Appealing Council Tax Banding - or should that be unappealing!

[ProDave]

3 hours ago, hmpmarketing said:

 

Hi @ProDave I did leave it this on a thread some time ago, here it is: 

 

Perhaps you can try calling them directly and bypass the LA?

Tried that months ago. They will only take instruction from a local authority.

[Ferdinand]

6 hours ago, ProDave said:

Can you tell me exactly HOW you contacted RM

 

I have tried 3 different methods and every time they say only the council can inform them of a new address.  I even tried arguing it is not "new" and has been in use for 2 years and they still said the council must inform them before they will add a new address to the postcode database.

 

I wonder if it would work to do a £10 subject access request under the Data Protection Act on the VOA for your personal information, then  use Data Protection Principle 6 and the right to update inaccurate personal data to change their database to the new address .

 

Even I would agree that that would be a tortuous route.

 

Fun, though ... like Mark forgot his name flying over Fylingdales in balloons because there was a loophole.

 

F

 

Edited February 20, 2018 by Ferdinand

[NSS]

Quick update, finally spoke to the valuation officer this morning and asked her to justify the band F classification. Within about 30 seconds she'd quoted a total habitable floor area of almost 40m2 more than I knew our house to be. 

 

This afternoon, after taking another look at the plans, I receive an email correcting the size and reducing the banding to E. Result!

[Jeremy Harris]

Brilliant news, it will encourage all the others who find themselves in a similar position, too.  I'm convinced that the methodology used by the VOA to calculate floor area is flawed (no pun intended) as they base it on external dimensions, with a baseline wall thickness of a 1991 cavity wall, so around 250mm.  They also seem to just ignore protusions from the house and use and overall outline taken from the ordnance survey data (or did in our case until I sent them detailed floor plans).

 

Great result anyway, and in your case it must be nice to get some good news.

[NSS]

She already had the full plans, but presumably 'miscalculated' the area. I pointed out that larger adjacent 4 and 5-bed detached houses were only banded as E and that I would have no hesitation in appealing should she maintain the F banding for ours.

 

That's over ₤300 per annum difference for us.

[Jeremy Harris]

32 minutes ago, NSS said:

She already had the full plans, but presumably 'miscalculated' the area. I pointed out that larger adjacent 4 and 5-bed detached houses were only banded as E and that I would have no hesitation in appealing should she maintain the F banding for ours.

 

That's over ₤300 per annum difference for us.

 

It doesn't inspire confidence in the system, does it?

 

Still, a £300 saving a year is a definite win!

[PeterW]

Does anyone know if they include integral garages in the floor area calculations ..??

 

Isn't there something about space less than 1.2m high too.?

[NSS]

@PeterW not sure about integral garage but our plant room is within the footprint of the house but only accessible from the attached (but not integral) garage and she agreed, as it could you not be accessed from the main accommodation, that it could not be included in the calcs for banding. 

Edited February 28, 2018 by NSS

[PeterW]

Found This...

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/measuring-practice-for-voa-property-valuations/code-of-measuring-practice-definitions-for-rating-purposes