Council Tax Rebanding SUCCESS stories

kerrazoo

Success for me too!

Glasgow
Reduction from B to A
Saving - £178 a year

Moved in last October and put in my proposal in March as identical houses in the same street were Band A, whilst mine and a couple of others were Band B.

It was pretty easy to do, but a long and patient journey to get to the result, as they didn't really keep me informed through the process. However I was told it was going to a tribunal in late October , but before that date the the council phoned me to agree to my rebranding after I had phoned up for details of the tribunal.

And it's finally came through, meaning a refund for the overpayment last year and the correct council tax rate for the years to come.

Scary77

Local Borough Council: Bristol City Council
Council Tax Band Before: D
Council Tax Band After: C
Amount refunded: Unknown at present but hoping for £800 approx
Annual saving going forward: £176

Finally after a year of postal correspondence we received confirmation today of our band reduction. To cut long story short (ish), neighbours houses opposite exactly same size and style as our side of street but they are all band C (apart from those with extensions), we are all band D.
They rejected my first letter by saying that this was because the houses opposite were slightly smaller and so at the top of C band, our houses they said were larger at at top of D band. This had me all fired up as the houses are IDENTICAL size, so I wrote again (took me a year nearly from their letter so don't be put off if you have left it a while!) and said that their response had PROVED to me that we were in the wrong band as our house was identical size to those opposite. Did quite a bit of research, took photos of houses, printed google images of the roof sizes, and did the house price calculator for a few example houses, ours and those opposite indicating that the value in Q2 of 1991 would have been in Band C, if not Band B! Sent it all off with about 6 quotes from the VOA website basically saying that although the usual appeal options didn't apply to us they still had a legal duty to ensure that bandings were correct and to investigate in full if not. Made it clear that I would want their evidence in full if the answer was still negative so that I could pursue it further.
They tried to say in the 1st letter that they had proof that similar houses had sold for D band values in 1991, I said I couldn't find any online data this far back but they must have been looking at the larger houses further up our street based on the house price calculator and more recent sales figures and that it was totally unrealistic to think our property would have been worth anywhere near D band values at that time and as they could see from when we bought the property back in 2005 that it was at the lower end of the scale for properties sold in our street at that time as it needed a serious update!

I think their 1st response will always be sorry nothing we can do but if you are sure you are right and have a case persevere, it pays off in the end!

janeroser_2

:TMy son has been in rented accomadation since June 2004 and paying ct for band D. Read re appealing against banding and found that all the other 2 bedroom houses in the terrace where he lived were band C The house on the other side of him not attached and with three bedrooms was a band D.
Went through the motions with Valuation Office and they admitted nearly immediately that my sons house was in the wrong band.
He received written confirmation after eight weeks it had been changed from D to C and received from Mid Sussex Sussex Council a credit of just under £800.00. Would have been more but benefit was paid for a short period so they clawed that back.
How many more people on limited incomes are paying the wrong band !!!!.

linsy

I have recently taken Martins advice and achieved great success. My council is East Hants DC and I wrote to the Valuation office as we had been graded as a Band E since the house was first valued. After a few weeks I received a reply stating that I was correct and the property would be rebanded to Band D and the council would repay the difference going back to 1995, What a result I have today received the letter stating that the overpayment is just over £3000 - more successful than I could have ever imagined. It was well worth the hour or sos work on the websites and a simple letter I would urge anyone else to do it as its so simple Thanks again.:money::rotfl:

AllanI

Council - High Peak Borough Council
Original Tax Band - E.
Amended Council Tax Band - D.
Rebate - £3600
Annual Saving - £330

Followed the instructions on MSE about bands of nearby houses and selling prices.
Well worth the price of a stamp.:T

mikec24

Local Borough Council: Basildon
Council Tax Band Before: G
Council Tax Band After: F
Amount refunded: £3652 and some change
Annual saving going forward:

I looked at this site some time ago but did not pursue a claim until four weeks ago!
All it took was a little bit of research and a couple of emails
You really...............really should put the word out to friends and family to check their banding, This could be your money that is in someone else's pocket!!!

s.roberts

Council: Denbighshire
Band Before: E
Band After: C
Saving going forward: About £300

We bought the house in August with a banding of E. Asked the previous owner why it was in an E. Said that they challenged it but that it was outside the 6 month rule ( it hadbeen rebranded as it is in wales from a D to an E in April 2005). We decided to appeal under the right of new owners have 6 months from purchasing the property. We had the VOA officer round and then got a letter saying that it would be placed in band D. We still diagreed with this and it went to a tribunal hearing. We got the results of that in the post this week. There will not be much rebate for us but the previous owner will get some justice and a nice rebate backdated to april 2005

Tariq_Mirza

A big thank you Martin!

I took you advice a few weeks ago, asked them reassess the my house band from a G, and hey presto!


I received a letter over a week ago, telling me that I had been rebranded as an F.

I chased the council to expediate matters and I had a cheque on my doorstep on Monday morning - the money couldn't have come at a better time.

I cannot thank you enough!

Local Borough Council: BARNET
Council Tax Band Before: G
Council Tax Band After: F
Amount refunded: £2568.00
Annual saving going forward: at least £300 per annum

Tariq Mirza, London N11

nannyogg59

Council Leicester City
Band before C
Band after A
Amount refunded £2100
Annual projected saving £280 approx

I'd never heard of this problem before, but idly thought I'd have an investigate. Didn't really think our band would be wrong, but was even more curious when I looked at the appropriate site, and everyone else in the street appeared to be an A, including the "other half" of our semi :think:

So as advised, called the Valuation Dept, they took details over the phone, and said would look into it. Didn't hold my breath!

Think that was in September this year. Had a "rebanded" bill dated 1st November, and when called to check on the figures, was told we were due a refund back to 2001! :j Got a cheque towards the end of November to cover up to 2008.

There has been a bit of to-ing and fro-ing about dues for 2008-10 as Council Tax Benefit was involved for a few months in that. But even if we're no longer eligible due to the goalposts shrinking, I think we will still be paying less than we were originally :T

THANK YOU to Martin and the website - it's made the run up to Christmas a lot brighter, even if we're only "boringly" paying a bit off the mortgage with it! :A

Victim_of_Countrywide

So much for the coalition saying they are shelving Council Tax Revaluation Plan:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/reclaim/2010/09/conservatives-shelve-council-tax-revaluation-plan

Beware your local Valuation Office is looking for ways to Revaluate by the back door. See this story from Croydon. One local challenged her council tax band and it resulted in a Revaluation of the whole area. They don't tell you about that do they!!

http://www.thisiscroydontoday.co.uk/news/Flats-fear-163-300-council-tax-hike/article-2963734-detail/article.html