Council Tax Rebanding SUCCESS stories

Happyharley

Well we eventually got a rebate over £1,000 but was a bit upset with the council who thought they would keep four months of Council tax by telling me I didn't have to pay any Council tax until April 2015. When I asked for it all back they seemed a bit miffed. So watch out, if they tell you, you don't have to pay until next April, they will be keeping some of your rebate. But thanks to Martins advice got back my money and lower Band listing.....yay

Cleantrainers

Wychavon District Council
Previous Band G
Changed to Band F

We have only been in this property for 5 years and got a refund of over £1700!

I followed all the steps from Martin's page, couldn't really be easier.
After checking the neighbour's bands it was obvious that ours wasn't correct, we were in the same band as our immediate neighbour, whose property is about three times the size! And we were on a higher band than a property up the lane, which was also much, much bigger than ours!

Chuffed. Thanks Martin, keep up the great work!

Audrey37

Thank you so much for your guide on council tax banding. After reading it I checked the valuation website not really believing I'd be one of those that could claim. I was surprised to find my next door neighbour was one band lower than me even though our houses are mirror images of each others. I made the call as directed by your guide and last week received a letter to say my banding had been lowered. The best news was received just yesterday. A refund of £4,215 in overpaid council tax (backdated to when we bought the house in 2001)! Will be sharing this wonderful opportunity with my neighbours first thing in the morning. Thanks again!

roskdav

I used MSE to dispute my council tax bill Hey Ho I got a refund of over 5 k !!!!! Going back to 1993 ! My wife lost her job so it's good Thank you Mr Lewis you are a god!

upkeep_2

Local Borough Council: Charnwood
Council Tax Band Before: F
Council Tax Band After: E
Amount refunded: Don't know yet - won't be much as we've only been in 3 months
Annual saving: About £300

Moved into a new build in November and was horrified to get the Council Tax bill - Band F when our previous house had been Band D. Followed the guide here and discovered that 2 houses of exactly the same type as mine, on the same street but completed a year or so earlier were Band E. Appeal was accepted with no quibble as I'd only been in the house 2 weeks and after a couple of months (yesterday) I got the welcome news that the house had been re-banded to Band E. I had mentioned appealing to a neighbour in the same house style at about the same time so hopefully they'll be getting a nice letter soon too.

jpd1978john

Just moved in to new house. Challenged G banding. Rebanded to an F saves me £35 per month. Win

Old owners who were oblivious have just received a phone call telling them they are going to get a cheque for £3700. Win

Win - Win.... Unless you are Runnymede council then its a lose - lose, . Sorry about that....

Thats my good deed done for the day.

:beer:

Hellface

Thank you MSE one quick email to the VOA and we have had our banding changed from band E toband D saving us £370 a year. It will be really helpful.
We have only been here three months but should get nearly £100 back and have let the last tenant know as she has six years worth the claim!

Well worth doing.
Big thanks to all involved.:j

sidned

Thanks to Martin and the team for explaining how to do this. I have lived at the same address since December 1994. After doing a bit of research on the council tax band website it was apparent that all the similarly sized houses were in the band below mine. I wrote to my council with details of the addresses of similar houses but this was rejected. The letter explained why but it made no sense. It compared houses around me which are much larger. It was worded in such a way that it looked like I couldn't appeal. After reading this letter carefully it seemed that this was what was called an informal review. I submitted a formal review with more details explaining why my house was in the wrong band.

After a couple of weeks I received an email stating the following:
"I have looked again at the banding of houses of the same size/type on this development and have found no significant differences that would place your house in a higher band.

I therefore intend to alter the council tax list from band D to band C. The effective date of the alteration will be 22 December 1994."

This week I received a letter from my council showing a refund of £2,535.43. I am so delighted with this and can't thank Martin and the team enough for bringing this to my attention.:beer:

Hopefully this story will inspire others to check their bands as there are plenty of people on the wrong band!

unknowndave

Local Borough Council: merthyr tydfil
Council Tax Band Before: b
Council Tax Band After: a
Amount refunded: Don't know
Annual saving: About £165

Moved iin in May 2013. Queried it as I'm the only one in my street that's band b. We moved from rented house in the next street over, almost same size which was band a.
Recieved a letter today saying it's been rebanded effective from Feb 16th 2015. Will I get a refund for past 21months?

SaverSaver

Hi all, A bit of advice please...
I have followed the advice in the initial article. My property using the historic valuation tool should be 1 band lower. My neighbour had his reduced 2 years ago to 1 band lower than me. A house close to ours was sold 5 years ago and is 1 band lower than us (both are exactly the same as ours).
I have asked for my property banding to be reviewed. I have received a letter confirming that it will be reviewed in the next 2 months.
Do I leave them to get on with the review or do I send them a polite follow up letter with all the evidence that I have gathered to help them?