Council Tax Rebanding

QuickQuestionThanks

Hey can anyone advise please?

I am in Scotland and bought a new build house in 2010 - council tax band was set as E

However I have recently done research and have considerable evidence this should be a D in line with valuation regulations

I submitted a proposal 2023 to local council  - who rejected it based on "invalid out of time" as it has been longer than 6 months since I became the liable council tax payer.

I appealed via 1st Trier Tribunal (Scotland) and have submitted a wealth of evidence to support my proposal and appeal.

The local council as respondent are quoting The Council Tax (Alteration of Lists and Appeals) Regulations 1993 regulation 5.5 - which states a proposal can only be made within 6 months.

The 1st Tier Tribunal have asked for my response  - essentially to explain why I feel the proposal is valid despite the regulation 5.5. I believe if I can prove why the Proposal is valid &  the evidence is considered despite the proposal being "out of time" i.e. explain why legally the should consider a proposal more than 6months after become liable the 1st Tier Tribunal could in fact based on all the evidence (neighbours checks, comparable 1991 values, 10 properties of same floor size as mine, similar location etc all banded in 1993 (on 1st April 1991 valuation) as Ds then the council tax band of my property may in fact change

Can anyone in Scotland advise how they have done this?  Is there another regulation I can quote for example that allows for Proposals or similar over 6 months old to be considered?

Or if anyone in Scotland has successfully had a proposal considered and council tax band changed after the 6 month window can you please let me know via the forum as this can help me establish case law. 

I see lots of posts about people having band changed and receiving a reimbursement of council tax paid over 10 years or more but don't know how they managed to achieve this if a proposal can't be considered after 6 months according to the law regulations - where's the wriggle room folks? 

Thanks in advance. 

lincroft1710

I'm ex VOA which is the English/Welsh equivalent of the Assessor who deal with CT banding and appeals in Scotland.


Basically if a proposal is submitted out of time, that is it, the proposal is not valid. The 6 month rule trumps everything.


However even if a proposal is not valid, the VOA and Assessor have a duty to investigate a band if evidence has been submitted by a CT payer which suggests their band may be incorrect. So hopefully the Assessor will review your band in light of the evidence you have submitted. If you have used house price indices to ascertain 1991 values the Assessor will probably reject those as HPIs are inaccurate. So if the Assessor is not persuaded by your evidence and states the band is correct, that is the end of the matter.