Council Tax Rebanding SUCCESS stories

JimFrusher

Harrogate Borough Council
Band before F
Band after E
Refund £3000
Future annual saving £300

Thanks Martin. It was so easy to do. I've been in the house a long time so the back date was to 1993.

robtruscott

Local Borough Council: Breckland
Council Tax Band Before: B
Council Tax Band After: A
Amount refunded: £760
Annual saving going forward: £120

Took 2 phone calls and a letter but they finally admited i was in the wrong band and changed it to an 'A'.

terence_b

Band before E
After D
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/images/smilies/beerchug.gif
I live in Norfolk

I had to persist after the initial fob off, but in the end I won and my house has been lowered to band D
However the refund does not seem enough. I received a cheque for £1100 yesterday with not much information, the letter just said council tax refund. As i have lived in the house since it was built in 1999 i was expecting more.

Does anybody know how i can check D & C band bills for Norfolk, back to 1999
:beer:

Graham_Hatswell

Local Borough Council: Torbay Devon
Council Tax Band Before: F
Council Tax Band After: F
Amount refunded: £3114.00
Annual saving going forward: £308.00

Hi Martin
Many many thanks for the advice on your website. As a result I have secured a total refund of £31114.00 … Yes £3114.00 from my local authority for overpaid council tax and have also had my banding dropped from an F to an E. This is how I did it.

I have been in my property since 1999 and for a long time, thought the council tax I was paying, (this year over £2007) was far too high. I read through the advice on your website then went about claiming my refund.

My case was not so straightforward as maybe many others. I own an individually designed 4 bed split level detached bungalow in Paignton Devon and really, all my neighbours own totally different types of property so just to compare a neighbours property with mine was not really an option, just a rough guide. I did however visit a Gov. website and found out what they were banded and how much they were paying, which was of great help.

As my property was different and individual, this is what I did.
Firstly, I used the Nationwide House Price Calculator on your website and entered what I paid for my property back in August1999 (£129,500) then asked the calculator to back calculate what it would have been worth in April 1991. This came out at £100,006, well with band E range of £88,001 - £120,000 and NOT band F range £120,001 - £160,000.

Secondly, I visited local estate agents and obtained estimate valuation figures of my property going back to 1991. These also came out well within the range of band E. Whilst I was there, I obtained details of neighbouring properties with similar overall sizes to mine, which were all in band E. I then entered these into the House Price Calculator and did similar back calculations to prove my point and as possible evidence to support my claim.

Next, I contacted my property’s previous owner and established that they purchased my property in July 1992, some sixteen months AFTER the 1991 valuations and found that they only paid £95,000 for it, well within band E range. She gave me a letter to prove this in support of my claim.

I then wrote to the Land Registry in Plymouth and requested details of all transactions concerning my property since it was first built in 1984. I paid a £10 fee and they sent me copies of all transfer documents. (Great, real documentary evidence at last)

I then wrote a detailed 4 page typed letter to my local valuation officer in Exeter
(copied to my local MP) and enclosed copies of the Nationwide House Price Calculations, details from local estate agents, a typed letter of support from the previous owner and of course copies of the real documentary evidence, i.e. the copy transfer documents showing true and totally accurate valuations of my property and requested that my case be considered in the light of all the information, requesting that my band be changed from an F to an E quoting that Land Registry figures were used by government officials and that in my case, government departments like the Valuation Office could therefore not ignore them when it just suited them.

Within two days, my letter was acknowledged and they sent me a form to give them a more accurate description of my property today, i.e. extension, conservatory etc.

My reply was very short. I said that the only and main criterion was just one thing. What was the market value of my property back in 1991 when the so called 2nd gear valuation was completed. I refused to return their description form. I was informed by reply letter within days that my case was being reviewed and that I would have a reply within 28 days.

Within a month, on returning from a foreign holiday, I open my post an BINGO my property had been changed from band F to band E

Also I opened another letter from the local council to find amended copies of council tax demands dating back to 1999 and that a refund of £2328.25 had been approved and refunded to my bank account.

In addition, my council tax for the current year had been reduced by £308.

I then contacted the previous owner of my house who had supported me and gave her copies of relevant documents. She wrote a letter claiming overpayment between 1st April 1993 and August 1999 and was refunded a total of £785.75.

Altogether, a whopping great refund of £3114.00


I have now written off to the council requesting interest on all monies owed to me since 1999 and await their reply with interest. Why not, if I owed them money all this time, they would without doubt charge me. I have suggested interest at statutory interest rates and have told them I will sue if payment is not forthcoming.

Many thanks Martin, suggest EVERYBODY should look hard at their banding as most will no doubt be wrongly banded and paying too much.

PS – On another note, my disabled mother recently spent £5400 on a new bathroom which included VAT at 17.5% Disabled people qualify for ZERO VAT so I claimed it back on her behalf and have just received a refund cheque for £817.24 from the supplier who in turn will claim it back from the VAT office.
Also don’t forget the Budget 2007 – VAT on house improvements for the elderly reduced from 17.5% to just 5%
Keep up the excellent work

Many Thanks
Graham Hatswell

rforster

Thank you so much, I took your advice & followed your instructions. WHAT a result and was backdated to June 93, Although it took nearly 3 months from start to finish.
Band changed from E to D, with over £3.000 rebate.
only thing is you have to take there word for the rebate as they will not give us a breakdown.

Thank -you again

guppy

rforster wrote: »

only thing is you have to take there word for the rebate as they will not give us a breakdown.

I think the council are just being lazy/obstructive. Why should you be expected to take their word for it? If you are bothered, just request to see the info under the Freedom of Information Act

alanfp

Just had a telephone confirmation of a band reduction, having appealed shortly afte rmoving into our new home.

It took quite a bit of effort, but one hurdle was the Listing Officer's records showing the gross habitable are for our property without taking account that the garage was integral. Also, we have 2 dormers upstairs which means upstairs area is smaller than would be assumed by looking at a bord's eye view. Eventually, after some discussion, the listing officer offered the reduction from the date I moved in. So I said what about the previous occupants. He said I could go to the tribunal on the basisi of the effective date, but to bear in mind that there was some evidence that my banding was, in fact, correct. He also said that the previous owners had their chance in 1993 to challenge the band.
I spoke to the valuation tribunal people - VERY HELPFUL. They told me the banding can only be changed due to a physicla change, and that if my newly peoposed lower band was correct now, for me, it should be backdated. So I spoke again to the listing officer, who agreed that I was right, without having to go to the tribunal (which I was getting ready to do!).
So I'm expecting a refund of a couple of hundred, and I 'm expecting the previous occupants to get several thousands to cover overpayments from 1993 to 2007. Who knows, with all the effort I put in scouring the web and the house price indices (inc. the Land registry house price index) and me pursuing things even after I had got 'my' reduction, they might even send me a 'drink' ;-)

save_to_spend!!

Dear MSE

I am so ELATED!!:j - coucil tax rebanded from F to E and also my neighbours !! Altogether we received nearly £5000 between us - new bathroom coming along nicely thanks to you!!
I have also saved £100 on car ins with Tesco and got free Karcher.:D My dog is wagging his tail because his insurance is cheaper - so now has a new bed, lead and collar to celebrate. Bank charges next !:rotfl:
We love ML :T :money:

Beees

If I were you, I'd write up a basic anonymous note telling everyone else in the development they are wrongly banded, give them the VOA address on it, photocopy it (I did mine at work, ahem!) and bung it through everyone's door. That's exactly what I did when I noticed on the Valuation Tribunal Service website that everyone else in my flats (about 80 of them) were still a Band C when ours had been changed to a B, and voila! couple of weeks later I look and the list reads BBBBBBBB. A guy from one of the other flats even bought us a bottle of wine to say thanks - so definitely worth doing!

beduffrich

Local Borough Council: Nuneaton and Bedworth
Council Tax Band Before: B
Council Tax Band After: A
Amount refunded:£160
Every little helps