter from Gosport Council:




Thank you for your email received on 15 April 2013. Acouncil tax band is based on the amount that a property might have fetched ifit had been sold on the open market on 1 April 1991. The above property is inband B, which means that we believe that value of the property would have beenbetween £40,001 and £52,000 in 1991. This is the date of valuation applied toall properties for council tax purposes, even if the property hadn't been builtat the time. This common date is used to ensure that every property is treatedin the same way, giving a fair and consistent approach for everyone. Also forconsistency, all properties are assumed to be sold with vacant possession andfreehold (other than flats where a 99 year lease at a nominal rent is assumed).

According to our records, any terraced houses in the roadthat are in band A are 17-42 square metres smaller than your own property. Theband on your property is in line with similar sized and even some slightlysmaller terraced house in the road.

If you are still unsatisfied with your band and wish forus to undertake a review, you will need to supply us with full and specific reasonwhy you believe the current band is wrong.

The evidence that I expect would include the following:

*



Information specific to the property, being direct andsubstantial evidence that an error may have been made when carrying out theoriginal banding.

* Salesevidence in the locality, very close to the 1st April 1991, which suggests thatthe property might be incorrectly banded.

* Evidencethat identical or very similar properties in the locality are in a differentband, inconsistent with the subject property.



On receipt of your full and specific reasons we willinitiate a review. Once the review hasbeen completed we will notify you of our decision in writing. I would normally expect this to be withineight weeks of you providing the additional details requested.
Does anyone have any websites i can find out the value of my house for 1991? I've just completed a "nationwide" vaulation and it says the property would have been £540 less than the banding the council have said would put me in the band Im in.

Any help / advice please ?

CIS

You have put that the letter is from Gosport Council - the council don't deal with banding, that is solely the preserve of the valuation office agency (VOA).

If it's the council you have been dealing with you need to start dealing directly with the VOA instead.

Donnam88

Sorry this is from VOA

lincroft1710

House price indices such as Nationwide and Halifax tend to be inaccurate, often as much as 10% and usually value below actual 1991 prices. £540 is quite a small percentage of £40,000 and I've rarely seen houses selling for £39,460.

There are no websites which would give a 100% accurate valuation of your house in 1991.