Wrong banding

Amanda_Burek

I have just received a letter from the valuer officer in my area. This was not prompteed by me although i had a feeling we may have been in the wrong band. the letter states that they have investigated and we have been paying for BAND F instead of BAND E for 15 years!!. They are going to contact my council and organise a refund. I think this will be in excess of £2,000. Would it be greedy of me to expect interest on my refund?

project500

Sounds Good to me dont know about the interest though! Do they give you a refund for the full 15 years?

Anyone know what happens the other way round if you have been in a lower band for 15 years do they come onto you for all the excess for the full 15 years?

vivatifosi

Hi Amanda,

If you go to the main council tax rebanding thread on the Cutting Tax page there is a lot of discussion about interest.

Essentially you get the refund from your local council, but if you are able to get interest it is from the VOA. They will probably say no, particularly if you have won as a result of somebody else's appeal. Their argument goes that you had the right to appeal earlier, didn't exercise it, therefore you're not entitled to interest. Having said that, there are people that do go for interest as well, but it is really hard to win.

Project500 - in answer to your question - yes they can come after you if you've been incorrectly in a lower band for 15 years. If they do, kick up a fuss and ask for it to go to tribunal, but you must do so fairly soon (within six months I think) as otherwise you will be seen as not disagreeing with the increase.