Council Tax Cost Cutting: reduce your band and grab any discounts Discussion Area

dips1105

I have a prob with my council tax bill. Early this year I was eligable for CTB and got a discount, my council issues very confusing bills and the last payment I made was in July 06. I have been disputing figures with the council as I recieve confliciting information. The council now wants me to re-pay o/s HB back to them and council tax in the region of £100 a month. I have told them I cannot afford this and they have done an income questionaire. They say as I can afford HP on a car and a Gym membership i can afford to pay CT. I have told them if I don't pay my HP I can't get to work and the Gym Membership is for medical reasons. They are not being helpful and I just get threatening letters. Does anyone have any idea of how to pursue this?

pbfhpunk

I had the VOA Officer come round this morning and she just asked a few questions and took my letter and completed form. She said she's not in the office now until the middle of next week and she'll look into it then an give me a ring at the end of next week. Not wanting to get my hopes up too much but she did keep saying, we'll see what we can do for you, so that sounded 'kinda' promising!!

Fingers crossed!!

Helen

Annie021063

Maisie wrote:

Annie not sure when you will actually get your refund. Hope it's soon. I think you have answered 'byebye's question if refund goes back to 1993.

Glad my original post helped.

Thanks for letting us know and hope other MSE's will keep us up to date with claims. It will encourage even more to apply.

Well done Annie.

maisie OP

Ok guys it's done and dusted. Called billing office about claim she checked and said yes they had had notification and they were sending me a cheque for £554 and have also paid the rest of this years council tax for me out of the refund (another £200) so total returned £754:T :T :T :beer: :beer: :T :T :T
Can't thank you and everyone on here enough - it's made our xmas.

Maisie

Annie021063 wrote:

Ok guys it's done and dusted. Called billing office about claim she checked and said yes they had had notification and they were sending me a cheque for £554 and have also paid the rest of this years council tax for me out of the refund (another £200) so total returned £754:T :T :T :beer: :beer: :T :T :T
Can't thank you and everyone on here enough - it's made our xmas.

That's great news Annie. Well done.

Have a wonderful Christmas.

maisie

lynneth_2

I looked up my house on the VOA website around 6 weeks ago and was annoyed to see that I was a band higher than all the similar houses on the street. I contacted my local Voa, who said they would investigate. I received a call 2 weeks ago that didn't sound that promising but then a few days ago received notification that the banding had been lowered from 1993. Again didn't hold my breath as wasn't sure I would be entitled to a refund, but this morning received a chq for £ 750 plus don't have to pay my final installment next month. Many thanks to all who have posted on this thread as these posts have encouraged me to persue this.

dodds_2

Hi all I checked my street half are band D and other half band E Im in E. Ive found out how much my house cost new and when it was built (1985).If I do a voc from 1985 to 1991 it takes me into band E just. However if I do the voc on it from present to 1991 it puts me into band D by a lot. So im a bit confused how will it be worked out anyone know. I’m also going to have a look at all the houses down my street to see why we are different.

GPR

I have just managed to have my council tax banding reduced due to being on a higher band than all similar properties in my road. Very good! and received cheque from council around 8 weeks after complaint to voa.The council tells me that they cannot give me back any interest on the money as they are forbidden my government legislation to do so.Is this true-does anyone know? The council say that i might be able to claim against the VOA however as this was due they say to a clerical error i was wondering if this is likely. Believe you need to prove negligence to be able to claim.
Can anyone shed any light on this aspect to council tax refunds?
Great site and excellent that i have managed to get £1800 back even if i dont get the interest!

Maisie

GPR wrote:

I have just managed to have my council tax banding reduced due to being on a higher band than all similar properties in my road. Very good! and received cheque from council around 8 weeks after complaint to voa.The council tells me that they cannot give me back any interest on the money as they are forbidden my government legislation to do so.Is this true-does anyone know? The council say that i might be able to claim against the VOA however as this was due they say to a clerical error i was wondering if this is likely. Believe you need to prove negligence to be able to claim.
Can anyone shed any light on this aspect to council tax refunds?
Great site and excellent that i have managed to get £1800 back even if i dont get the interest!

GPR Thanks for letting us know about your £1800 refund. That's great news. Hope it encourages others to check council tax banding and apply for rebates.

Other MSEs were trying to get interest too but I don't know if anyone was
successful. Has anyone got interest on their rebates?

maisie OP

Annie021063

Hi again guys
Now, not wanting to appear greedy (DFW will reduce by whatever means!) I have a question for you. Can I claim a refund on my old property? I owned a house from 1989-2000 so there are possibly seven years of overcharges to claim back. If I can - how do I go about finding out how much I paid in council tax - I dont have any bank statements. Can I go to the council tax office or the bank which will reveal the info I need? Has anyone else been successful in this??
Would love to hear experiences / opinions
Thanks

bye_bye_band_G

Annie,
I'd imagine you wouldn't be allowed to make an appeal against the banding of a property you no longer own. The present owner would have to live with the result of it, so I guess you gave up your rights on being in charge of an appeal when you sold the house.
But if you could persuade the present owner to make an appeal and it was successful, I don't see why you couldn't subsequently claim back money from 1993 to 2000, and the council would have records of how much that would be. I certainly would try if that was the case - BUT it's a fairly big 'if' getting the current owner to launch and see through an appeal, not everyone is a moneysaver to the core!!

I still haven't had anything in writing about my successful case which was agreed with the valuation officer last week, but she has subsequently confirmed to me by phone that I will be refunded back to 1993, so I will post on here when anything firm is received, I do hope I'm not getting my hopes up too much as it should really be thousands! :j