Council Tax Rebanding - Tribunal Upcoming

cfhussain

Hello

I am seeking advice on whether i should challenge a decision on my revaluation bid. I received a letter from the person who inspected the property, and they do not believe my council tax should be revalued. However a tribunal was set up in advance of this decision, and i can challenge this outcome on January 26th. A local solicitors offered some ideas of how i can challenge this decision: gather evidence on other similar flats in the area for example. The only reason given in the letter i received is that of the 5 flats in this property, 3 are in council tax band B (including mine) and 2 are in council tax band C. I would not want to inadvertently increase CT for myself and for the other 2 flats, and i wary of that possibility. I challenged the band initially because a relative lives in a flat which is larger, in a better location, and is in CTB A. I certainly would not want to increase her bills either!

The potential saving for my flat would be 150£ pa, and if i were successful i would advise other dwellers to do challenge their bands, particularly those in band C.

Is it worth challenging this decision? Can i succeed in a Tribunal? I think i can argue any case when i know enough about it, but i have no database of bands in the area, and i am cautious about seeking information locally on bands.

lincroft1710

Are the Band C flats the same as yours? If they are, there is a possibly your flat could be underassessed or alternatively the others overassessed

The CT band of the relative's flat seems too low.

You can find the CT band of other flats online.

vivatifosi

The issue is not whether your relative is in a flat that is in a nicer area and larger and a band A. The issue is whether the flat that you think is worth more was worth more at the time that the council tax band was introduced. In other words, you would need to know what each flat was worth in 1991. I appreciate that a lot of flats have been built since then, but that's how the system works. So if your flat and/or the other flat wasn't built then, you need to work out what they would have been worth.

If all of the five flats in your building are a similar size, eg yours are not two bed and the others three, that would suggest to me that the VOA think that your property sits at the higher end of Band B and therefore at the cusp with Band C and this is the reason that the properties are mixed bands. This will be less of an issue if they are different sizes or have different features, but yes, being upped a grade is a potential risk. And if they do that to you, they will probably do it to the other flats.