Council Tax Rebanding SUCCESS stories

telemarks · 12 July 2018 at 11:30AM

Local Borough Council: South Somerset
Council Tax Band Before: F
Council Tax Band After: E
Amount refunded: £ 5100
Annual saving going forward: £ 300ish
Dated from : moving into newly completed conversion (1996)

Thanks to this site, I've just helped my father get his refund. It took three letters, with increasing levels of details, and was not straightforward as it is in a set of barn developments, where no two properties are alike.

We thought it straightforward, as my fathers 3 bed property is the mid terrace of three, all converted from one Apple barn. It is about 60% the size of the two semi detached 4 bed conversions at either side. But its impossible to tell this from the outside, and hence all 3 were put in band F (as was the original 7 bed farmhouse, but thats another story...).

In the end the case was decided in my fathers favour when he sent the 1996 original conversion sales details which included floor plans, for both his property, and one of the next doors that he also looked at. Lucky he kept ancient paperwork!

janjohn · 12 July 2018 at 8:48PM

Having read MSE article we appealed against our banding succesfully.
South kesteven Lincolnshire.and achieved a reduction from band E - £1989.88 to band C - £1447.18 saving £542.70 per year. This was back dated to 2006 when we purchased the property and we received a total refund of £5807.87 and we would urge other people to apply as it costs nothing just a little time - many thanks MSE:rotfl::rotfl:

Kaz1972 · 14 July 2018 at 8:35AM

Council : Preston
Band: C
Reband: B

Found out we were in same band as my parents who live in a better area so looked into rebanding on here. We wrote to valuation office who responded within 6 weeks to agree we were in the wrong band and it was being lowered. Out of 37 houses on the street, there were only 7 in the higher band. Woke up this morning to find £2991 deposited into our account by Preston City Council !!!128512;. So grateful to this site! Going to share with next door neighbour and hopefully make his day too !!!128514;

Woby_Tide · 15 July 2018 at 12:23AM

Hollow victory for me. Had my own house down banded and dated back to 2003 but have only lived here a few months but that has triggered all 9 of my neighbours in the terrace to be downgraded so appears that c. £43k is being refunded to them and previous owners / tenants . At least someone has gained is the main thing

valerie_harris · 17 July 2018 at 3:25PM

I previously wrote to my Valuation Office raising question concerning Council Tax Band (G) which was rejected. There are many different types of houses in my road and comparison is therefore futile. Zoopla is useless when providing values of the properties - they are way off the mark. The Valuation Office contacted me by phone, asked numerous questions and I advised I had a valuation when I remortgaged in 1994 with a figure of £160k. I purchased in 1983 and have now used the calculator on your site which quotes the value as £151844 in 1990 and £143985 in 1994. Presumably I will be fighting a losing battle to take the matter further.

lincroft1710 · 17 July 2018 at 7:26PM

valerie_harris wrote: »

I previously wrote to my Valuation Office raising question concerning Council Tax Band (G) which was rejected. There are many different types of houses in my road and comparison is therefore futile. Zoopla is useless when providing values of the properties - they are way off the mark. The Valuation Office contacted me by phone, asked numerous questions and I advised I had a valuation when I remortgaged in 1994 with a figure of £160k. I purchased in 1983 and have now used the calculator on your site which quotes the value as £151844 in 1990 and £143985 in 1994. Presumably I will be fighting a losing battle to take the matter further.

The MSE calculator isn't accurate. In many areas of the country 1994 house prices were well below those of 1991.

swwchris · 21 July 2018 at 7:14AM

I have just moved into a two bedroom house built in 2014. It has just been valued by an independent RICS valuer (NOT building society) at £175000. All the two bedroom properties around me are on the same Council Tax Banding which is C.

I think this is wrong and the banding should be B

Is the fact that the properties are only four years old a problem when it comes to appealing the banding?

lincroft1710 · 21 July 2018 at 2:01PM

swwchris wrote: »

I have just moved into a two bedroom house built in 2014. It has just been valued by an independent RICS valuer (NOT building society) at £175000. All the two bedroom properties around me are on the same Council Tax Banding which is C.

I think this is wrong and the banding should be B

Is the fact that the properties are only four years old a problem when it comes to appealing the banding?

No problem in being 4 yrs old, but a problem would be that it appears you are in the same band as similar neighbourhood houses

Zammo76 · 23 July 2018 at 6:52PM

I'm in the process of appealing my Council Tax banding. And have just received a nasty threatening letter from the Council Tax banding douchbags saying that they arn't willing to change my banding and are now looking at properties in my street (which I bought to their attention) as they think they need to increase their bandings to. However my property has been apparently valued by them as being worth between £120,000 to £160,000 in 1991, despite the fact it sold in 1996 for £110,000, which I pointed out to them.

The only thing I think which could be altering the valuation in the Council Tax blokes eyes is that the property has had a single story extension (probably around 2008). So my question is: Is the 1991 valuation of the property based on the property as it was in that years sale price or the property as it was now (with a single story extension) price in 1991?

Either way I really don't think a single story extension would have raised the value of the property by enough to push it to more than £120,000 in 1991's house prices.

lincroft1710 · 24 July 2018 at 2:13PM

Zammo76 wrote: »

The only thing I think which could be altering the valuation in the Council Tax blokes eyes is that the property has had a single story extension (probably around 2008). So my question is: Is the 1991 valuation of the property based on the property as it was in that years sale price or the property as it was now (with a single story extension) price in 1991?

Either way I really don't think a single story extension would have raised the value of the property by enough to push it to more than £120,000 in 1991's house prices.

The CT band should reflect the physical state of the property at the date of the last sale, so if you bought the property with the extension already there, it should be reflected in the band. Also in many areas, 1996 property prices were still below 1991 values.

Finally, there is no need to use insulting language about people who are doing their job, even if you disagree with their opinion

Council Tax Rebanding SUCCESS stories

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