Council tax banding

Purlain

Kuga247 said:

Bullying sounds about right they only give you information that they think is correct I have found numerous similar properties to mine but they have a answer to the reasons for their tax bands ie under review/smaller ??? My tribunal is in May it’s been over a year lost count of case worker who have looked into my banding ?Spoke to a couple of people who went to tribunal both with very positive cases their properties where smaller to neighbouring properties but in higher banding yet they lost the day ,

Yes, some people lost and some won. I guess tribunal is the last resort, the good thing is it is completely free to go to the hearing, no legal costs to pay even if we lose, so definitely worth a try, if lost, then at least tried, no regrets 

Kuga247

Did you go to tribunal 

Purlain

Kuga247 said:

Did you go to tribunal 

Hearing has been booked for end of May so just preparing by gathering all the evidence and learning from other people's experience. 

Purlain

ProDave said:

Kuga247 said:

Has anyone actually got to a tribunal and won the day with council banding change would get grateful to hear thanks 

A lot of councils don't actually want to go to the tribunal.  Mine phoned me the day before the tribunal and offered a lower band thus avoiding the need to go to the tribunal.  It was like they were testing how serious I was.

it is really encouraging to hear that. I hope you are right they were just testing how serious people are and would back down if the appeal goes to the tribunal. My tribunal hearing has been booked for end of May, fingers crossed I will also get a call from them one day before the hearing to offer a lower band. 

Purlain

lincroft1710 said:

Kuga247 said:

Thanks for that I have used it and I will put it in my bundle for the tribunal I am submitting 5 comparable bungalows which where lowered in the 1990s and five which are in my present band but a lot bigger I am at a loss why previous owner’s didn’t dispute banding when it was set in 1991/1993 there must be thousands who haven’t 

When I was in the VOA and started dealing with CT appeals in 1993, I calculated only 8% had bothered to appeal in the areas our office dealt with.

Great to have someone from VOA sharing the inside information
Does this mean when VOA reject the challenge, it is just a bluff from them knowing most of the people won't bother to appeal?

Purlain

JIL said:

I had a similar experience in that I appealed the banding to our house on the week we got the keys. There isnt a similar design house to ours in the neighbourhood but I looked up what others were banded at. It seemed very straightforward to me that our house was incorrectly in the higher bracket. 
My appeal was based on the valuation in 1991 and theres a calculator on this site that helped. I also compared it to similar sized properties and listed them, as well as the higher band properties listing them. Pointing out the differences, as to why my house should have always been in the lower banding.

My appeal was turned down, however I then took it to the tribunal stage, this time I used floor plans of other properties and similar sold prices.
The week before the tribunal hearing I was emailed to say they had looked again at my appeal and agreed with me. So I accepted and the banding was reduced.

Although its £200 per year, it was also about fairness to me.  My neighbours property is a three bedroom detached with a garage, although a different design to my home, its basically similar and was a lower banding. My other neighbour was in the same higher banding with a much bigger garden a corner plot and an additional bedroom.

Really not sure why the previous late owners accepted the banding.

Glad to hear you have successfully appealed wrong banding.
To be honest, I think the floor plan has nothing to do with final outcome. Surely, VOA must have the floor plans in their database to assess all the properties. I have a feeling they initially just reject any challenge without even looking at the evidence. Only if the case was taken to tribunal, they then start looking at the evidence properly and realised that the band was wrong, but then as someone said in this thread, only 8% of the cases eventually went to tribunal, so it is a good strategy by VOA to save their workload by giving a rejection without even doing any proper investigation.  

Purlain

lincroft1710 said:

ProDave said:

Kuga247 said:

It’s not actually the council who set the banding it’s VOA the council just take our money you sure it was the council who phoned?

It was the person that was dealing with the appeal, it may have been  the VOA but what does it matter?  You appeal your banding, they make you sweat and when it looked like you were going to actually attend the appeal hearing they gave in and offered a lower banding.

Short sightedness on the part of the VOA caseworker (or Assessor if in Scotland). They should have decided if the band could be reduced before sending any evidence out, would have saved them a lot of time and trouble.

Does this mean if VOA does not send me the evidence by the deadline of 6 weeks prior to the hearing date, it is very likely that they have already decided to give in and drop the band? 

p00hsticks

Purlain said:

lincroft1710 said:

Purlain said:

JIL said:

I used right move or zoopla, which had sold prices on it and also current properties for sale which had floor plans and council tax banding.

I'm not sure why you are having trouble with links, the link I provided earlier has links on it to every thing you need to know.

Read all this.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/council-tax-bands-change

Hi, it is so encouraging to see so many people here taking the challenge to the tribunal and successfully have the band lowered even before the hearing taking place. I have my remote hearing booked in May 2022.
My house used to have a garage to the side. Before the original valuation in 1990s, the garage was converted to a two storey house by the previous owner. Hence, it was valued as the highest among all the properties on the same street and put in Band E. However the garage-converted house was then completely separated from the main house on land registry and subsequently sold as a single bedroom house by the previous owner. This single bedroom house has since been paying its own council tax in Band C and rented out. In 2010, I bought the main house without the garage-converted house for the price of £250k. However, the main house I bought still remains in the same band E despite the fact it is now actually one of the smallest and lowest valued properties on the same street due to the garage-converted house split from the main house. Not only the main house has become smaller compared to the other similar properties, it has also suffered loss of privacy because the garage-converted house has its back door opening to the main house's garden. Due to these facts, the local estate agents all agreed that my house is valued at least 15 to 20% less than the similar properties. Shockingly, it remains in the highest band among all the properties on the same street. In fact, nearly 80% of the properties on this street are in the lower band D. I appealed to the valuation office last year thinking my case was so straightforward but only for them to decline and insist that they had to stick to the valuation done in 1990s. 
I am now hoping to receive a call from them to offer to drop it to band D before the hearing date. I wonder if it is a bullying strategy by VOA to reject all the appeals even there is sufficient evidence to lower the band expecting most of the people wouldn't have the energy or knowledge to take it to the tribunal.  

If you bought the house 11 years ago, how were you able to make a valid appeal? 


I don't know if "bullying" is the right term. They may actually have evidence to support their belief Band E is correct. But it could be a generic rejection letter sent because they have had no time to investigate or as you  imply because they hope some CT payers will decide the matter is not worth pursuing. 

Does it matter how long ago the house was purchased?

I belevie you only have an automatic right to a review within six months of starting to pay council tax on the property, After that you need to provide evidence of why you believe the banding to be wrong, unless there's been a major change to either the property or the immediate vicinity.

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

lincroft1710

Purlain said:

lincroft1710 said:

Purlain said:

JIL said:

I used right move or zoopla, which had sold prices on it and also current properties for sale which had floor plans and council tax banding.

I'm not sure why you are having trouble with links, the link I provided earlier has links on it to every thing you need to know.

Read all this.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/council-tax-bands-change

Hi, it is so encouraging to see so many people here taking the challenge to the tribunal and successfully have the band lowered even before the hearing taking place. I have my remote hearing booked in May 2022.
My house used to have a garage to the side. Before the original valuation in 1990s, the garage was converted to a two storey house by the previous owner. Hence, it was valued as the highest among all the properties on the same street and put in Band E. However the garage-converted house was then completely separated from the main house on land registry and subsequently sold as a single bedroom house by the previous owner. This single bedroom house has since been paying its own council tax in Band C and rented out. In 2010, I bought the main house without the garage-converted house for the price of £250k. However, the main house I bought still remains in the same band E despite the fact it is now actually one of the smallest and lowest valued properties on the same street due to the garage-converted house split from the main house. Not only the main house has become smaller compared to the other similar properties, it has also suffered loss of privacy because the garage-converted house has its back door opening to the main house's garden. Due to these facts, the local estate agents all agreed that my house is valued at least 15 to 20% less than the similar properties. Shockingly, it remains in the highest band among all the properties on the same street. In fact, nearly 80% of the properties on this street are in the lower band D. I appealed to the valuation office last year thinking my case was so straightforward but only for them to decline and insist that they had to stick to the valuation done in 1990s. 
I am now hoping to receive a call from them to offer to drop it to band D before the hearing date. I wonder if it is a bullying strategy by VOA to reject all the appeals even there is sufficient evidence to lower the band expecting most of the people wouldn't have the energy or knowledge to take it to the tribunal.  

If you bought the house 11 years ago, how were you able to make a valid appeal? 


I don't know if "bullying" is the right term. They may actually have evidence to support their belief Band E is correct. But it could be a generic rejection letter sent because they have had no time to investigate or as you  imply because they hope some CT payers will decide the matter is not worth pursuing. 

Does it matter how long ago the house was purchased? They didn't reject it because it was bought 11 years. I actually emailed them back to challenge their decision. They just kept giving the same reason that it was the right valuation in 1990s. 

A valid appeal can only be made within 6 months of becoming the CT payer. As your home was part of a larger property it may be that the VOA believed that your house had only just been split into two. But they would be mistaken if in fact it had been split (and there were 2 bands) more than 6 months before your appeal was made and your appeal would be invalid.

Kuga247

Think you are correct some people are under the misunderstanding that tax banding is a council issue they just take your money the banding is set by VOA !I am sure someone is going to stay I am incorrect!