Evidence for Council Tax Band Appeal

andrewg112

By way of an update, I have had some correspondence with the listing officer and I have asked as many questions as I can think of to try and source information regarding their decision.

It is really frustrating as the VOA will not answer some really pertinent questions (such as 'can you tell me the exact value you think my property would have sold for', or 'can you tell me how much my property previously sold for'). They also said that they do not know of any way to obtain sold price details pre 1995. So I can thank them so much for their help!

In some of my correspondence with the listing officer, I collated several detached 2 bedroom houses in the local area (no more than a 5 or 10 minute drive) as there are absolutely no others in the village I live in. The response was that in their opinion they cannot be used as a comparison as they are a considerable distance from the property, but there are no other houses like that in the whole village, so I cannot see what else I could possibly compare them against!

I have been reviewing all the correspondence as I am preparing to write to initiate the appeal process. I really need to do this over the next 10 days to make sure I am within the 3 month time frame. Does anyone have any examples of letters they sent to state the reasons for their appeal? I want to make sure I am presenting the best case I can initially, and then I expect I will have several months to prepare any more evidence, should I be successful in getting a hearing.

It seems to me that the VOA have looked at the two houses either side of mine which are in the higher band and simply thought that ours will fit nicely in the band as they are similar in age and size. The LO said that he believes our property fits into band C as band B properties in our area are generally semi detached or terraced, however he somewhat brushed over my reply when I stated that they are often 3 bedroom properties with additional features such as driveway or a garage, and that would somewhat balance out the valuation as our property, although detached, does not have these and is only two bedroom. That is the basis of my appeal anyway, and the fact that is seems impossible to obtain a value the VOA think the house would have sold for.

Any help or pointers are appreciated as always.

lincroft1710

The VOA are not required to place a value on a dwelling, but just place it in a band. Therefore they are correct in not giving you a specific value for your home. Sales information held by the VOA is confidential and may only be released when a hearing date has been set for an appeal. Following receipt of the VOA evidence for the hearing, an appellant can ask for details of sales of particular dwellings, but if the VOA sales evidence is 4 sales or fewer, then they can ask for a maximum of 4 sales. Above 4 the appellant can ask for an equal number.


Pre 1995 Land Registry sales details are not in the public domain, so this is no way to find this out (other than perhaps by asking the parties to the transaction). Therefore the VOA were correct in saying what they said.