Council Tax Rebanding SUCCESS stories

guppy

kazasid wrote: »

It appears that CBC will only refund up to six years??

This was discussed at length on here a year or so ago...

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=9534101&postcount=2239

Have a look at this post, and the others by BrightonBuoy on the Council Tax thread. He had to go to small claims court but eventually Brighton Council settled out of court and paid back to 1993.

Unfortunately they made him sign a confidentiality clause so we never heard the details...all sounds very, very fishy to me.

naijapower

Very useful and inspiring stories. I wont give up in my own case.
Would defnitely fight my banding all the way

neustift

Fife Council
Previous Banding = C
New Banding = B
Saving £170 per year.

Was simple and straighforward via scottish assesors site. Did it online about 1 week ago and got the good new by phone today.

smokemon

hi...when my partners father passed away last year she bought the house from him(handover).
we moved in last april. we decided to appeal our Glasgow council tax banding and recieved a letter last week stating we would be getting our banding changed from band D to band B starting from 1/4/1993.
Does my partner have any rights to claim a back dater to 1993 or will it be for the year and a half we have lived there....cheers T

lincroft1710

Smokemon - she can claim from date she first started paying CT. The executor(s) of your partner's father's estate can claim a refund from 1/4/93 up to her father's last day of liability for payment, and for any time they may have paid CT as executors.

smokemon

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Smokemon - she can claim from date she first started paying CT. The executor(s) of your partner's father's estate can claim a refund from 1/4/93 up to her father's last day of liability for payment, and for any time they may have paid CT as executors.

cheers for info.....we started paying council tax as soon as we moved in last apr...so a wee backdater till then it is:T

lizzyr_2

Thank you Martin, I have successfully been rebanded and it only took ten minutes on the internet following your guide and a five minute phone call. My Local Borough Council is Bradford and my Council Tax Band before was C and is now B.
The only downside is that Bradford Met have sent me a letter which adjusts my payments and refunds the amount due on a monthly basis till March. I pay by direct debit monthly. Although I am reasonably articulate I cannot understand just how much I have been refunded and what my future payments are going to be when the rebate they are crediting me has ended. I have just contacted Bradford Met who have explained that since I have an outstanding bill (my monthly direct debits for this year) they have every right to credit my bill in this way and I am not entitled to a cheque or a full credit. They also were unable to explain what my credit was and what my new payments without the credit will be. I have complained about this and been told to put it all in writing.

Although I am pleased at the money I have saved. It concerns me that the Bradford Met are dealing with customers in such a way. Surely it can't be that difficult to use plain english, and communicate with customers in a user friendly way.

thanks again though - wouldn't have tried if you hadn't made it so easy

lincroft1710

Lizzyr - this is usual practice where refund is only current or immediately previous council tax year. As your payments for current tax year have been reduced for each month you pay, the first payment at the new full amount will be April 2010, the new tax year and that amount won't be calculated until Feb/Mar 2010.

babsanddon

Local Council: Horsham, West Sussex
Banding Before: F
Banding After: E

Saw the tip in Martin's weekly email and thought I'd take a look.
Neighbours houses are similar but mostly larger than ours and with garages. Some are the same tax band or but most are lower.
I phoned the relevant Valuation Office and explained the situation; I was asked a few questions, like why I thought our Council Tax was wrong etc. I received a letter within the week asking for any further information I could supply to help my case. Four weeks later we received a letter from the Valuation Office informing us that my “council tax band was incorrect and needs to be reduced”. “I believe (E) to be the correct band based on levels of value on 1st April 1991”

The change is to be from April 1993. At today’s rate the reduction will be approx £320.00 per year.

We will be waiting with bated breath for our refund.
Many thanks to Martin and MSE subscribers!

Keep up the good work.
B & D

hadjab

Local Borough Council: Lambeth
Council Tax Band Before: F
Council Tax Band After: E
Amount refunded: £1790
Annual saving going forward: £179

Hi There,

Just wanted to report success in getting our Council Tax band reduced!

There are 12 houses on our road which are pretty much the same as ours - double fronted, 3 bed, semi detached. We bought it in 1999, and our tax band has always been F. We didn't think anything of it, we just accepted it as being correct for that type of house.

Having read about council tax re-banding in Martin's Money Saving Tips, I thought I'd do a quick investigation thinking nothing would come of it - boy was I wrong!! Of the 12 similar houses, ours was the only one in band F - all the others are band E

I fired off a letter as soon as possible to the Local Listing Officer - three months later, we have just received a refund of £1790, for over-payments backdated to September 1999, and our Tax band is now E, along with all the others!!

I've told everyone i know to check their Council Tax band - thanks to Martin and his team for being on our side :T