Council Tax Rebanding SUCCESS stories

Mackie

Local Borough Council:- St Helens Borough Council
Council Tax Band before:- 30 properties in band C & 19 in band D
Council Tax Band After:- 30 properties in band B & 19 in Band C
Amount refunded: approx £100.00 a property back to Jan 2007
Annual saving going forward: £7,000 for the 49 apartments!

When my parents in law moved into their brand new retirement apartments in January we were surprised to find the level of council tax to be a band C for 1 bed room apartments and band D for 2 bed room apartments. We challenged this with the listing officer who was totally incompetent and did not want to listen to our reasons for a lower band and the comparisions we found in the area. We went to tribunal in July 2007 and we won! As many of the residents are elderly and not up to the onerous process of going to a tribunal many of them did not want to rock the boat. We went ahead on behalf of Mum& Dad and prepared all the documentation and did thorough research checking the nationwide indexer and obtaining copies of deeds of other properties in the area to support our case.

On the day I delivered an hour of evidence and managed to put the listing officer's evidence in question. He had not done his work properly and this was acknowledged by the Valuation Tribunal and in their decision they stated thatmy evidence was outstanding and that the listing officer had applied a
" broad brush approach" when banding these properties and had included irrelevant information which was a waste of time and money on the Valuation Offices behalf.

Tip to anyone going to tribunal. Do your work before hand, index the property back to the first quarter of 1991 and forward to the purchase date, buy land registry documentation to legally prove other prices paid and then check what band your comparison properties are in. My parents in law are frail and elderley and could not have done this themselves and I was appalled at the lack of attention the Valuation office gave there case. I was pleased with the outcome as it set a legal precedent for all the residents at Henbury Court, and they are duly pleased with me too!

If at first you don't seem to be getting anywhere, take up your case at Tribunal, I found the process very fair and understanding to our case even though there were no direct comparisons of their property in 1991.

Thanks to Martin in spelling out the steps and providing the links. ( The listing officer did not recognise the nationwide site and Money saving expert.com was mentioned in my evidence!)

fenofonts

Is it true that if you are buying a house that had extensions done (i.e. Conservatories), the Council Tax band can be recalculated at the time you purchase, not at the time the extension is built?

Mackie

fenofonts wrote: »

Is it true that if you are buying a house that had extensions done (i.e. Conservatories), the Council Tax band can be recalculated at the time you purchase, not at the time the extension is built?

Yes this is true. As the banding system is now 16 years old there are many properties that have increased in size since they origianl banding. The law states that a rpoperty can be re assessed when sold. Look at your property on the Valuation website, as some authorities put a marker on the property once the extension is complete. some authorities are better than others at re assessing but they appear to be doing this now.

Hope this helps.

dancerbev_2

Local Borough Council:- Crewe & Nantwich Council
Council Tax Band before:- B
Council Tax Band After:- A
Amount refunded: Not confirmed
Annual saving going forward: Not Confirmed

Just had confirmation today that council tax band was wrong.
Am now awaiting details of how much I can claim back.
Great stuff after successfully claiming bank charges earlier this year of £1200 got a nice little savings account going and about to start looking at reclaiming credit card charg too.
:j :T

NatJS_2

Local Authority: Lancashire (West Lancs.)
Band before: C
Band now: B
Amount refunded: Over £500
Amount saved: Approx. £20 per month.


After using the tools from the moneysavingexpert website I contacted my local authority to have a re-assement done on my property. The forms arrived but I eventually decided to complete the document online.
Within a week I had received a reply to say that none of the reasons were applicable to my status. The nearest one was that we'd been in the property for less than 6 months and wished to question the banding. However, we'd been the taxpayers since 2003.

However, the valuation officer said that a re-assement would still take place by completing a short form and sending it back.

Within two weeks I had received a reply to say our banding had been changed from C to B and we would be refunded the difference. It has been backdated to April 1991 and previous owners have also had refunds. We received over £500. Most of this was deducted from our current bill and we also got a cheque for £117.

reesla

Local Authority: East Northamptonshire
Band before: F
Band now: E
Amount refunded: To be Confirmed
Amount saved: Around £350 a year

Checked the VOA website and found that we were an F and our neighbours were a 50:50 mix of D's & E's. Followed advice of MSE and have been rebanded to an E

Thanks MSE!

steve3pln

Thanks To Martin Site I We Got Our C/tax Rebranded From E To D And West Sussex Council Did Not Give Us Our Money Back Instead They Said We Didnt Have To Pay Our /c/tax For A 16 Months Due To The Error On Grade Of Property Thanks Again Amount £1650.00 Cheers Again Happy Days Claim Back What Is Yuors He He

steve3pln

Thanks To Martin Site We Got Our C/tax Rebranded From E To D And West Sussex Council Did Not Give Us Our Money Back Instead They Said We Didnt Have To Pay Our /c/tax For Wait For It A Total Of 16 Months Due To The Error On Grade Of Property Thanks Again Amount £1650.00 Cheers Again Happy Days Claim Back What Is Yours He He

vickiwhite

South Ribble Borough Council
Band before: F
Band now: E
Amount refunded: £1290.03
Amount Saved: Approx £300.00 per year

I used the tips from this website back in July but instead of completing a form or writing a letter I spoke to the valuation office. He sort of chuckled at my request for a re-assessment (as if to say "not another one") and said the process would take approx 6 months.

Just 4-5 weeks later I received a letter from the valuation officer stating that my property had been rebanded to E dating back to 1 August 2002 (when we purchased house).

The local authority were also quite negative when I rang asking for details of my refund. They said "don't get too excited, it won't be a big refund in your hand, we will just reduce your future bills" but just 10 days later I received my refund by CHEQUE for £1290.03 (which I think is a huge sum of money) And my bill until March next year has been reduced quite significantly.

EXCELLENT RESULT

Thanks very much Martin

:A

medic999_2

Local Borough Council: SKDC
Council Tax Band Before: C
Council Tax Band After: B
Amount refunded: TBC


Thanks for the advice on this site. I discovered that ours was the only house in our street banded at C whilst everyone else was banded at B.

A review of the banding brought the reply that our banding was correct and everyone elses was wrong! the letter went on to state that there was no right to appeal.:mad:

Two months later we recieved a phone call from the valuation officer stating that they had reviewed the case again and despite the letter that had previously been sent out that our banding was to be reduced to band B and that this would be back-dated to 1993.:T This has since been confirmed in writing!!