Council Tax Rebanding SUCCESS stories

tipop

Local Borough Council: Gloucester City
Council Tax Band Before: E
Council Tax Band After: D
Amount refunded: £1,606
Annual saving: £300

Following the guidance on the site I compiled a letter using both approaches (the comparison with similar properties & the equivalent price in 1991). As the house was built in 1994 I wondered if that would have an effect but, according the valuations website, even new houses are assessed based on the equivalent 1991 value.

The initial acknowledgement suggested a two month wait to handle my query and that I was likely to have to complete a questionnaire &/or have an assessor visit.

6 weeks later a letter informed me that, based on the 1991 equivalent value my house would be assesed downwards & that the council will be in touch with regards to the effect on billing.

After a week I called the council & spoke to a very helpful lady who said they normally get the revaluation about 2 weeks after the customer & they process the adjustments as quickly as possible (dependant on the volume of changes). She noted that our refund would go back to the date we moved in (2000) & that the previous occupants would also get a refund of their over payments based on the time they lived in the house back to when it was built.

I'm really pleased I bothered to put the letter together & am quite impressed with how fair the council were with regards to previous owners too.

Zebedeee

Council: North East Lincolnshire
Previous Band: D
New Band: C
Annual saving: £155

It's taken more than 10 months from start to finish and an (unprecidented) two tribunals (long story) but we finally heard the good news yesterday that we won our case, and the Valuation Tribunal Service have ordered the local Valuation Office to change our band from D to C, backdating it to when we purchased the property in 2001!

I'll post details of how we did it and the minutiae of the tribunal on the 'How to do it' board later, but I have to say that were it not for the advice and support I got from the helpful folks on these message boards I wouldn't have known where to start and would likely have given up a long time ago.

I'd particulary like to thank Jamsiebabie and Guppy for their expert advice, as well as Vivatifosi, Altarf and Dribble, not forgetting Maisie for her constant encouragement to all and for flagging it up for us in the first place.

Keep it up guys!

Zebedee

Maisie

Zebedee. That's wonderful, wonderful news. Have been wondering what was happening.

Post on 'our' thread we're all waiting to hear what happened at the second tribunal.

So pleased for you. My turn may come!

Best wishes . Maisie

mrwibble

Local Borough Council: Wycombe District Council
Council Tax Band Before: G
Council Tax Band After: F
Amount refunded: £1400
Annual saving: £289

After procrastinating for 6+ months I finally made the call to my local VOA office to ask for a revaluation. After getting a rather patronising put down from the lady who took my call "well I see you have had a huge extension on your house so don't hold your breath" I wasn't too optimistic but determined to fight on - after all the extension was less than 15% extra space so I felt right in my assertion it was band F (like everyone else including next door's vastly extended band F pad) rather than the G rating it got when we bought in 2001.

Less than a month later I got a letter with good news - shortly followed by Wycombe District Council's new bill - £1400 refund less current tax plus payments to date. This meant no more payments till next year and a £608 refund.

And since I called from work in my lunch hour it really didn't cost a penny !

Superb !

tim_1973

Local Borough Council: South Oxfordshire
Council Tax Band Before: E
Council Tax Band After: C
Amount refunded: £1092.00
Annual saving going forward: About £260.00

Following the advice on this website I contacted the valuation officer. After checking my street online I noticed houses the same size as mine were C and much larger houses were E. I was E, so I was convinced this was wrong. The valuation office contacted me within a week to advise they had acknowledged my enquiry and would be in touch within 8 weeks. A week later I recieved a letter stating my house had been rebanded to band C! No survey was required, so this was clearly a balls-up somewhere! Anyway, it's cheaper from now on and I have a refund back-dated to June 2003!

Thanks to Martin for the advice and how can I not recommend this to anyone else!?

A very happy!
Tim.
xx:T

yeffoc

Local Borough Council: Mid Devon
Council Tax Band Before: F
Council Tax Band After: D
Amount refunded: £4,300
Annual saving going forward: £720

We were really pleased with our rebate. The money was transferred into our bank account last month. Not only did we have the large lump sum but we were also told we do not need to pay our £200/month bill for the rest of the year! We were refused initially and told there was no right to appeal but we contacted the Valuation Office a second time and although it took approx 6 months in total we are glad we did not give up. The rebate is the result of a two band drop back dated to April 1996 when we bought the house.

alm721

Keith1956 wrote: »

Hi Caterham

I'm glad my advice was helpful. Your experience with the Cheif Executive's Office mirrored mine.

I hope this encourages more people to reclaim the interest owed to them.

All the best.

Keith1956

Hi there, just to say I also followed your advice Keith and wrote to the VOA to ask for interest back. The sent a letter saying they would look into it. And about a month later I got letter saying that the banding on out house had been wrong because of an error on their part which they had not put right so heres a cheque for just under £400. :TSimple as that. So just wanted to say thanks Keith and encourage others to write to request their interest back.

Keith1956

Hi Alm721

My pleasure. I am very glad I was able to give some sound advice and that you've had a positive result.

All the best

Keith

Wallet_Busting_Tiff

Hello fellow wallet busters just wanted to thank that wallet busting Marvel- Martin Lewis :money: . Thanks to his website i have just won the following refund on my Council tax from 1993 to 2007/8
Local Borough Council:Nuneaton & Bedworth
Council Tax Band Before:E
Council Tax Band After:D
Amount refunded:£2880.89p :rotfl:
Annual saving going forward:£307.24p
Tiffs Wallet is busting at the seams. But the crusade goes on as I asked the council for Interest on the overpaid tax since 1993 and the compound interest on the same amounts. I was informed : Please note there are no interest payments included in these figures as
there are no provisions in council tax legislation to allow us to do
so. So fellow wallet busters do you know if that is correct :rolleyes:
Well its time for Tiff to go and relieve the seams of his wallet " just a coming dear" she can smell a busted wallet 52 weeks of the year. Cheers Martin :T

Wallet_Busting_Tiff

Hello fellow wallet busters just wanted to thank that wallet busting Marvel- Martin Lewis :money: . Thanks to his website i have just won the following refund on my Council tax from 1993 to 2007/8
Local Borough Council:Nuneaton & Bedworth
Council Tax Band Before:E
Council Tax Band After:D
Amount refunded:£2880.89p :rotfl:
Annual saving going forward:£307.24p
Tiffs Wallet is busting at the seams. But the crusade goes on as I asked the council for Interest on the overpaid tax since 1993 and the compound interest on the same amounts. I was informed : Please note there are no interest payments included in these figures as
there are no provisions in council tax legislation to allow us to do
so. So fellow wallet busters do you know if that is correct :rolleyes:
Well its time for Tiff to go and relieve the seams of his wallet " just coming dear" she can smell a busted wallet 52 weeks of the year. Cheers Martin :T