Council Tax Cost Cutting: reduce your band and grab any discounts Discussion Area

exvoperson · 13 July 2008 at 6:23PM

grace21 wrote: »

Dear All
For those of you that can remember my plight and for those intersted please look through my previous posts . I have now taken my council to court for the full council tax refund.
They of course are defending it citing my negligence at not challenging the banding before!!! I am now waiting for a court date. Not sure how I will get on but wish me luck!!
Grace

Dear grace21

Was yours the case where the council are only going back 6 years desipte you living at the property for longer? What type of court are you going to?
Regards

ExVOperson

sokuryoku · 13 July 2008 at 10:23PM

guppy wrote: »

Sokuryoku,

Sorry to hear about your mum.

Yes you can claim as the present owner. If you are successful, you may be able to claim the rebate on behalf of your mother's estate too.

Good luck

Thank You Guppy and Others. I Appreciate your help.

Will let you know the outcome.

Sincerely

guppy · 13 July 2008 at 11:31PM

grace21 wrote: »

Dear All
For those of you that can remember my plight and for those intersted please look through my previous posts . I have now taken my council to court for the full council tax refund.
They of course are defending it citing my negligence at not challenging the banding before!!! I am now waiting for a court date. Not sure how I will get on but wish me luck!!
Grace

Thanks for updating us. Sounds like their arguments get more ridiculous every time you update us. I simply fail to see how they can claim they are right when virtually every other council interprets the law differently...the arrogance is breathtaking!

Best of luck, Grace.

robbie1412 · 14 July 2008 at 11:46AM

I put in a request to have my band reduced about 6 months ago. I got the usual acceptance letters and the "we're looking into it" letters back, and was eventually refused. i opted to go to a tribuneral, and was due to attend on Weds this week.

Last friday, I got a call from the listings officer ( I assume this was the guy whos decision I was due to be challenging at the tribuneral.) He was out every time I called back, but this morning, his secretary , ( i think ) called me and said he had made a decision, and he was going to reduce it from band B to band A.

Why he did not due that in the first place I have no idea.

Anyway, the upshot of this is that I no longer need to attend the tribuneral now. The listings officer will says he will just put forward the proposal at the hearing to say he agrees to the reduction ( and also for 5 of my neighbours too!!! )

But I am a little dubious. I feel like I could get stitched up here by not attending.

I do believe the listing will go down, but am concerned that I wont be there to argue my case for the 6 month rule, and get a refund for whole time I have been in the property.

What would you do ??

vivatifosi · 14 July 2008 at 12:47PM

Hi Robbie,

This happens sometimes. The VOA realises that it is unlikely to win and decides to reband before a tribunal hearing. No Listing Officer wants to go to tribunal and fight a case that they think they are going to lose.

The VOA should inform the Valuation Tribunal Service (VTS) of its decision, if you are still dubious, why not contact the VTS for a few words of reassurance?

If you are unsure about when you will get a refund for, you can also ask the VOA what the "Effective from" date is going to be (this will be the date that the band is backdated to). If yours is just a case of being in the wrong band, this will generally be the year council tax was introduced, or the year your house was built if more recent. If you have moved into a second hand house since then you will only get the period that you lived in the house.

If it is a more recent date, this is generally because there has been a change in your situations that has caused a material reduction in the value of the house (eg a bypass has been built next door, or Tescos has built a superstore with the entrance via your road - that type of thing). A quick word with the VOA should clarify that.

Good luck, and enjoy the cheque!

robbie1412 · 14 July 2008 at 1:42PM

Thanks for the reply .

I will telephone the VTS to clarify I dont have to attend now.

Does the 6 month rule just apply to the initial appeal with the VOA ?

I've seen some posts on here where the councils revenues dept have tried to argue the 6 month rule in the amount of refund period.

Which of course is easily shot down with the fact that they are "legally" obliged to refund any overpayments, just as they are so quick to inform us of their legal obligations to recover UNDERPAYMENTS !!

vivatifosi · 14 July 2008 at 2:18PM

Hi Robbie,

Most councils are very fair about overpayments. They use the "effective from" date, set by the VOA and pay back to that.

The issue that we regularly encounter is getting the interest back, which is a different issue and a much harder one to argue, as almost definitely they will say you should have appealed earlier. BTW, interest has to be claimed back from the VOA rather than the council.

Where I live we've won 24 cases and its just too hard to go after the interest on those.

One thing that you may find with the council, something that we've regularly encountered, is that they will try and pay you back through your council tax (ie you pay a reduced amount for a period) rather than paying you a cheque. If you want a cheque be clear with them and let them know that is the case.

Otherwise hopefully you are all set.

-chris- · 14 July 2008 at 5:31PM

Hi, I am in the process of trying to get my property rebanded with the VOA. Some of the houses which are identical are band C and others are D. Does anybody know if the size of the garden was taken into account when the bandings were decided?

Thanks!:money:

LittleMissAspie · 14 July 2008 at 8:00PM

Is it worth me trying to get my rented house rebanded?

We are renting a 1-bed house, end-of-terrace (row of 3). We are currently band C. The other end-of-terraces are also band C, with the house in the middle being band B.

BUT in the next road along, there are many 2-bed and 3-bed houses with big gardens and driveways, and they are all band C and D. I presume the 2-beds are band C, although there is a house for sale there now advertised as 3 bedrooms and that is band C.

Also the valuation check shows my house was worth £47k in 1991 which is in the middle of band B. I have done this check on the other end-of-terraces and they all fall into band B too. The mid-terrace also comes back as band B (using all 4 sold prices and dates since 2000).

There is a slight complication in that our living room was extended at some point (from a length of 9'10" to 16'3").

Do I have a case here?

grace21 · 14 July 2008 at 8:08PM

exvoperson wrote: »

Dear grace21

Was yours the case where the council are only going back 6 years desipte you living at the property for longer? What type of court are you going to?
Regards

ExVOperson

Hi exvoperson,

Yes that is the case.I've lived in my house for 25yrs always paid my council tax and feel very disappointed at my council's attitude. They have made me feel greedy to expect a full refund.

It's not what I wanted to do but they have left me no choice I'm taking them through the small claims court.

Grace

Council Tax Cost Cutting: reduce your band and grab any discounts Discussion Area

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