to think they have made it near on impossible to challenge council tax band??! *help me!*

[flamingofridays]

I am trying to challenge my council tax band.

I went on the money saving expert website, and did as they suggested and emailed to ask for it being re assessed.

I have got an email back asking for evidence.

They want evidence of similar properties on a different band, fine, I can do that. I have found 4 in my street alone, nearly identical a band lower than mine.

Then they want evidence of what my house was worth in 1991. Now, the land registry have not made this information publicly available, you can only see house prices from 1995 onwards on the internet. Now I understand that council tax banding was done in 1991 and this is why they want that information, but how do they expect me to get it?

My house was sold in 1998 for less (by quite a bit) than the limit for the band that I think I should be in. I can obviously tell them this but I assume that because it was 7 years later that they cant or wont take this as evidence?

Also, they want evidence that it was incorrectly banded in 1991. Other than the above, I don't know what they want? I wasn't even alive in 1991 and don't have a clue how they actually decided on the banding other than presumably house prices, but I cant see that my house was worth around 12 thousand pounds more 7 years earlier?

Can anyone advise what I should say or do? Has anyone successfully moved bands?

Thanks in advance!!

And of course the council response may be to raise the council tax of the other properties in the road, not lower yours, in which case you need to do a moonlight flit before the neighbours in question find out...

Sadly, I think this. A bit different, but after we moved here we found our water bill was almost double many of our neighbours (I think someone was paying for a sprinkler eons ago and it was never changed). No meters involved, just a flat rate.

I spent hours arguing on the phone with the water board to no avail. Their final response was "You can send in evidence, but it's extremely unlikely we will lower your bill. The most likely scenario is that your neighbours are not paying enough and we will increase theirs."

We didn't want to do that to the people living around us so dropped it. But it sucks.

jas the houses on my street go from 1 bed terraces to 4 bed detached, the houses I have used as evidence are as close as dammit to my own, one is bigger nicer and more expensive than my house and they are on a lower band. The rest of the houses on a lower band have less bedrooms etc, but my point is that there are houses similar to mine that are on a lower band, surely that's as much proof as they need?

They're all Victorian terraces built between 1899 and about 1902 except one which was built about 2004....

I have shown them why it's in the wrong band but they are wanting evidence of a mistake made in 1991, how can I possibly give them that?

music it seems rare that the band goes up to be honest, and like I say it would only affect a few houses if it did, and I am moving soon anyway. Weirdly enough I had my water bill lowered without a meter, because they couldn't fit one in and I had requested one!

Flamingo Amazing what a little Googling will turn up...

www.gov.uk/council-tax-bands
Click on start now, and off you go. It will show if there has been an appeal that went to Tribunal or court, and if the house has had improvements which would alter the banding upon sale.

If you weren't alive in 1991, you are not that much older than my lad, and he knows that Google can provide the requisite sign posts for the information you want.

Doesn't matter what people say on FB....look at the website I gave you, look at the relevant legislation, and work it out.

You appeal to the Valuation Office (who deal with bandings, the Council doesn't), and contact them to appeal, as per the flow chart on the first website link I gave. Follow the procedure thereafter. You appeal, they refuse, citing you've owned the house more than six months, so are out of time, you contest this and it goes to Tribunal.

I was a CTax officer for many years, and even I couldn't persuade the VO to alter my banding, even though the house across the road that has a garage, and as many beds as mine, is two bands lower.

thank you scaryteacher

Amazing that clearly I have already done this. I know that it hasn't been to appeal.

Thank you for being so patronising and ageist. I'm 22 not 13 so please don't address me like you would a child.

I have looked at the relevant legislation and I have spoken to the valuation office, who have asked for evidence. I just want to know how I can find it, and googling it hasn't worked obviously because those records are not available to the general public.

Obviously because I am young and thick and you were a council tax officer I might as well just give up!!

and I have contacted the valuation office, at no point have I spoken to the council, so I am sorry if I have given that impression!

I don't need to appeal yet, as they haven't even given me a decision. They need to give me a decision first, and to get that decision they have asked for evidence and THAT is what I needed help with.

Please don't assume I'm brain dead, I probably just explained badly.

Not sure if it's helpful or not but when we bought our new build we appealed the c.t band using the 1991 prices. We were living in the house about a year when the band's were issued and I know several neighbours just accepted what was issued.
The key to lower g it seemed to be what the house would have been worth in 1991 if it was built then.

In your situation, i would approach local and long established estate agents and get as much info on sale prices as possible, you need 5 i think.
I would definitely check again on time limits, the 6 months after moving in seems to stick in my mind.
As i said, i appealed mine and got what i wanted, well actually, they re-assessed before appeal, so expensive and time consuming these things are.

As to the CT Officer, well i got it re-band, so did my cousin and my mate when he first moved to his house, so maybe thats why an ex housing officer? esp as the info ST posted was what i pointed to earlier lol

This is timely. We're considering applying for rebanding for ours.

I paid £49k for it in 1993 (although the sale was agreed at that price in late 1992). It's banded C, which, iirc, is £52k-£67k. DP tells me that all the houses in the street were banded C, despite some of them having been extended at the time of valuation in 1991. Also, there are houses that look identical from the outside but are 3-beds instead of 2-beds (g/f bathroom and smaller kitchen, with bed 3 upstairs where our bathroom is, they were built like this in 1936).

I can't see that house prices fell significantly between the 1991 valuation and my purchase early in 1993, so I think mine should be in band B. It may have been a bit of a bargain, but not that much!

I think I might give it a try.

You evidently hadn't googled OP, as you were asking how to find out if had been to appeal. You sound just like my 22 year old when he can't be arsed to do the legwork and gets sarky when he doesn't get the response he wants. Nearly every time someone has advised you how the system works, you come back with an objection.

The VO requires you to provide sufficient evidence to change the banding. You are the one that wants it changed, so it's down to you to do the legwork.

I don't think young always equates to thick...I do however think there can be a distinct lack of nous until about 25 or so; and some degree of impatience with having to dig for information and answers. I say this as the mother of a soon to be 23 year old!

Jasjas We bought the house in question in April 92 for £93k....slap bang towards the middle of Band E. Had we paid less, then we might have had it dropped, but it had originally been on the market for £147k, so we avoided Band F! Wasn't a,Housing Officer, but a CTax officer, and I left all that behind to go and teach teenagers. Got bored of dealing with non payers at court and the public in general. Teenagers are far more amusing.

scary if you read the thread you would see that that is NOT what I am asking at all.

I have emailed the valuation office, as per the steps on the website that you kindly linked me to.

I AM NOT ASKING HOW TO DO THAT.

they have come back to me about my email, and asked me for the evidence. what I am asking is how I am supposed to find that evidence when the land registry don't give out the information that I need.

Please stop being so horribly patronising. I have done A LOT of digging and cannot find house prices pre 1995 online for my house, or street. I am going to speak to an estate agent to see if they can direct me.

I think, maybe, before you start making sneery comments on threads you should read what the poster is actually asking for.

sorry, I realise I did ask how I would find out if it had been appealed at the time, but as it turns out I already had that information without realising it.

But I still resent your comments about age and your general tone.

quick update - they have accepted the similar houses as evidence and are reviewing it now!

UPDATE - i have received a letter today. They have lowered my band to A!

Wahoo!

We live in a road where there was just one identical property in 1991. Our former neighbours mentioned they had bought it in 1990. We got a copy of the transfer document showing how much they paid for it at the end of 1990. Our own had been owned by the same people since 1970.

We did this because the council moved us up a council tax band when we moved in. No extension no obvious reason to do so based on purchase price and house price index. The transfer showed the lower band was correct. We appealed and lost. We never got a proper reason either initially or on appeal just that they deemed it to be a large property. It is impossible to argue with. In our view it is the same size as similar properties in the lower band but we didn't have the resources to look into this properly.

Well done Flamingo. We successfully challenged ours about 6 years ago, using the advice given on Money Saving Expert. Our house was literally the only house of our type on our road that was a band E, all the others, and on the neighbouring 3 roads, were Ds. Got over £1k refunded for overpayments.

Fab news, well done.