Council Tax Appeal - Going to Tribunal

missy321

Hi, I appealed against my council tax band back in feb, I received various correspondence regarding this & yesterday received a letter saying its going to tribunal in july & I can attend if I wish.

Has any1 every been to a tribunal - if so what will it be?

Thanks

busiscoming2

I have had the same thing, i'm a bit worried cause it says the tribunal is only to determine whether the right to appeal was valid and does not deal with re banding!

AnnieO_2

Don't worry. Although you are now on the waiting list for a tribunal, the VOA will still be looking at your case, and you'll probably get a result before the tribunal date. (Yes, the tribunal is only about your right to appeal!)
We first appealed in December, were told about the tribunal in February, had a successful rebanding result in May, and last week were sent notice of the tribunal, which was due to take place on July 13th. I rang the Tribunal Service and they have crossed us off the list,

Keep going with letters and phone calls to the VOA to check the progress of your case. Don't worry, but don't give up! Let them know you haven't gone away!

moonrakerz

I had a Tribunal date, but the VOA came back to me before that date and admitted to "a clerical error" in my original valuation.
This appears to be quite common.

missy321

Hope they come back to me before the tribunal, my house is a 3 bed semi but the 2nd bedroom will only fit a single bed in & the 3rd is slightly bigger than a box rm but wont fit single bed in, so on my application I wrote that its a 2 bed really due to the above.

There are only 2 3 bed semi's on our estate both band C, apartments that range from 1-3 bed all band a and 4 bed townhouses band d.

Hope im right!

vivatifosi

Hi Missy,

Are you going to a full tribunal because you appealed within six months of moving or because of a material change in your home that will affect its value? There is a different type of tribunal that deals with people who do not meet these criteria. If you fall in the first group this may be of use to you..

I went to tribunal regarding a house that at the time of my initial appeal I had owned for less than six months. The VOA was always of the opinion that I did not have a case as a previous tribunal had established that a house the same as mine was banded correctly. I do not yet know the outcome but I felt happy with the way that the tribunal went and that I got a fair hearing. In my case there are houses the same as mine both in my higher band and in the lower band, and the lower band ones cost more than mine.

It would be good if the VOA does decide not to fight you, however if it does my advice would be to prepare your case anyway, that way you are prepared. If you do go to tribunal, you can ask the VOA for a copy of the evidence that they will use against you and get from them the equivalent sales data for the houses that you want to use against them. I would check out what the situation would be if you choose not to attend as I was told that if I did not attend I would be regarded as not putting my case forward and the view of the VOA would be accepted by default. I do understand though that you can submit written evidence in advance and in lieu of attending.

If you do go, the panel members do what they can to calm your nerves and make what is clearly a formal situation as comfortable as possible. The tribunal will probably last upwards of 40 minutes. The VTS has a DVD that you can borrow which explains what to expect.

The people in the room will be the Clerk from the VTS, who helps with information to the tribunal panel but is not part of the actual decision making process, three panel members and the VOA listings officer. Members of the public can also go and sit in on tribunals if they want to as they are open meetings, but nobody came to mine (thank goodness). Check what copies you need to take with you as I needed to put together files for each of those five people.

The appellant has the right to decide who goes first in the tribunal. I was advised to ask the VOA to go first. That way you can hear their evidence and then counter it with yours. The format basically is:

1. Panel welcome you and introduce themselves.
2. First person (eg VOA) puts forward their evidence.
3. The other party and the panel ask any questions that they may have about that evidence.
4. The second person (eg you) puts forward their evidence.
5. The other party and the panel asks any questions that they may have.
6. The first party sums up. In the summing up they are not allowed to introduce any new evidence that has not already been introduced, so make sure that before you finish your evidence giving, you have included all of your main points.
7. The other party sums up.
8. The panel sums up - generally to say that they are adjourning to consider the evidence though I have heard that sometimes they will give a judgement there and then. If the Listings Officer stays in the room it is because there are other cases for them. The panel is independent of the VOA and the listing officer cannot influence them except in their evidence above.
9. You have a written response from the panel within 21 days informing you of the outcome.

Hope this is helpful Missy, good luck!