Hi

I have been researching our band and have found out interestingly, that the property next to mine is in Band A and ours is in Band B,both are mid terraced houses and are identical in size and numbers of rooms etc. the only difference is apart it being in the higher band is that that property is an "end terrace" . If I request a rebanding for our property to the same as next door can they change that property to the same band as ours instead,bearing in mind that next doors has had a "valuation" already done by the valuation department some years ago.

The information shown on next doors is as followsBand A...Comp No.....Court V...Efective 1/04/1993.

I don't quite understand, are they both mid terrace or is one a mid terrace and the other an end terrace?

Mine is a mid terraced and next door is the end terrace

I don't think they can change your neighbour's banding just because you ask them to review yours. What banding is the property on the other side? Is it is also band A? Have any extensions been added to the properties? If so the banding is only changed on the sale of the house which can explain why two seemingly identical properties pay different rates.

They have lived here the same as ourselves lot longer than when it was valued in 1993, all of the other properties are the same band as ours ,except that they are HMO's, only difference is this property in band A which I suspect they have had revalued for banding purposses in 1993 I suspect as a request by the owners, as this property has never been sold recently

Does sound like the band A neighbour has made a successful appeal to have the property rebanded then. An end of terrace should be worth more than a mid-terrace if all else is equal. Could be worth having a go with yours. When I did it with mine the initial phone enquiry for the forms was met with 'you can only do it if you have moved in within the last 6 months'. This is rubbish but you do have to fit into one of the set categories.

In theory, if the VO decide to look in to your appeal and decide that other properties are incorrectly banded then they can then review the banding of those properties as well.

Surely if the VO has valued thier property in 1993 then the presedent has been set and cannot be changed,they cannot surely decide that it is in one band in 1993 then change it just because ours is the same property and should be in the same band as the one they have valued,sounds daft to me,it is either one thing and not another,considering they only "guessed the banding in the first place with actually valueing every property when it first came out.

The vast majority of properties were never properly valued anyway. I managed to get mine changed because the cowboy valuation company had taken info from before 1989 when two infill houses were built in the garden so they'd obviously never even done a drive-by for the 1993 valuation. I got the whole lot backdated and paid back to me.

Is it possible to ask your neighbours if they have appealed? If they did it would explain the discrepancy.

Just had a letter from Liverpool Council stating that due to a change in your circumstances from 23.04.2009 in order to decide your correct entitlement from this date please provide ...........my latest private pension slip. BT don't issue payment slips anymore, it goes into the bank. I am not providing them with statements, as they lost some of mine some years ago, anyway The Halifax have also stopped issueing statements they prefer you to bank online so your account can be hacked into, and they won't accept copies. But what I want to know is this,...... they state that they have estimated the income used to calculate my claim as £999.99. yet last year, when I asked them to explain how they worked out the amount of earned income, I got a detailed account of what they did and it came to a figure of £294.67 per week ........this is what they used for 2008/2009 as earned income to work out my benefit,how can a figure jump to £999.99 does not say if this figure is monthly yearly or weekly.for TWO PENSIONERS,anyone shed some light on what they are up to,do they just think of a figure and add a couple of noughts on, or is it that they think that because we are pensioners we cannot add up and subtract,probably better at it than they are.Any info would be much appreciated as to were they get the figure of £999.99 for two pensioners .

They use £999.99 as a default income when income cannot be correctly established, the figures used as it would automatically take you over the income threshold for claiming.

You need to speak to them as to why they have not been able to establish your income - possibly as you have not provided pension statements ?

We have provided them with all our details but they just seem to churn out incorrect statements we have had four different statement with all different amounts on and just recieved another one today stating amount of earned "weekly" income used in deciding the claim is £1370.80 PER WEEK I mean what dimbo council worker would actually think that two pensioners who's earned income used previously jumped from £294 per week to this amount would even think of applying for council tax benefit,I mean last year all we got was a measly £5.00 benefit,regardles of default figures they don't even give you the time they state " a month " to reply,the annoying part of this is the fact that they are getting paid a salary to do this that is far more than our pensions,in fact more in tune with the figure they are quoting now of £1000 per week with all their perks. Then again the main qualification to be employed By Liverpool Council is that your brains are in the lower part of your anatomy.

Received a reply to my request for change of banding....NO they refused,there was no mention of why next door is in band A and we are in band B,my main request for a change of banding,she goes waffling on about the valuations done in 1991 etc,goes on to state that ,"assumptions are made to ensure that a fair and consistant approach is always made,"how can this be fair if the property next door has had a successfull appeal and had the banding changed to Band A,where is the fair and consistant when the property in question is an end terrace and ours is mid terrace,assuming it is correct as mentioned previously that end terraced are valued as being higher than mid terraces.There was no explanation regarding my statement that this property had been appealled and altered to the lower band,just that I am not successfull and there is no APPEAL against her decision. I am writing a reply for them to put it in "plain english"

not gobbly gook, as to why next door is in band A and we are in band B what is the difference to the two properties and how that came about.

Urgent advice would be most appreciated.

I think it maybe due to the fact I put a CAG sticker on the envelope, I notice for some reason the thread about VOA has been stopped.

The regulations say 'there is not right of appeal', they don't say you cannot appeal. I have friends who have appealed and had a valuation done in their favour.

Was your contact with the valuation office or the council?

It was done by the VOA,and I will be appealling I have printed the two valuations of the properties from their pages and it gives next door as Court code V efective from 1/4/1993,and ours with no enties,so I will be asking for a detailed explanation of what the V court code refers to.

Getting nowhere with this VOA office in Liverpool,they keep using the words "they have acted consistently",they obviously have no cammand of the English language as they obviously don't know the meaning of "consitently,apart from the consistant use of it,the only thing consistant is the use of this wording.and repeatadly stating there is no right of appeal against his decision.