Council Tax. Are You Paying More Than Your Neighbours? Check It Out

tanith

I have just appealed as it seems all the houses seem to be band D wether they have 2 beds like me or 3 and above like most of my neighbours..... my brother lives closeby and he has 5 beds and two bathrooms but is still in band D the same as my tiny 2 bed hse...
Keep my fingers crossed

tanith

Helen_from_yorkshire

I can't find details of properties in my area on the site ... can those who have searched the site please confirm how they found the details of their homes in case I'm doing it wrong!!

Thanks so much.

Helen_from_yorkshire

I've found it now, was clicking on the rating link on the first page instead of the council tax list. DOOOOOOOH!

maryotuam

I've got terminal cancer. (diagnosed 3 years ago....slow but progressing)
We have not needed alterations made yet but I do sleep in downstairs room and could go downhill quickly.
Anyone know how strict the criteria are about adaptations?

harrisl_2

There needs to be modifications to your house. Like hand rails or downstairs toilet fitted or wheelchair access etc. They wont just accept sleeping downstairs. The person who decides who gets the discount is the revenues visiting officer person. They will need to come to your house for them to decide. Doesnt take long. Even if no changes have been made it doesnt hurt just giving them a call. They can tell you what would qualify and what to do in the future if there are changes made to your house.

They should be contactable from the council tax office number.

If you do qualify you will get charged a band lower than your house band. And you can backdate it to when the modificaitons were made.

Hope this helps.

GW65

Just wanted to thank the original poster for a great piece of info and to let you know about my experiences...

The VOA website showed that my neighbours (with identical houses to mine) were in Band F whereas I'm in Band G. In fact it showed that 2 of my immediate neighbours had originally been in Band G but had been reduced to Band F on appeal. I wasn't expecting too much since I've been in the house for 4 years and the web-site made dire warnings if you've been in the property for more than 6 months.

I phoned the local Valuation Office, gave them the basic info, the lady that I spoke to checked the details and expressed surprise that my house hadn't been rebanded at the same time as my neighbours. She said she'd sort it out immediately and it would be back-dated to 1993! (Although I'm assuming I'll only get the refund for the 4 years that I've been here).

So: check out the site, and make that phone call!

Gary

smartie1976

Have just noticed i'm a B whilst the rest of my street is an A. And I clearly don't fit the appeal criteria. Grrrrrrrr. Where's that local office number....

tanith

I got a letter from them saying that my property is of 69m and banded D which covers properties valued at between £68,000 and £88,000 (when the banding was done in 1991) and their investigation shows this was the correct banding for a house betweem 65m and 90m at that time... The value being in excess of £68,000 in April 1991 ........

So they will not be rebanding my house although many of the properties in the road are bigger by far than mine and are also band D .... it looks like there is no point me challenging this then ...................

Maisie

GW65 wrote:

Just wanted to thank the original poster for a great piece of info and to let you know about my experiences...

The VOA website showed that my neighbours (with identical houses to mine) were in Band F whereas I'm in Band G. In fact it showed that 2 of my immediate neighbours had originally been in Band G but had been reduced to Band F on appeal. I wasn't expecting too much since I've been in the house for 4 years and the web-site made dire warnings if you've been in the property for more than 6 months.

I phoned the local Valuation Office, gave them the basic info, the lady that I spoke to checked the details and expressed surprise that my house hadn't been rebanded at the same time as my neighbours. She said she'd sort it out immediately and it would be back-dated to 1993! (Although I'm assuming I'll only get the refund for the 4 years that I've been here).

So: check out the site, and make that phone call!

Gary

Gary... Great news. Hope you get the refund soon.


Maisie. OP

Gambler

Any ideas how to check out property values on 1/4/2003 (When Wales was rebanded).


Thanks