Council Tax Rebanding SUCCESS stories

Beehive_Buzz

Council Tax Band before F
Council Tax Band after E
Refunded £1961.69
Amount saving going forward £300.00
Originally advised by Valuation Office, my on line application was invalid.
However, a week later recieved a confirmation letter advising they had reconsidererd my application and agreed the banding was incorrect. Some three weeks later they confirmed band F was incorrect for our property and the local authority would be advised. Needless to say, the local authority
sent copies of concil tax forms from 1999 to date, identifying the refunds, all
in keeping with Band E. Unfortuately they could not produce the ones going back to 1993, as they had been archieved but the sums looked about right.
If I had not seen the TV coverage, I would most probably still be paying the old rate. Many Thanks Martin, I'll keep checking your web site, just in case....as one of my pensions has gone down one of the governments big black holes!!!!!!!!!!

deca_321

it seems that every1 else but me is getting their council tax money back. l have been overpaying for 2 years! l have evidence to prove it but edinburgh council are just ignoring it!! un real, and they are still charging me wrong rates as l write this! l even got legal aid laywer who basically is a retard! and is not even on my side! Edinburgh Council = worst council in the UK l am moving out next year due to the stuff they have done to me!!!!!!!!!!

shaymenRup

Council : Calderdale
Banding before : F
Banding now : E
Refund : still being calculated
Saving per year £300

It was as easy as Martin said. My house stuck out like a sore thumb. I was band F all my neighbours in identical houses Band E. Sent proof from VOA site and Nationwide to them and they wrote back within four weeks informing me of the change.

Started helping a few friends and neighbours now. As well as obviously plugging this site.

Hoggy

I followed Martin's advice and made one phone call to the local Valuation Office - took ten minutes - and have received a letter stating that I've been rebanded from D to C. £200 rebate and I don't have to pay Council Tax for the next 4 months.

Thank you Martin!:A

deca_321

l took the test to revalue my house on the calculator. At the end it displayed at the top that my property value during 1991 would have been £79 lol that cannot be right! l took the test over and over again and the same result came about!! surely this must mean £79.000 can any1 help with this?

dibs11

council :Arun District
Banding before :F
After :E
Refund : £1550
Saving per year £300

Easy as ABC !
Just used the value of house in 1991 to appeal !
A right result !!!!

Thanks Martin

Xamin

Council : Eastleigh
Banding before : F
Banding now : E
Refund £2500

Easy. Used the value at 1991 to appeal. For the house to be in band F at that time, it would have to have been over £120,000. Well, 18 months later, we bought it for £112,500 and the Building Society valuation was even lower than that. Therefore we knew without a shadow of doubt that the banding had to be incorrect. Furthermore, there was another property in the Close that was previously identical to ours, but had subsequently been massively extended and that was banded E. Although it could not be re-banded until it was sold, it was patently unfair that we were paying more Council Tax than them. Then again, there were another couple of identical properties also in band F, so the whole thing is a mess.

When I first appealed, I received a response saying that there had been a law passed since the introduction of the Council Tax system stating that banding could not be changed unless there had been a change of status or size to the property. Effectively they were saying that as we had lived there for nearly 15 years, we were way out of time to get it changed. I responded that regardless of this legislation, the banding was obviously wrong if we had bought the house for £6,500 less than the band value, 18 months after the introduction of Council Tax. But anyway the Council had recently placed humps in the Road and the one immediately adjacent to our property was causing cracks through vibration to our interior walls, so could they please reband us because of that?

Shortly after, we received the notification that the property had been re-banded as E and the refund given meant that we did not have to pay any Council Tax for the forthcoming year (£1600) and that an additional cheque for £900 would be paid to us. They said that we were re-banded because the initial banding was incorrect.

Thanks Martin. What with the £150 saving on my Home Contents Insurance made with the help of your site, I'm quids in!

mpsimmo_2

Local Borough Council: Hinckley & Bosworth (Leicestershire)
Council Tax Band Before: E
Council Tax Band After: D
Amount refunded:578.30
Annual saving going forward: 287.00 per year

Really easy! I followed the guide to check my banding, and found that all the other houses in our road are bands C & D. Once I had checked our house value circa 1991 I phoned and spoke to the valuations office at Leicestershire CC. No problem, they said, we'll check your banding and advise within 8 weeks.
I received a letter around 6 weeks later confirming that we'd been changed from E to D!

I've just received the letters from the billing authority (Hinckley and Bosworth) confirming a total refund of £578 (we moved in Jan '05). Note that we didn't get fobbed off with the 6 month rule, and the reason for alteration is listed as 'an inaccuracy in the Valuation List, caused for example, by a clerical or valuation error'.

Thanks Martin, and good luck to those who are currently trying to get their money back.

:easter_os

dkane

Local Borough Council: Vale of White Horse (Oxfordshire)
Council Tax Band Before: G
Council Tax Band After: F
Amount refunded: £1,680 (seven years of overpayment)
Annual saving going forward: 293.00 per year

House had recently been valued for other purposes and using the Nationwide and Halifax sites I estimated the 1991 value to be in the bottom half of Band F and not Band G. In response to my letter asking for a re-banding a local surveyor came and inspected the property. As a result we are now Band F and the District Council has agreed to refund the overpayment made since we moved in at the end of 1999. Now patiently waiting for a cheque of £1,680.

Thanks for the good and well presented advice.

Chuffy

Mate at work, was band B, now A via Doncaster MBC.
CTax are only backdating band change to 2004 and saying will have to appeal against it. Lived there since 2000.

Anyone got any experience or knowledge of legislation covering this?