time barred from council tax rebranding claim

puzzled12

my sister has a problem with her council tax band. she followed the steps & went to a kind of tribunal where there were another 2 claimants with totally seperate problems yet the council lawyer/representative just read from some document stating paragraphs, telling the 3 diff claimants that they were all time barred from claiming. ( my sisters case is from the outset in 1991 but she has only recently found out that she is sure she is in the wrong higher band) if the council can tell people they are time barred how can anyone make a succesful claim?

p00hsticks

I believe that officially you have six months from when you move into a property to dispute the banding with the VOA.

How long has your sister been in the property ?

Presumably she went through the process described here

https://www.gov.uk/challenge-council-tax-band

puzzled12

she has been in property for abt 30 yrs, but only recently discovered banding prob. her street has 2 types of housing, terraced, semi detached & detached. Her's is semi detached but has discovered she is banded with the pricier detached houses. i have read abt succesful claims going back yrs so dont know why she would be time barred. she had citizens advice & a local councillor jelp her complete forms so i expect they would have been the correct ones

lincroft1710

As p00hsticks posted there is a 6 month time limit on when an appeal against a CT band can be made. Presuming that your sister lives in England or Wales then it will be the VOA who deal with CT banding not the council (in Scotland it is the Assessor).

Usually if an out of time appeal is made and it goes to Tribunal, the Tribunal will suggest to the VOA that the CT band is investigated. In any event your sister can ask that the band be investigated, but VOA's decision cannot be formally appealed.

Finally because of the band widths and there being only 8 bands, there will be a lot of different properties in the same band, so her band may in fact be correct

puzzled12

it is in scotland so i think it may have been the tribunal she was at where the council lawyer/rep seemed to be telling all applicants they were time barred. the reason she is sure that she is in wrong band is that she is the only 1 in a terraced or semi detached who has been placed in the same band as the detached homes, (and it is no bigger). she also paid abt 3000 more than house was valued at in 1991, & that was still 5000 below her going into higher band. at the tribunal i think there were 3 independant lay people who would make decision, but with the council lawyer/rep saying they were time barred, there seems no way they could decide in her favour

CIS

puzzled12 said:

it is in scotland so i think it may have been the tribunal she was at where the council lawyer/rep seemed to be telling all applicants they were time barred. the reason she is sure that she is in wrong band is that she is the only 1 in a terraced or semi detached who has been placed in the same band as the detached homes, (and it is no bigger). she also paid abt 3000 more than house was valued at in 1991, & that was still 5000 below her going into higher band. at the tribunal i think there were 3 independant lay people who would make decision, but with the council lawyer/rep saying they were time barred, there seems no way they could decide in her favour

If the Scottish Assessor believed that all the cases where outside of the statutory time limit then the same legislation would be quoted in respect of that, this is why they would have given the same outline argument to the Valuation Appeals Committee. If the point of appeal was outside of the legal time frame then, unfortunately, it's outside of the Valuation Appeals Committee's legal remit and they could not consider the appeal further as they have no powers to do so.

puzzled12

to CIS,

thanks very much for your info. i believe she intends to contact her MSP once more for his advice as apparently he has dealt with these matters before. i also asked her to request the legislation that time bars her if she has not received it. ive no knowledge of law, but think common sense would dictate that if the council continue to charge her at higher band, when information has been provided to show that it is wrong, then they could be on shaky legal ground as they could knowingly be breaking the law.

lincroft1710

The legislation is in the 1992 Local Government Finance Act and the time limits for appeals are clearly stated and are well known by Tribunals. The MSP has no power to override legislation.

Councils are legally obliged to charge on the band shown shown in the Valuation Roll. They are not "on shaky ground" nor "knowingly breaking the law" by doing so. If information has bee provided to the Assessor that suggests the band may be incorrect then he/she will consider this and if they agree the band should be reduced, this will be done and the council duly informed. However if the house was not bought in or around April 1991, her purchase price may not be good evidence to support her case.

puzzled12

thank you lincroft. that is what i mean that the assessor may have been provided with information, but will check with sis to get exact details, including when they purchased house as i got the impression that it was near to apr 91. i think it may have been a " 2nd gear driveby" or possibly an admin error that has led to her being the only semi detached of same size in street being placed in the higher banding. the msp was only being contacted for advice as supposedly he has experience in council tax claims.

lincroft1710

puzzled12 said:

 the msp was only being contacted for advice as supposedly he has experience in council tax claims.

If MSPs are anything like the English MPs I've dealt with, then they won't have a clue!!