Our notice of hearing tells you when and where we will consider your appeal.

If you cannot come to the tribunal hearing you can contact us to ask for another hearing date.  However, we will only give you a new hearing date if you have a good reason for not being able to make the original date.  It may be some time before we can give you a new hearing date.

 You can try to settle your appeal with the council right up until the date of the hearing.

If you want to come to the tribunal hearing, you need to prepare your case before the hearing date.  Please try to provide as much evidence as possible to support your case.

You will be allowed to:

·         give spoken and written evidence;

·         present anything that you believe will help your case, such as photographs or plans; and 

·         bring someone along with you to appear as a witness.

We expect you and the council to discuss beforehand any evidence that you will present at the tribunal hearing.

At least two weeks before the hearing, the council must tell you about any evidence they have received from another department or council that they may give us at the hearing.  You will be allowed to look at this evidence and make copies, as long as you give the council  24 hours’ notice.

 It is always better if you can come to the hearing. However, we can also deal with your appeal in the following ways.

·         Written representations

We can only deal with your appeal in this way if both you and the council agree to use this method.  When we decide an appeal on written representations, we only consider the written evidence that you and the council provide.  There is no formal hearing.  If everyone agrees, we will let you know the procedure.  We may ask you or the council for more evidence.  We can also decide that we can only deal with the case by holding a formal hearing.

·      Written submission

If you cannot come to the hearing and you want us to hear the case without you, but you and the council have not agreed to written representations, you must write and give details of any points that you want us to consider.  The council will still come to the tribunal hearing.

The members of the Valuation Tribunal

Usually, three members will hear your appeal, although two members can hear an appeal if everyone at the hearing agrees.  One of the members will chair the meeting.  Members of the tribunal are local people who are volunteers.  Although they may not be professionally qualified, they do receive training and are experienced in hearing appeals.  The members of the tribunal are independent of the Listing Officer who has put the bandings on the properties and the council who send out the Council Tax bills.

The clerk

The clerk will act as an adviser on points of procedure and law.  The clerk is a paid employee and does not take any part in the decision.  However, the clerk is responsible for writing up our decision.

A representative from the council

You may have already met the council’s representative during the discussion of your appeal.

You 

You can come to the tribunal hearing or you can choose a representative, for example, a friend or a professional adviser, to act for you.  You can also bring someone along as a witness.

Members of the public

The tribunal hearing is open to members of the public.  However, usually the only other people who come to a hearing are other people who are also waiting for their cases to be heard.

We can hear your appeal in private if you ask us to, but you must have a good reason for this.

 The hearing is fairly informal and we will try to put everyone at ease.  However, we will follow a procedure to make sure that both you and the council can present your cases.  We will decide who to ask to give their case first.

During the hearing:

·         we will ask you and the council to give your cases;

·         you will be able to ask the council questions;

·         the council will be able to ask you questions; and 

·         we can ask you and the council questions.

Before we retire to make our decision we may ask you if you would like to summarise your case.

If you do not come to the hearing and you are not represented at the hearing, we may dismiss your appeal.

We can give our decision verbally at the end of the hearing.  However, most tribunals send their decisions by post.  By law, we have to give you a written copy of the reasons for our decision.  We will let you know when we will send you our written decision.

 No.  Our service is free.  You only have to meet your own expenses (and the expenses of anyone representing you) in preparing your case and coming to the hearing.

A solicitor may be able to give you some advice under the Legal Services Commission’s ‘Legal Help Scheme’.

We can review our decision in certain cases.  You can also appeal to a superior court if you are not happy with our decision.  We will send you more details with our notice of decision.

 If you have any extra needs related, for example, to your sight, hearing or mobility, please tell us - we will do our very best to help.

If you have problems understanding English, we can provide an interpreter.  Please tell us which language you need.  We can also provide someone to communicate with you in sign language (a signer).  We will pay the costs of providing an interpreter or signer.

Please let us know in good time of any extra needs you have.

 If you have a complaint about the way we have handled your case, you can do the following.

·         You should first write to the Clerk of the Tribunal, at the address that is shown on your notice of hearing, so that they can look into the matter.  The Clerk will send you a copy of our complaints policy.

·         At any time, you can ask a Member of Parliament (MP) to take up your complaint, either with the Clerk or with the President of the Tribunal.  Or you can ask an MP to pass the matter to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration (the Ombudsman).

You can only use this process to make a complaint about the way our office is run.

We also produce this guide in large print, in Braille and on audio tape.  You can get copies from the Tribunal Office at the address shown on our notice of hearing.

We can also translate this guide into other languages.  If you would like a copy in another language, please contact:

Mr B Massen

National Officer
The Valuation Tribunal Management Board
2^nd Floor
Walton House
11 The Parade
Royal Leamington Spa
Warwickshire
CV32 4DG.

Phone: 01926 423825
Fax: 01926 423207
E-mail: national.office@vto.gsx.gov.uk

This guide is one of a series of leaflets that give information about our services. Our other guides include:

·         a guide to our notice of acknowledgement; and

·         a guide to our notice of decision.

We also offer guides on dealing with Council Tax Valuation and Non-Domestic Rating List appeals.  If you would like to receive any of these guides, please contact the Tribunal Office at the address shown on our notice of hearing.

You will find more information about the Valuation Tribunal Services and copies of all of our guides on our website:

www.valuation-tribunals.gov.uk