Council Tax Rebanding SUCCESS stories

eightiesclassic

I still can't believe how easy this was to do, and that it didn't backfire on me! When I got the MSE newsletter revealing the council tax banding `fiasco`, I acted that very afternoon (glad I did, and beat the rush!). Followed the instructions on what websites to go to, and was amazed to find my house was in band E when my neighbours either side were D. I phoned the relevant VOA office for Sutton in Surrey (Bromley), and was told it would be looked into and to expect their findings in the post within two months. In a fortnight I got the good news that my claim was upheld, and ten years' worth of overpaying were to be credited to me. The sum of £2,453 should appear in my bank account within the next few weeks, and lo and behold so it did! The whole process took less than a month, and I have to take my hat off to the local authority for being so efficient.

As luck would have it, this was within 50 quid of my credit card bill, which had been hauled from one 0% promotion to the next for years. Paid that off, instantly freeing up forty odd quid a month (minimum payments), coupled with a thirty quid a month saving on council tax now I was in a lower band, I'm looking at an annual saving of over £800!

Martin, you've played a blinder. Cheers!

mike_butcher_2

Southampton City Council
Band before G
Band now F
Annual Saving £190
With effect from 1st April 1993

butterfly72

I rent and have recently moved. I was wondering about the banding of my last rental property as it was in a road of rather nice houses. We were paying Band E rates and after viewing a few Band Ds before I moved I got to thinking that surely my rented house isn't a Band E. I was going to come on here.... this week, I promise you, to ask if it was possible to get an evaluation on a property I no longer lived in.. and guess what... I've just got a letter from the council (spelthorne) stating that the house is now a Band D!!! We've got a rebate of £800!!! :T :T

Do you think the new owner (we moved as landlord sold up) had it rebanded??

I'm well chuffed!!!:rotfl: :beer: Its saved me a job!!

NELLIE_2

I first made a call to my local council (Huntingdon District) in 1993 questioning my banding of E and not D as handed out to the rest of the Close of 15 houses of the same age, some of which were larger than mine, but I was told I had missed the December 1991 deadline for complaints and that nothing could be done to change it. After watching your piece on tv prompted me to give it another go, it turned out that (crucially) the local council should have referred me for further advice to the St Albans Group Valuation Office in 1993.

I followed the MSE website instructions to the letter, double-checked my facts and valuations, and despite having to deal with four separate office by email, letter and phone (St Albans Valuation Office, Cambridge Valuation Office, Cambridgeshire Valuation Tribunal in Peterborough and Huntingdon District Council), I finally received a phone call from the very nice lady in Cambridge who was handling my case, informing me that my Council Tax Band would be reduced to D from E wef 1st April 2007. No site visit required. In addition, any overpayment would be refunded and backdated to 1993. I jumped for joy when a cheque for £2342 arrived from the local council on 7th March 2007. The whole process took about 8 weeks.

I am now able to get some crucial repairs done to the house with this unexpected windfall, all thanks to you Martin. Thank you.

My one piece of advice to anyone giving it a try is to stay polite as some of the bureaucracy involved can be mind-boggling!

Maisie

butterfly72 wrote: »

I rent and have recently moved. I was wondering about the banding of my last rental property as it was in a road of rather nice houses. We were paying Band E rates and after viewing a few Band Ds before I moved I got to thinking that surely my rented house isn't a Band E. I was going to come on here.... this week, I promise you, to ask if it was possible to get an evaluation on a property I no longer lived in.. and guess what... I've just got a letter from the council (spelthorne) stating that the house is now a Band D!!! We've got a rebate of £800!!! :T :T

Do you think the new owner (we moved as landlord sold up) had it rebanded??

I'm well chuffed!!!:rotfl: :beer: Its saved me a job!!

The new owners of the property must have applied for rebanding and been successful. The voa wouldn't reband for you once you had sold the house.

So thank the new owners.

You can look on the voa website and see what the band is now.

thrifty_jilly

Just wanted to let you know that on February 14th, I phoned the valuation office in Leicester to ask for a revaluation, since most of our neghbours are in D and we are in E. The person I spoke to said that it would take 8 weeks, but yesterday I got a letter to say that we had been reduced to D, backdated from 1993. Apparently they have informed our local council, so we are just waiting to hear from them. We are thrilled to bits!

mgawthorp

Local Borough Council:Huntingdonshire
Council Tax Band Before:C
Council Tax Band After:B
Amount refunded:£1082.

Thankyou Martin, We have lived in our house since August 1996, after watching your program we did the relevant checks. Made 1 phone call. And after 4 weeks recieved a letter saying we where now in band B, and a refund would come from local council. Another 4 weeks after that we recieved our check for £1082.
Thankyou again
Martin and Lynn

Bettybo_2

Cannock Chase Council. Staffs
Band B £1059
Band A £907
Refund £1400

I was told by a neighbour that we were both paying band B and all the neighbours were paying band A. I had never given it a thought until then as I was quite happy paying band B as I thought it was the correct valuation. "The ears soon pricked up"
After searching the net and checking the valuation of my house in 1991 I soon realised that I was in the wrong band. "All the links are in Martins Tips"

I contacted the valuation office, they were more than helpful. 3 weeks later, without any visits a letter arrived saying that I had been rebanded to band A due to a clerical error!

The council wrote to me saying that I would get a year free from paying council tax and a cheque for £400. I soon challenged that. No problems at all. The council were very nice and without hesitation sent me a cheque for £1400. 13 years refund. Less than six weeks from start to finish. Well impressed!

My neighbour had all his information from Martins tips.

Many thanks Martin

frugalpam

:T :T Oh my goodness - well done to all, getting council tax re-banding and refunds. I'm getting on to this myself - can't believe its fair that my tiny 2 bed house is Band C
Thank you for sharing the info!!

Pam

Edited to add:

OK, I've followed the steps exactly as Martin set out in his article
I've discovered that my neighbours in our Close are also all on Band C (apart from 2 who've added extensions / conservatories in recent yrs, and are on band D.
I checked my house value at 1991 levels, and discovered that it would have been worth approx £44844 in 1991 (its currently worth approx £160,000 and I've been here 10 yrs). That falls into Band B £40001 - £52000 for 1991 property values.

Is it worth me going ahead, do you think, to apply to be re-banded to Band B? I'm hesitant because the vast majority in our Close are Band C - but maybe we should all be re-banded to B?

Any advice most welcome - you guys have solid experience in all this

Pam

jamesiebabie

NELLIE wrote: »

I first made a call to my local council (Huntingdon District) in 1993 questioning my banding of E and not D as handed out to the rest of the Close of 15 houses of the same age, some of which were larger than mine, but I was told I had missed the December 1991 deadline for complaints and that nothing could be done to change it. After watching your piece on tv prompted me to give it another go, it turned out that (crucially) the local council should have referred me for further advice to the St Albans Group Valuation Office in 1993.

I followed the MSE website instructions to the letter, double-checked my facts and valuations, and despite having to deal with four separate office by email, letter and phone (St Albans Valuation Office, Cambridge Valuation Office, Cambridgeshire Valuation Tribunal in Peterborough and Huntingdon District Council), I finally received a phone call from the very nice lady in Cambridge who was handling my case, informing me that my Council Tax Band would be reduced to D from E wef 1st April 2007. No site visit required. In addition, any overpayment would be refunded and backdated to 1993. I jumped for joy when a cheque for £2342 arrived from the local council on 7th March 2007. The whole process took about 8 weeks.

I am now able to get some crucial repairs done to the house with this unexpected windfall, all thanks to you Martin. Thank you.

My one piece of advice to anyone giving it a try is to stay polite as some of the bureaucracy involved can be mind-boggling!

,

Nellie,

If you are bothered, you can now go back to the VOA and try and claim the interest that you should be due from the VOA as they had incorrectly banded your property and you have been left out of pocket due to the interest that you could have gained if it had been in the bank.

It will take a further letter to the VOA Customer Service Manager and a bit of background info for them. I have helped several people get the interest back as well. It entails a bit more hassle if you are bothered.

You will se from the other Council Tax board how thi can be done.