Council Tax Rebanding SUCCESS stories

Poppycat

I applied to rebanding 4-5 weeks ago, just received a letter from VOA and they have sent it to my local council and they told me it wil take up to 6 months to hear anything

frugalpam

ROUSEY wrote: »

.......A week or so later, the standard reply from the VOA declined my application on the grounds of x,y,z. It seemed like a standard letter with no real reference to my personal situation.

Naturally I challenged it within the 21 day allowed time, and today I received a notification of a £1150+ refund.

This means that my council tax is paid in full for the 2007-2008 and they we me an extra £100.00 or so !!!!

Result :T

Fantastic - congratulations!
I'm in the process of having my band reassessed, but in the letter they sent me, they've said (quote)

"If I am satisfied that no alteration is appropriate, I will let you know by letter but would advise you that if this is the outcome, you will not be able to appeal against my decision"

I'm just wondering how you were able to appeal, but I won't be able to. I'm in your neck of the woods as well.

Thanks
Pam

Eydon

Local Borough Council: Kettering
Council Tax Band Before: E
Council Tax Band After: D
Amount refunded: Just over £1200
Annual saving going forward: None - see below

I've just received notification from Kettering Borough Council that they are going to credit my bank account with just over £1200 following a rebanding of a property that I sold in June last year! It would appear that the new occupants have appealed the banding and the council have backdated the banding to 1993 according to the VOA website. I bought the house in 2001 and sold it in 2006, so I get five years worth of refunds for doing absolutely nothing - can't be bad :beer:

VickieHammers

I wrote to my local banding/valuation officer with facts to back up why i should be an A and not a B and i just got a letter saying she doesnt agree and i can't appeal now she has made her decision. is this correct because the facts are clear that it should be changed?

jackiej_3

after following the advice on your page, I have managed to successfully get my property rebanded to B from C in the rossendale area. Ten years back pay of the difference is owed to me, and the council have arranged for me not to pay my council tax for a year. However, I would prefer to have the thousand pounds plus owed to me refunded in full, and am currently trying to achieve this. When checking the banding status of my property against those near to me, I noticed that about half were in band C, and the others in band B, so there are still many people out there not taking the opportunity.

christian_2

HYNDBURN BOROUGH COUNCIL
FROM BAND C
TO BAND B
REFUNDED LAST THIRTEEN YEARS OVER PAYMENTS
TOTAL...£1430...:::
REDUCED ANNUAL BILL BY £100 APPROX


I pursued this after doing some research and finding out that out of approx 36 properties (identical semis) only 6 of us were paying band c! of course I never dreamt of asking anyone what they paid so after looking at all the facts I then notified the other 5 properties that we were paying more. I sort of took charge and helped my neighbours( including two elderly ladies who don't have internet access) and we all pursued this together with the help of this ACE site. Well success all round,all rebanded to B and payouts coming through thick and fast.So quick and easy.Thankyou, thankyou.What a blessing

enrita

Local Borough Council : Aylesbury Vale
Council Tax Before : C
Council Tax After : B
Amount refunded : £ 571.00
Annual Saving going forward : £ 150.00
Thanks for your tips and guidance. It was so easy, just one phone call......
enrita.

nanima

East Lothian Council
Lothian Valuation Joint Board
Council Tax banding before: Band F
Council Tax banding after: Band E
Amount refunded:£1930.37

I decided to have a go after reading Martin's advice and discovered that the other 3 properties on my 'Row' all had different bandings. My property was very similar to my neighbour's and despite the fact that I had owned the property since 1994, the valuation board carried out a check regarding my banding 'since I took the trouble to contact the office'. They then reduced the banding with effect from 1994 and I have just received the full refund.
I am amazed and delighted and say a big thank you to Martin.
Since subscribing to the website I have saved a lot and learnt a great deal, so thank you!
Nanima (which means grandma!)

barry2107

thank u martin
sunderland council
band b down to band a
£1300 refunded

S._Llew._Cered

Hi,
I'm very happy to report another success story for the encouragement of others. I conducted a 'survey' of the 80+ properties in our street and came to the conclusion that ours had been incorrectly banded, at least since the Welsh Rebanding exercise of 1995 when most properties in Wales were put up a band and some were put up two.
Ours was the middle one of three properties, all banded 'F'. It's a bungalow with two bedrooms. Yet, on one side is a similar-sized bungalow with three or four bedrooms (a loft conversion), whilst on the other side is a four bedroomed, two storey house.
We appealed, and were subsequently rebanded 'E'. This has ultimately led to our local County Borough Council reducing our 2007 charges from £1557.19 to £1317.62 and then knocking a refund of £448.02 off the bill. Many thanks Martin and good luck to those of you appealing.
S. Llew. Cered, Bridgend County Borough, 18/4/2007.