Council Tax band complaint

[Goochie]

We've just been having a conversation in the office about Council Tax and it turns out that my colleague's house is a band lower than ours, despite being built by the same developer, being in the same town and having one MORE bedroom than ours. The land size is about the same.

Would this be sufficient grounds for complaining about our band?

[Fer]

Goochie said:

We've just been having a conversation in the office about Council Tax and it turns out that my colleague's house is a band lower than ours, despite being built by the same developer, being in the same town and having one MORE bedroom than ours. The land size is about the same.

Would this be sufficient grounds for complaining about our band?

If so, don't tell your mate. A neighbour of mine complained about his house being rated higher than the one next door, so they increased the one next door. Neighbour two was not at all happy...

[GreenDog]

There's a load of info on this on the money saving expert site. I looked into it a few years ago.

[Simpo Two]

There was an appeals process when the bands were introduced back in about 1991. At first they rated me the same as the 4-bed houses, but I appealed as mine is 3-bed, and after a bit of a stand-off they lowered me by a band. Saved a fortune over the years.

[StevieBee]

There's a few companies out there that do a no win no fee type service but would check the moneysavingexpert site.

There was a case near us a while back where a household suggested that they were in the wrong band. Council came to check it out and agreed. They were a band lower than they should have been and so was pretty much every other house in the street.

[todd69]

GreenDog said:

There's a load of info on this on the money saving expert site. I looked into it a few years ago.

Did this with the info from that site myself last year, got a rebate back over 9 years

[5pen]

todd69 said:

GreenDog said:

There's a load of info on this on the money saving expert site. I looked into it a few years ago.

Did this with the info from that site myself last year, got a rebate back over 9 years

I managed to get mine lowered by one band (I was trying for 2) by using the MSE site advice. MSE has links to sites where you can check the band of other houses in your street and also to sites to give you an idea of what your house would have been worth at the valuation date.

My main tip would be to get good evidence of why you think you should be in the lower band (it may be that there isn't any!). Give examples of other similar houses in your area, examples of the house price index if that suggests you should be lower and try your local library - I managed to get some adverts from around the valuation date to support my case.

Lastly, ask the valuation agency to supply their evidence to the contrary if they turn down your application.

My process went like this...

Letter to valuation agency saying "I believe I'm incorrectly assessed, please review."

Letter from valuation agency saying "we don't believe you are and have land registry data to prove our case."

Letter to valuation agency with my supporting data and asking to see their evidence.

Letter from valuation agency saying "we've lowered your band and the local authority will adjust your tax and send you a refund."

Good luck.

Edited by 5pen on Friday 8th January 14:30

[Penny-lope]

I've been thinking about complaining....currently, I property is a C band, however for that I get no street lights in my street, no street cleaning, or clearing/gritting (snow), no do I get the full range of refuse collection, unlike the properties 100 yards up the road.

Plus out of all the properties I viewed, I bought one of the cheapest, but it had the highest banding

[Boosted LS1]

I did it via the MSE site and got dropped a band. What's more I got a nice cheque from the council. I found the Valuations Office to be really helpful and they didn't even visit. I think they took about 4 weeks to sort it out. Once they do the adjustment they tell the council to cough up, he he.

[anonymous-user]

Had the exact same thing at the old house, 3 identical houses in band lower than ours, filed the "complaint", got rebanded lower & extra that had been paid was kept on a/c to reduce current bill(not sure if i was given option of having it back). All this despite being told you can only appeal in the first 6 months of ownership(IIRC it was 2 years after when i was speaking to a neighbour!).

[FlossyThePig]

Dave_ST220 said:

Had the exact same thing at the old house, 3 identical houses in band lower than ours, filed the "complaint", got rebanded lower & extra that had been paid was kept on a/c to reduce current bill(not sure if i was given option of having it back). All this despite being told you can only appeal in the first 6 months of ownership(IIRC it was 2 years after when i was speaking to a neighbour!).

Did something similar a while back. Was told about the 6 months bit but was sent a form anyway. Got a rebate of over £1k.

A lot of the original valuations were "drive by" (i.e no real inspection) and lumping a lot of similar houses on the street together in the same band.

[Four Cofffee]

I recal there is s time limit on making an appeal. I tried because al the houses in our street are in Band E, F or H except one which is a C, yet it is one of the largest. oddly owned by an ex-estate agent who did the original drive-by valuations. Got nowhere.

[Boosted LS1]

My appeal went back 9 years.