Council Tax Rebanding SUCCESS stories

Koala_Blue

Local Borough Council: South Bucks
Council Tax Band Before: E
Council Tax Band After: D
Amount refunded: £1411.97

Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou!

Followed the format, it took a couple of months but still have to apply for the money as they want to credit me for 08/09, SHOW ME THE CASH! :T I'm spreading the word!

lvmto01

Local Borough Council: Knowsley
Council Tax Band Before: C
Council Tax Band After: B
Amount refunded: £1629.56

I can't believe how painless this was to do. A quick check agains my neighbours banding discovered that i was the only house in Band C, everyone nearby was Band B.
I emailed my local Valuation Office and an officer came out within a week to view my property. Two weeks later i got a letter explaining that my property was being re-banded to band B from it's listed band which was band C.
a couple of weeks later i received a revised council tax bill which showed nothing to pay for this year plus a substantial credit. I was refunded right back to when the Council tax started in 1993. I rang the council and requested the full amount be refunded and have this week deposited a cheque for over £1600 in my savings account. Happy Days :T .

Thanks, i've told all of my friends who are now busy looking to see if they are in the wrong band.

Jim_Bostock

Local Borough Council: Lichfield
Council Tax Band before: G
Council Tax Band after: F
Amount refunded: £883
Annual saving going forward: £250-300 in 2008/9.

We moved into our new house in February 2005, so we should have been well beyond the supposed 6 month cut-off for reassessing our council tax band.

However, using the advice from your website, I wrote to the local valuation office with details of half a dozen nearby properties that fall into all the following categories (a) they'd cost more than ours (the estate was built in 2004/5, so sale prices were easy to get on the net) (b) they'd been bought before ours, hence less value drop when indexing back to 1991 and (c) they're all on council tax bands lower than ours. I also included a deflation calc' showing that our house falls squarely into band F, whereas it was banded G from new.

Everything went quiet. No-one telephoned, wrote to us or called to look at the house, but exactly two months later I've just had a letter from the valuation office confirming that we've been rebanded from G to F. This was followed the next day by letter from the council, saying there's a cheque for £883 in the post, plus a reduced assessment of council tax due for 2008/9.

So, it really does work. My reading of the valuation office register for our area shows it to be a dog's breakfast, with many houses incorrectly banded, some by as as much as two bands. So, I'd advise anyone thinking of mounting a challenge to 'go for it'. There's potentially a lot to gain, and nothing at all to lose!

florida05

North Kesteven Council
was band f
now band E
£1200 refunded nad £250 pa less to pay

Following the TV programme explaining the issue I checked teh VOA web site and found only 6 houses in my street were band F .
I phoned and asked for a reassessment and 7 weeks later had my banding reduced.

florida05

North Kesteven Council
was band f
now band E
£1200 refunded nad £250 pa less to pay

Following the TV programme explaining the issue I checked teh VOA web site and found only 6 houses in my street were band F .
I phoned and asked for a reassessment and 7 weeks later had my banding reduced.[/quote]

iolande

Local Borough Council: Horsham
Council Tax Band Before: C
Council Tax Band After: B
Amount refunded: not sure yet
Annual saving going forward: £153 per annum

the wrong band since 1993. The reason I argued is that we are on a site of mixed 1 and 2 bedroom flats and we are charged the same as the 2 bedroom flats, despite the sales prices being about £30,000 more for 2 bedroom flats. I am going to do our next door neighbour's now as she is a pensioner.

grace21

SUEWILSON wrote: »

Hello I have recently queried the banding of our 3 bed detatched house from D to C and only this week had a visitor to assess, after an appeal, they said our house was registed as a 4 bed house and the same property as ours on the next street is a C. I am at the moment awaiting a reply but she said the next step will be they write to us and ask us to withdraw our appeal, should we do this??? we have been in this property since April 1993. Thank you for all the good advice
Sue

Hi SueWilson,

You need to go on to the Council Tax Cost Cutting forum. There is several very helpful individuals willing to help give advice.

Good luck,

Grace

birduk

Local Borough Council: Kirklees
Council Tax Band before: C
Council Tax Band after: B
Amount refunded: Not paid anything just yet
Annual saving going forward: approx £200 per year

Thought I would check (along with many other things :money: ) our banding compared to our neighbours. Ours was in the same band as the houses surrounding us, even though we are a two-bedroomed flat. Were told it would take up to 5 months, in the end it took less than one.

The re-banding has been back-dated, although it doesn't really affect any previous tenants as it is a new build. Future money saved= savings for my deposit! Many thanks money saving experts (and amateurs).

kellyc1066

Before G
After E
Not sure of refund but being backdated to Nov 2006!
Annual saving 457.00

I basically sent the valuations officer a letter saying I thought the band was too high as I was of only 2 people in the area at band G and my neighbours were all band D's, E's & F's. I received a letter 2 weeks later to say it had been reduced and I would get my bill adjusted accordingly and it would be backdated!
I was so impressed it was so easy. You must give this a go:j

Dazof-Leisure

Leeds City Council
Band F to E. 1993
Now Band E to D 2008
I applied for a council tax reduction in 1993 when I bought my semi. At the time the band was reduced from F to E.
Following Martins highlighting of the banding irregularities I again applied for a reduction in 2006. The Valuation Office said that I couldnt because I had already appealed once.
In Dec 2007 a supermarket opened nearby so I applied again.
Again the Valuation Office were reluctant to alter their decision form 1993 (Even though it was wrong.) This time I told them I was prepared to go to appeal and a date was set for this Friday 9/5.
I have this date received an offer to reduce the banding to a D. They didn't want to go to appeal after all. Much effort but well worth it. Only backdated to December though.
Thanks Martin for all your help.