Council Tax Rebanding SUCCESS stories

rcorke

Local Borough Council: Maidstone
Council Tax Band Before: F
Council Tax Band After: E
Amount refunded: n/a
Annual saving going forward: 328.18

We moved into our house in July. It had been previously two flats so needed rebanding. It was rebanded, after inspection from a VOA agent, as an F. I checked on here and saw that we had a good case for appeal (neighbours and house price index). We appealed, after another VOA inspection and have had our band changed to an E. Even an apology from VOA for getting it wrong the first time!.:beer:
This may be bitter sweet though as our only comparable neighbour (whom our appeal was based upon), an elderly gentleman, was in a band D and may be moved up to a Band E. :eek:

Gers

Local Borough Council: Newcastle upon Tyne
Council Tax Band Before: B
Council Tax Band After: A
Amount refunded: £2,085.93
Annual saving going forward: £170.00

Sent an email to VOA on 31 October, along with google earth pictures, and got a great result. Flats are in a converted old terraced townhouse so footprint and size identical.

No companies, no fuss and no problem!

:j :j :j

jimboy56

Enfield B.C.
Council Tax Band Before: E
Council Tax Band After: D
Amount refunded: £3090
Annual saving going forward: £312

One phone call and £3000 paid into my bank account! (after about 10 weeks)

keylockb

Three years ago we built an annexe and moved the in-laws in. Last month we had notification that an evaluation officer would visit with a view to placing it in a council tax band. She came, took one look and decided it would be banded, possibly band A. Groan! This on top of band E for main house would total almost £300 per month. Phoned council and asked about exemptions, since in-laws are 83 and 90 years old. Told, by what sounded like a 12-year old, that no exemptions were applicable. So, I looked online and found that exemption W states that if occupants are either elderly dependents, or mentally disabled, or physically disabled, they are exempt from payment. Clearly the 12 year old needed grammar lessons as she thought the exemption applied only if you met all three criteria. So, zero payment agreed by council. I then decided that if the attached annexe was subject to a tax band then, in theory, my house was no longer detached, but semi-detached. Council agreed, rebanded it as D and I now pay £33 per month less than before they began the whole process. Result! So, don't believe what any official tells you - always check for yourself.

Peetoki

I followed the advice from this forum, and wrote to my local authority (Bassetlaw, Nottinghamshire) and pointed out that my semi detached bungalow was banded higher than every one of my neighbours (mine is in the middle of a block of 10 identical properties), and asked why.
I was told "it must have been different in some way when it was assessed" (as far as I can determine, it wasn't), and I had no claim. The person who replied told me that I had NO appeal, I had to accept his decision.
How do you deal with this sort of arrogance, and where do I go from here?

PhatMedallion

Local Borough Council: Guildford Borough Council
Council Tax Band Before: E
Council Tax Band After: D
Amount refunded: Around £600 back dated
Annual saving going forward: £360 per year

We fought hard and after many rebuffs the VOA reduced my daughter's Council Tax, she is living in brand new 'Affordable Housing' for key workers, built in 2011, in an affluent area, so the Council Tax was set extremely high with no thought to how tiny her accommodation was compared to the surrounding large houses. I think it is a standard response to say no and then say you can't appeal, just ignore this, it is your right to keep phoning and writing and questioning a wrong decision, this where many people give up - don't!!


I don't want my daughter to seem like a baby, we took over the fight because she works shifts and was struggling with the relentless bureacracy working part time I was able to help. The VOA tried every trick in the book to not change the band, we had to do loads of research and attach a lot of supportive documentation Zoopla was great evidence to compare prices of flats against the houses, we also found the closest, comparable flats above a shop half a mile away and found their band was lower - this was great evidence & proof.

Good luck to anyone else who stands up the to VOA lot! Keep at 'em, do not waver and be very polite - even if steam is coming out of your ears! Use all the hints and tips provided by Money Saving Expert.

nutty1980

focus_girl wrote: »

Council: Halton Borough Council
Band before: E
Band after: D
Amount of refund: Don't know yet but the alteration has been backdated to 1st April 1993!

I suspected for a while that we were in the wrong band but it was not until I followed the advice on the site that I could do much about it. We live in a 2 bed bungalow with 1 living room and no garage. There are no direct comparisons as our house is a 'one off'. When I checked some of the other houses in the road I found out they were in the same band (E) but these houses each have 4-6 bedrooms, a huge double garage and at least 2 living rooms! I contacted the valuation office and asked for a re-valuation, the officer paid us a visit 4 weeks later and viewed the house. Today I have received a letter confiming that our house is now in a band D saving us £280 in this tax year alone. Reason for the change: an error in the original valuation. The council tax people have confimed that they will have to refund the over payments going back to April 1993 and will send us a revised bill for 2007-2008....

Thank you moneysavingexpert for providing the information, it has been well worth the effort of doing the checks etc to get this result. :j

hi just wondered how you found how difficult you found getting your money back from halton borough council, im currently challenging my banding and im very confident it will be changed, i know once its changed ill need to contact the council regarding back paybut just though id see how you got on as these will be the next people i will be chasing upon my successfull claim and wanted to know how straight forward it is, i know this is an old post but your the only one on this thread with the same council so hopefully you will respond!

lincroft1710

nutty 1980 - there is very, very rarely a problem in getting a refund of overpayment of CT. The only thing that sometimes happens is that councils may offset the refund against CT owed for the current tax year.

delph_2

ok thank you for your help

lincroft1710

As you have lived in the flat for less than 6 months you have a right to ask for a revaluation. However you may not get the band reduced.