Council Tax Rebanding SUCCESS stories

parkerparker

Succeeded in getting my house reduced from Band G to F backdated to August 2005 (when house was built). Refund = £2600 and reduction of about £300 per annum at today's cost.

Thanks to all on here for sharing your experiences.

Happy bunny :beer:

gm2010

Just had notification from the Valuation Office that they are going to reband me from E to D with effect from when I bought the property in April 2004! Thanks to this website I followed the advice and had the confidence to ask for a review when I'd previously been fobbed off. I am now waiting to hear from the Council had much they owe me!

My house is mid terrace Victorian with a loft conversion (which the previous owners had done and which caused the Band to be increased from D to E when I bought the property). It wasn't until I did some research on other Band E properties in the my road that I discovered there were very few and they were almost all detached or semi-detached, 3+ bedrooms with sometimes garages, conservatories and off-street parking.

I submitted my research along with a covering letter saying that there had clearly been an administrative error on the part of the Valuation Office at the time when I bought the property. They have agreed with me! No letter of apology though just a standard notification of rebanding form!

I now have to wait to hear from the Council.

I am so pleased as I also claimed back £850 PPI earlier this year as well!!

Next project is the bank monthly charges!!

Thank you to Martin Lewis and all at MoneySavingExpert.com

lharwood114

Moved in to my property 4 months ago and felt that Band F was too high. The property was only 7 years old and the first owners paid a premium for the house, therefore the initial band was not reflective of the true value of the property. I was able to prove this because our house and the one next door had subsequently been sold and compared to the 1991 prices we should have been in the band lower. The VAA agreed and the band has been lowered to E.
Just wondering if my neighbours should automatically be reduced as we are a row of 3 similar houses, built together

lincroft1710

lharwood114 wrote: »

Just wondering if my neighbours should automatically be reduced as we are a row of 3 similar houses, built together

VOA policy is to reduce the CT bands of neighbouring houses if they are identical to the appeal house.

superflygal

Has nayone had their CT increased after having it reduced? I succeeded in a reduction from band E to band D last year after following these steps, and now the VOA have written to tell me they are increasing my band to band E.

SFG x

gm2010

Update to previous post on success at rebanding from E to D. Reigate and Banstead Borough Council are refunding me £2600 and I don't have to pay any more Council tax until April! I feel like I should have demanded all of the refund now instead of allowing the Council to defer paying the whole amount until April. I'm also going to contact the Valuation Office as they, IMO, clearly made a mistake in increasing the Band from D to E back in April 1993. Has anyone else had success in getting an ex gratia payment in lieu of interest from the Valuation Office? Thanks

getsct

VOA is a government department and has nothing to do with payments or intrest on bills as the money is collected by and used by councils only. Bands are only increased after a decrease if a property had the decrease by the previous owners but had improvements made by them. These changes are only taken into account when there is a new sale on the property. In this case the report is triggered and the band reviewed and the band increased if necessary under law. There is no secret agenda the VOA are having to continue to maintain a list that 23 years old and until government calls a reval on this it will stay this way.

Also as well due to staff cut backs and office cutbacks the VOA will have less resources in the future. So the staff working for them are doing there best in very difficult circumstances where most have and wont see any form of pay rise for years to come.

Jea07

Thank you.... Wouldn't have known about this if it wasn't for this site.
Checked my council tax banding online and my house was in band c my neighbours in band b ( same house)
Wrote to the valuation office and asked them to review it, received a letter within a month confirming I had been in the wrong band for 11 years!!
Received payment of £1300 in my bank 2 wks later and reduction on my monthly payments 😀

yozza_2

hi please help, i am trying to find out if i am in the right band. went through to the link but its not recognising my postcode. also the bands were decided in 1991 i think i read but our house was built in 1999 ,im just wondering if thats why its not recognising our post code. thanx in advance . jay

lincroft1710

It's nothing to do with the fact your house was built after 1991. I would suggest you search on your street name. VOA were sometimes given or input the wrong postcode.