Council Tax Rebanding SUCCESS stories

pab1967

council- Rossendale
before- band B
Now on band A
refund £2700

lived in my property since 1991 paying band B. I live in a terrace containing 18 identical houses, so I was surprised to find that, after checking the council bands, that 6 were on band A and rest including me were in band B.


Having moved into my property 1 year prior to the tax coming out I had an accurate valuation of my property which was below the £40k- made the relevant call and together with the valuation was able to give the 6 other houses which were on band A- advised me I had a case and within 3 weeks I have now received not only my revaluation letter advising I am now band A, but the letter from my council advising they are refunding £2700.


happy days
well worth the effort

Annger18

After watching Martin Lewis on tv, I looked into my council tax band to find that I had the biggest banding in my street even though I was far from the biggest house. We have just been told that our appeal to lower our council tax banding has been successful. Should we expect that our resulting refund to be index linked since it dates back 21 years or do we just want jam on it?
:j

lincroft1710

Annger18 wrote: »

Should we expect that our resulting refund to be index linked since it dates back 21 years or do we just want jam on it?

As there is no requirement in CT legislation for interest to be added to any refund of overpayment, you will only receive back the amount your CT account has been overpaid.

Annger18

Fair enough

qml1968

After watching one of Martin’s shows earlier this year I thought I would just check what band our neighbours were in and was a little surprised to find that those to the side of us were in a band A whilst we were band B, these houses are pretty much the same size and construction so started me thinking that I ought to query the situation. I knew for a fact that we paid £37k for the house 25 years ago but didn’t realise we could have challenged the banding at the time, anyway I phoned the VOA only to be told by the agent that he was confident that we were in the correct band and he wouldn’t make any amendment. After this call I was still convinced we should be re-banded so completed the online informal review request form, a few days after I got an email requesting documentary evidence to support our claim, cue the OH and her preoccupation for keeping paperwork because she still had all the documents pertaining to the house purchase in 1993 including the house survey, mortgage agreement and even solicitors letters detailing the fact that the house was valued at less than £40k (and would therefore have been valued at less than £40k in 1991. So emailed off copies of the docs and waited, a couple of weeks later a letter in the post confirmed that the VOA were ammending the band to an A with effect from April 1993. Today an email from our local authority stating that a £3500 refund would be made to our bank ac and lo and behold the funds were already there.

Thanks to Martin for prompting me into action.

Evzed

Local council Newport Gwent
Before band F
After band E
Refund £1600
Saving £300 per year

I live in Wales and after watching Martin I looked into our tax band And soon discovered that several property’s around us were in a lower band
I rang the VOA and a very helpful person recommended I look for 2 similar size properties within 2 mile radius, provide them with the postcodes and house numbers and they would look into it.
We live in a 2 bungalow and were in Band F the property next door is also a bungalow with 5 bedrooms and also in band F.
The VOA person also stated that it was not calculated on house value but purely on the square footage not including outbuildings.
He also suggested using google earth to compare our property size with other properties.
It didn’t take long to find similar properties in a lower band.
I rang and provide the necessary information no forms to complete or e mails, letters etc were required.
They took the information and requested I contact them if I hadn’t heard anything in 2 months time.
I rang after 2 months and was told that information had just been posted out to confirm I had been rebanded to band E we recieved 6 years back payment totalling just over £1600 and went from £190 per month to £153 per month
I cannot state how easy this was to achieve and how helpful the staff in the VOA were in helping me reband our property
I did not inform any of my neighbours of what I was doing in case it went the wrong way, but having checked our post code since several other properties in the street have also had their banding reduced to Band E from Band F
Note
Refunds will only go back 6 years in Wales this has been set by the Welsh Assembly Government

A great big thank you to Martin.

lds8

Local Borough Council: Exeter
Council Tax Band Before: B
Council Tax Band After: A
Amount refunded: £312
Annual saving going forward: £250

I saw Martin's TV episode on rebanding your council tax and after following the steps on his website guide found out that there is a significant inconsistency in my road alone for the same type of flat. Although my flat was Band B, the exact same flats on my street were A. I called the VOA and the lady that helped me asked for some basic information like address, post code and a couple of examples for the lower band. Did not have to fill in anything or send any forms. The lady told me I may have to wait up to 6 weeks but 2 weeks later received a letter from the VOA rebanding my flat to band A, and updated council tax bills from my council crediting the £312 to my current bill - I assume it is because I have only been living here for a year and half. My council just hiked the council tax so I managed to save about £250 going forward.

Thank you Martin!!

DaveBolton

Local Council - Trafford
Council Tax Band Before - D
Council Tax Band After - C
Refund - £2550
Saving going forwards - £150 per annum

My daughter drew my attention to Martin Lewis council tax saving relating to Parkinson’s but I quickly discovered I did not qualify - yet.

However, whilst browsing I saw the article on challenging the council tax band and looked into it.

I completed ALL the suggested checks (quite easy) and discovered my house should have been a band lower all the way back to the start of council tax. There are 17 houses on my short street, all pretty much identical, with 13 in band C and just 4 in band D. We have been here since 1997 and have always paid D.

I called the Valuation Office and in a ten minute very friendly call they confirmed I had a case and would investigate on my behalf, which took a month or so before a letter arrived confirming the band reassessment backdated to 1993.

Less than a week later £2550 has appeared in my account overnight paid by BACS. Just waiting for the post now for the paperwork to confirm the figures are correct.

Many thanks to my daughter for flagging the pages up, to Martin Lewis for his hard work and to my local authority for dealing with this in a timely fashion.

cavemanlc

Local Borough Council: Rochford
Council Tax Band Before: E
Council Tax Band After: D
Amount refunded: £5, 700


Thanks for the help - very easy process!

Wilko58

I followed Martin's tips on how to appeal my council tax banding after I realised that my house, part of a mews type terrace was Band C along with the semi-detached and detached houses on the estate while all the other terraced house were Band B.

I phoned the Valuation Office for advice and the adviser was happy to submit my challenge for me and about 3 weeks later I was successful, receiving overpaid council tax dating back to when I moved in which was August 2006 - around £1600 better off.

Thanks Martin
:beer: