Council Tax Rebanding SUCCESS stories

Lucky4_2

Good afternoon, are there any cases where Compensation has been paid for loss of Interest on being overbanded for Council Tax. Thanks.

lincroft1710

Lucky4 wrote: »

Good afternoon, are there any cases where Compensation has been paid for loss of Interest on being overbanded for Council Tax. Thanks.

As there is no provision in CT law for payment of interest on overpayment refunds, councils will not and do not pay interest. In very exceptional circumstances the Valuation Office Agency has paid interest, but they don't make a habit of it.

sarbut

Local Borough Council: Flintshire County Council
Council Tax Band Before: F
Council Tax Band After: E
Amount refunded: £1100
Annual saving going forward: £250

I've owned the house since 1999 and all homes in Wales were rebanded for council tax in 2005 - at that point I thought our band may be incorrect but was unaware that I could do anything about it.

After reading a thread on here I did some digging and established that all other 3 bedroom bungalows in my postcode were band E and we were F so contacted the VOA who sent an assessor out within 3 weeks. Within a week he'd made his decision that we should in fact be on band E and we got our refund backdated to 2005 within another 2 weeks!

Rogerthat

Local Borough Council: Reigate & Banstead
Council Tax Band Before: G
Council Tax Band After: F
Amount refunded: tba - hopefully 17 years worth!

:j Success from VAO after just 4 weeks !

Suggestions for other hopefuls ....

1) Do your research thoroughly before contacting VOA; it helped greatly with my first phone contact. (e.g. I was able to state that 35 of 37 similar houses were lower banded in my neihbourhood.)

2) Follow up with a written summary of your claim when you receive confirmation that the case is to be reviewed. A number of questions were asked about the present size of the house during that first phone call which were not relevant at the time of valuation, and this made me wonder if they had the story straight.

3) Check the VOA database for signs that similar properties were challenged and rebanded in the early days of implementation (I found two) as this should give credibility to your claim.

4) Be kind to your neighbours - I shall be in touch with that 37th householder who may have a similar case!

Good luck.

Zobo

Hi Martin,

THANK YOU!!

Local Borough Council: South Derbyshire District Council
Council Tax Band Before: C
Council Tax Band After: B
Amount refunded: awaiting approx £1100.
Annual saving going forward: £162 - previously £1296 per year, now £1134.

Just want to ask if anyone knows if I should trace the previous owners as our VOA letter has backdated the banding to 1993 and we moved in 2002?

Also, we had a letter from a company the same week as confirmation of our new banding - offering to look into our banding for us for a 'no win, no fee' percentage. Reading into it, if people use these schemes they take 25% plus V.A.T from your refund - what a con!! It only took me two emails and one form to sort out myself - anyone who sees these schemes should stay away and follow Martin's tips and do it themselves!!

Take care all.

mikee31

mikee31 wrote: »

Well done Pauline and everyone else.

Similarly, I recently checked my council tax banding, never did feel that it was right, but never got round to checking it out.

After checking identical houses in my area, which were all 'B' banded whilst I was strangely a 'C'.

Contacted the VOA office about 2 weeks ago and today 6/10/10, I received notification that I has been rebanded to a 'B' reducing my Council Tax by around £145.00 a year!

The letter from the VOA says that Thurrock Borough Council will be informed of this change in due course.

So now what? Should I expect a back payment for the 8 years we've been overpaying? I only ask as the guy I spoke to at the VOA office said that I won't get anything back.

Is it down to the Council? Unfortunately I am yet to find any other success stories from Thurrock BC?

Just as an update, after a few weeks since the inital call, £976 rebate credited into my bank account today! Plus £25 off of the monthly Council Tax bill from now until April, and then lower banding for next year. Woo hoo! :j

menollyke

I have just stumbled across this topic and wonder if I should query it as well. Last page someone said something about them not rebanding anymore till the new elections?

Anyways, I live in a 3 bed semi which is a band C. Half of the houses in the street are B and half are C. The neighbours are a band B but have more floor space due to an extension. Most C's are semi detached and the B's are terraced. However our house used to have a garage next to the house and a much bigger garden. At some point in the past this has been removed and some of the land has been sold to create a driveway to a property behind the street.

The street which our street comes off are all banded as B even though they are the same size and have bigger gardens. (and some have garages in the back garden) We do have off street parking in the place where the garage used to be, but our back garden is now reduced to a very small triangle shaped garden.

Is it still worth trying? Nationwide figures suggest at least one band lower on the sale price we paid. (but it is borderline A/B, but we might have bought it for a bargain)

lincroft1710

menollyke wrote: »

Is it still worth trying?

Yes, although land and garage loss wouldn't make much difference to the 1991 price.

menollyke

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Yes, although land and garage loss wouldn't make much difference to the 1991 price.

I understand that, but than the neighbours have more land and more floorspace for a lower band. :S I think I might give it a shot after the children are in bed and I have time to write it all down. The other houses in the street that are in band C either have a loft extension or an extension to the side of the house. Also had a look at the other band C in the ajoining street and they either have a loft conversation or a big exention as well. The worst they can do is say we are paying the correct amount. It is not that much, but the 15 pounds a month are a nice extra.

lee_crehan

Dear Sir,

Please help,
I recently looked into my council tax banding and found that my neighbours on both sides are in a lower tax band than me.
I live on a cul de sac of semi detached houses a mixture of private and housing association houses. 28 of the properties are
2 bedroom and four are 3 bedroom. The 3 bedroom houses are in band B and the 2 bedroom are in band A. My house lies between
2 band A houses and one of them is attached. The one attached has the corner plot and a garage. I have a groundfloor extension and
so does both neighbours the same size and dimension. My house is the only 2 bedroom house in council tax band B. I produced
evidence of this sending the housing plan of the street as part of my evidence as well as Nationwide house price indices from 1991 which
indicate my house was valued at £31,000 in 1991. I paid £40,000 in 2001. I was told by the VOA that after there investigation that they find the
banding to be correct. I do not know what to do next and I would be grateful for some advice to take this further as I believe there to have been
an error in banding the houses back in 1993 when this was done.

Regards

Lee Crehan