Council Tax Rebanding SUCCESS stories

money_mummy

Council: Taunton Deane Borough Council
Band used to be: D £1303.81
Now lowered to: C £1158.95
Refund: awaiting the good news!
Annual saving will be £144.86

I did the checks about 2 weeks ago, sent an email to the valuation officer who got back to me pretty quickly and have just received another letter confirming that we would have our house rebanded to a lower category. WOOHOO!!:beer:

grace21

wirehair wrote: »

Council = Hastings Borough
Band was E
Now D
Refund £2,941.99p
Council Tax over £300 a year saving

Followed Martins Guide.

One phone call to valuation office at the end of December.

Thankyou Martin. :j :j :j

Hi Wirehair,
What good news.
Well done!!
Grace

raclarke4567

The first time I requested a banding review I was informed that it was my neighbours houses that were incorrectly assessed! That would be ALL the houses in my road and many more similar (apparently). The VOA stated they would be moving these other houses UP a band, from C to D.
I have just written again, having checked neighbours bands, and been told that my method of request is INVALID and ILLEGAL. Also that his/her decision is "binding" which does not seem very democratic.
Another excuse was that I should have challenged the Banding in 1993! Unable to do that as purchased property 2001. I believe many more residents would have challenged their bands in 1993 were they to have known hoe significant council tax was to become. There are also the knock-on effects of higher water rates etc.
People MUST be successful using M. Lewis` method, as the evidence is here on the website.

j_Wood-cowling

I sold my house 1997 in band B the guy who bought it appealed it should be in band A he was siccessful I received a letter giving me a cheque for several hundred pounds I was delighted I,m a pensioner now in sheltered accomodation . I wrote a letter to the local press to alert other people the the paper refused to publish, so we did it word of mouth.
John Wood-cowling
Corby
NN17 2SX.

Trotters_2

London borough of Bexley:
Was Band F
Now Band E
Saving personally around £500, backdated to 1991 the total was over £5k

After moving into a rented house when we sold our property, I was amazed to find the council tax band was 2 higher than my older property that was in a nicer area and much bigger. I appealed (I wasnt sure how to at the time just wrote to the council) they rejected my reasons and said if I wanted to appeal the decision I could, if I didint contact them they would set up a hearing at the local court. I decided that seeing as they had been wasting my money I would waste theirs and just not turn up at the hearing. I received two further letters informing me of the date for appeal, i simply ignored them too. Fianlly two weeks before the hearing was due to start, they agreed that the house had been in the worng band and as such I was eligible for a rebate. Fortunately as I was in contact with the landlord I informed him as he has lived there for 10 years, he was able to claim back over £3k. He would never have know though, as all the council do is send your eligbile rebate back to that same address, they dont actively try and seek you out. So if you lived at 144 Parkhill road in Bexley in Kent after 1991 you are able to claim back Council tax from them. On a lighter note it was a semi-detached house whereby the Landlords parents lived next door and had done for over 30 years. They were able to claim ther entire amount back too, as they also got re-banded after a long appeal (they were told origianlly told no also) a nice suprise for them as they had a lovely 3 week cruise on Bexley Council..good on them!

scorpio_princess

Local Borough Council: Norwich City
Council Tax Band Before: B
Council Tax Band After: A
Amount refunded: £118 (although this is yet to be received)
Annual saving going forward: £118


After getting the initial 'invalid proposal' letter, I thought I was going to have a fight on my hands (i'd already tried to appeal last year but was fobbed off), but lo and behold I received a letter from the VOA informing me that they'd lowered my band from a B to an A - damn right an' all! Now all I need to do is contact the council to ask when they're going give me my dosh back and i'll be well away!

I LOVE THIS WEBSITE!!!

Turnie

Local Borough Council: - Sunderland

Council Tax Band Before: - D

Council Tax Band After: - C

Amount refunded: - £1,450.



We moved into a house 1987 pre Council tax which in 1991 was set in band D. I informed local Sunderland council at the time that this was too high? I was told this banding was right!

Come 2008 the TV Program Martin Lewis money saving expert was aired I followed the steps just to check? And yes found two semi detached dwellings not more then two properties from ours in the lower Group C within 3 weeks our home has been re-banded from D to C Well done.

Just followed the steps on website! Then sent findings by letter to VOA and within 3 weeks all sorted :T

Best TV Program ever!! “Thanks Martin Lewis & money saving expert. Program”

Well done. :money:

kas.kids

Last year I followed the instructions on how to get my home revalued and it worked, I got back over £1000.00. However, as we have an annex (which we don't use as such), the VAO have decided to reband that seperately. What can we do to get this changed - what consitutes a self-contained unit? I have read the documents provided by the VAO and it seems they have all options covered and appear to contridict some statements. This is actually going to end up costing us £500. a year more / £300 more than the higher band I was on.

We are going to appeal but what do we need to do to ensure it cannot be classed as self-contained. I currently use a room (that was on our Estate Agents particulars as a kitchen) as my utility room. My kitchen is small and cannot fit a washing machine or tumble dryer. The room does not have any cooking facilities or connection points nor does it have any seperate utilities, ie gas, electricity etc.

Any help / advice on this topic would be very much appreciated.

rjhsussex

I have been scanning this site for about 6 months.

At christmas we were around a neighbours house and the usual topics of conversation came up (housing market, petrol, immigration and COUNCIL TAX!)

I was alarmed that I was payong £18.00 per month more than my neighbours for a service in the same street!

Well, it took me until Feb 12th to query this - after looking at houses in the same street - they were band 'c' I was band 'd'.

I made a telephone call to my local office (Lewes east sussex). I wrote a single letter 2 weeks ago. I got a reply to say they would re-evaluate my property. I then got a letter to say that after an evaluation I indeed should have been band 'c'.

Without another call or letter, today I got a cheque for £837.73p from Lewes District Council :T
so not only have I saved £18.00 pcm I also get a little cash back!

Brilliant! the best 1hr of my life I have ever spent... the plot thickens as my neighbour has also realised she is a band 'C' !!! :rotfl:

Strawberts

Thanks for the anticipation but we were unsuccessful with Ashfield DC despite appearing to be miles in with Martin's guidelines. Received a form followed by a long letter. It would appear that the valuation in 1991 of £58,857 and the fact that 52 of our neighbours are band 'C' carried no weight - and we are to remain band 'D'.