Council Tax Rebanding SUCCESS stories

Branflake_Girl

Local Borough Council: Crawley
Council Tax Band Before: C
Council Tax Band After: B
Amount refunded: Waiting for i!

Thanks to the lovely MoneySavingExpert we discovered our 1 bed flat (Plus 1 other in our block and 2 in the neighbouring block) were banded higher than the other 8 identical flats in both blocks so we put in a proposal. We received a rather belligerant letter back from the VOA to say our proposal was invalid and we would not be rebanded as our flat was a 2 bed according to the valuation done in 1991 (NB: both blocks were mere patches of waste ground in 1991!) so we duely invited them to send someone round to show us the second bedroom...we have a baby due so would love to know where it is as we could do with the space! The inspector came and found NO second bedroom...surprisingly! A few days later we had a letter stating we would be rebanded as of 2005 (the year the waste ground became a block of flats) and our local council would be in touch regarding our recalculated bill. This is the bit that may take time as CBC are slower than a dead halibut...except when it comes to demanding money from residents! But we are now very happy bunnies. Cheers Mr Lewis :beer:...you rock!!!

denz1968

Local Borough Council: East Lindsey District Council
Council Tax Band Before: F
Council Tax Band After: E
Amount refunded: £2369
Annual saving going forward: £300 per year on this years bill


Many thanks to all on here and Martin's guide to reducing Council tax bands. I applied to the VOA 3-4 weeks ago, got a letter within 2 days of my email stating they were going to review my banding and it could take between 6-8 weeks. Last week got the letter from VOA saying we were being reduced to an E effective from when we moved in in August 2000. Next day got the letter from the Council stating the same and that the refund was £2369. Money was paid into my account yesterday. Total time less than 4 weeks.

Thanks :beer:

Whitters

House Council Tax Rebanding Exercise:

Northampton Borough Council
Previous Band: E
Rebanded to Band: D
Rebate of £2459.79
Current Saving c£400 pa
1st Letter sent 7th April 2010
Money credited to my account 17th June 2010.

A little research on local rates and valuations was done using MSE tools. It was all rather straight forward and easy. I have lived here since 1978 so was able to ask for full back-dating.

My (and my neighbours) semi is the only one in my post code area and his was D. It appeared that 68 and 70, both large brownstone house banded E, bracketted my number, 69, and I was banded E back in the drive-by days. I looked at all the semi's in the road behind my house and not one was band E. The formula regarding value now and value in 1991 also worked in my favour. I printed out the relevant detail and sent it off as per your instructions.

The Northampton listings officer replied promptly and efficiently informing me of next steps and approximate time scale. Final agreement came and Code 6 was given as the reason for change (entry on the council tax list amended in the light of additional inormation).

Thanks MSE, last month my wife and I motorcycled France, Andorra and Spain on the proceeds. And my rates bill has gone down too. Winner!

martinlewisisawesome

Don't give up!

Local Borough Council: Stockton Borough Council
Council Tax Band Before: E
Council Tax Band After: D
Amount refunded: £1820
Annual saving going forward: £350 per year on this years bill
After reading the guide here about council tax re-banding I realised I had a very strong case and put together my first letter to the local VOA in February, after around 6 weeks I received a reply stating that in the their opinion I was in the correct band and there was no ground for appeal. The more I researched property prices and bandings in my area the more I was absolutely sure I was correct and put together a second letter with further evidence to back up my claim. Four weeks later I received another reply stating that after looking at the case again the VOA still thought I was in the correct band. I called the VOA office and spoke to the guy who had made the decision who was quite understanding to my frustration, he basically told me that as a couple of other identical properties to my own had already been re-banded a decision to re-band my property would spark a domino effect of the other properties the same as mine. He basically admitted I was in the wrong band but to re-band me would cause him a big headache with his head office. I wrote a third letter asking for my case to be taken to a higher level as I was not satisfied with the reasons given for not changing my band (in their OPINION i was in the correct band, my property had a few extra square meters area to other properties I had given as examples, the properties identical to mine that had been re-banded were located on a corner......all tosh reasons and nothing to do with the price my property would have been worth if it had been built when the 1991 prices were used). After about two weeks I got a reply which stated they now agreed I was in the wrong band and that they would change it. Just got the cheque through which will be very welcome as we have a new baby on the way.

If you do your research and know that you are correct then don't give up at the first refusal, they have a legal obligation to have you pay the correct amount of tax for your property.......which is something I needed to remind them 3 times before i was successful.

Massive thank you to Martin Lewis, I've been in the property for 8 years completely unaware I was paying to much and without his guide i'd have never known.......bloke is a legend!

laurence_hinton

Local Borough Council: Waveney District
Council Tax Band Before: C
Council Tax Band After: B
Amount refunded: £1240
Annual saving going forward: £300

I found all the info for my parents when I was ill and very bored. Only took about 20 mins to do.

The case took about 2 years from when I first found it out to when we actually got the money. But keep pestering the councils for your money! They owe it to you!

Thanks Martin for this brilliant tip!

dr_bluestone

Chesterfield Borough Council
Band D to C

Not sure how this happened, but we received a letter from the Council who "acted on evidence received" to refund us approx £2,500.

I know this is an unexpected windfall, but as the over payment dates back to 1995, I have written requesting interest due to the obvious reduction in value of money over this period.

I appreciate that the concil's have no legal obligation to provide an interest payment, but wonder if anyone has had success thru perseverance with this (e.g. writing to MP) because it does seem rather unfair.

Thanks in anticiaption of any response.
Chris

rd_se3

Local Borough Council: Lewisham
Council Tax Band Before: E
Council Tax Band After: C
Amount refunded: £1284
Annual saving going forward: Not sure - about 400 or so as this represented 3 years' of overpayments.

The whole process was quite painless. Emailed the VOA website and sorted out a revaluation of my property. My flat was the only one in the block with an E band, the rest were C, and it was incorrectly down as a 2-bed flat. Was revalued at C, I then contacted Lewisham council with these details and they got back to me within 4 weeks with my refund. Like most I'm sure people felt it was a nice surprise to get the money back. Holiday money for me, I reckon !

mitzybudgie

Local Borough Council: Walsall
Council Tax Band Before: B
Council Tax Band After: A
Amount refunded: £1133 + no further payments this year
Annual saving going forward: £170 PER YEAR


I did thorough research, as encouraged by Martin, and then wrote to my local valuation office. It took a little longer than other participants, but was worth the wait. They agreed that we were in the incorrect band and reduced us to an A.

We got a refund back to December 1993 - I did not think £1133 was much for that amount of time, but when I queried it, they said that our Council Tax bill for the rest of this year has been paid in full, before they refunded the balance to us. This means that we have actually received a total refund of approximately £1800.

Can't thank Martin enough - This is the second refund I've received thanks to his advice - I got PPI back last year ! :j :T :j

profscooter

Just had a letter from the VOA today,

Local Borough Council: Sedgemoor, Somerset
Council Tax Band Before: G
Council Tax Band After: F
I followed the guidance on MSE and phoned the local Valuation Office a couple of months ago, explaining that I though our band looked high compared to others in the road. Previously they had it down as a composite property, it must have been part business when they did the "drive-by". Anyway the guy gave me a warning that this was a formal process and the band could go up as well as down, but since that seemed unlikely I took the plunge. They said it would take about two months and that was about right. Have not had a revised bill yet from the council but F to G is a step of around £400 a year hereabouts, and we've been here 10 years so that might work out quite nicely.

The previous occupant would also be due some rebate back to 1993, however she left in suspicious circumstances and for years afterwards we received debt collector letters and phone calls looking for her, but we had no forwarding address, so I guess that bit will return to the council coffers. Ironic as she would probably have welcomed it Anyway many thanks to MSE for the tip.

yorkiehf

Local Borough Council : East Yorkshire
Council Tax Band before: E
Council Tax Band after : D
Refund: £1895

We contacted the VOA after reading this article and only 10 weeks later received a cheque and reduced payments. We had previously written in 2007 and been declined any review so it really is worth going for it.