Council Tax Rebanding SUCCESS stories

Drinda

Council: Basildon
Former Band D
New Band C
Refund, £1,576.19p

I first applied to the VOA in February and had a reply dated 22 Feb saying it would take 8 weeks, at 16 weeks still not heard from them so I phoned and was told because of the volume of people applying it was taking longer, I phoned again on August 29th as it was now 6 months and was told I was not even on the system and they did not have any waiting to be dealt with prior to April, but when I quoted the the Ref: number on their letter dated 22 Feb they said they would ring me back.

The lady rang back same day, after apologizing for the long wait she said a letter was being sent out same day and my band had been reduced from a band D to a C and I received that on Friday.
Yesterday I received the letter and copies of all the council tax bills from 1993 until 2007/8 showing how much I was over charged each year and how the money added up year on year and a note to say they were paying the money as above into my bank account and as I paid mine over 10 months my payment for the rest of this year will be reduced to compensate for the overpayment so far this year.
To Martin and all on this site A VERY BIG THANK YOU :T

I am now helping some of my neighbours.

Drinda.

MKPhil05

mkbswimstar wrote: »

Local Borough Council: Aylesbury Vale District Council
Council Tax Band Before: E
Council Tax Band After: D
Amount refunded: na
Annual saving going forward: £321 per yr

Bought house May 08. Saw on VOA Website that many neighbours with extended properties were paying same as us. Thought I'd try to get reduction, phoned council, for about 30 mins and said why I think ours should be different band, was told prob won't change, gotta send back form they posting me. NEVER filled in that form and today get new council tax bill saying Change to Valuation and a lovely saving of £321 off of annual bill. Very happy!

Apparently the old owners who had it 30 yrs may get money back too!

Just heard from my Parents who used to own this very house (no.26 right?) and they have got their refund of over £2000!!! Many thanks for raising this with the council!

Edited to add: The refund was actually just over £2100 PLUS no Council Tax to pay for the rest of the year, worth about £900

andrebuys

andrebuys wrote: »

Local council: South Cambridgeshire district council
Council Tax Band Before: D
Council Tax Band After: C
saving: About £150 a year
Amount Refunded ??? (not yet received)

Got my bill adjusted for remainder of the 2008/2009 year however i have been paying wrong tax since October 2005, still dont know if i am getting a refund?? Am i entitled to refund? will drop them a email and wait and see?

11/09/08 - got a refund £339 thank for the advise Martin!!

newby1

Council: North Warwickshire
Before: C
After: B
Not sure of saving.

Bought a house that were doing up so not yet living there so not paying council tax as yet. Checked what our neighbours were and they were a lower band and same size house. It took about 3 weeks for them to lower the band.
Really easy, no hassels.
Thanks MSE!

beingjdc

Local Borough Council: LB Southwark
Council Tax Band Before: F
Council Tax Band After: D
Amount refunded: Arrears reduced from £1200 to £130
Annual saving going forward: £600

Cheers all. After eleven months of getting nowhere, and with a tribunal due in a fortnight, they rang me to say it was all a terrible mistake and they had no idea how it had happened.

stonehp

Local Borough Council:Basingstoke & Dean
Council Tax Band Before:E
Council Tax Band After:D
Amount refunded:£300
Annual saving going forward: £360

I moved into a 4 bedroom Townhouse new build in Dec 2007 and was shocked to see that houses around me that were similar build to mine were in a Band D and yet my style of house was classified as an E. I spoke to my neighbours who were also living in the same style as me and were also an E.
Three of us put in appeals using the same comparison house, stating it was the same size as ours and was bought for the same price and we were all turned down, with the reason being that our sq footage was larger.
My neighbours accepted the response and took it no further but I changed tack and presented another house next door which was exactly the same as mine but had been configured as a 3 bedroom. I requested that the valuation officer come to my house and measurer, as he insisted the plans he had, stated my house was still larger than my neighbours.
Long story is that the plans he had been given by the builder were wrong and now 8 other houses on our estate are to be re-banded to D instead of E.:beer: Cheers Martin you gave me the confidence to stick to my guns!

jjowe2003

Kirklees Council
Council Tax Band Before: B
Council Tax Band After: A
Amount refunded: £750
Annual saving going forward: 147.52
Moved into property 2002.

Really happy. After seeing the site I thought I would give this a try. After realising all my neighbours were on the same band I didn't think I stood a chance however; I found an old document noting the sale price of my house in 1988. I then used this to value what my house would have been worth in Q2 in 1991, to my supprise it was around 6k below the threshold of the band B properties. With this evidence I wrote my letter to my local VOA office and 8 weeks (no visit) later I'm now in band A and a healthy £750 better off which couldn't have come at a better time! There are around 15 other properties on my street who should also change to a lower band and some may also be lucky enough to get a refund like I did too... I might spread the word too I the vain hope of a bottle or two lol!


Massive thanks to Martin, top man!!
James

xposis

Local Borough Council: Leeds City Council
Council Tax Band Before: F
Council Tax Band After: D
Amount refunded: £3,678
Annual saving going forward: £797

Not bad eh for a few nights work, just shows what a big scam it all is.

Thanks martin although why i was in band F for a 2 bed old lodge house with 1 bath is beyond me....

littlemadam

Local Borough Council: Wolverhampton
Council Tax Band Before: B
Council Tax Band After: A
Amount refunded: Not known as yet
Annual saving going forward


After waiting 10 weeks for the a decision of a new banding the Vaulation Office finally sent me a letter saying that I had now been rebanded to a Band A and its being back dated to April 93

gemmameyrickuk

Local Borough Council: Woking Borough Council
Council Tax Band Before: C (approx £127 a month / £1276 a year)
Council Tax Band After: B (approx £111 a month / £1117 a year)
Amount refunded: £580
Annual saving going forward: approx £16 a month / £160 per year



I followed Martins advice about looking at the value of your property etc and looking at what bandings your neighbours are on.
I live in a block of 9 flats (since March 2004), and saw that some are on B, and some on C like me.

I sent a letter to the Valuations office querying this, and received a reply within a week saying they were investiging and i would hear back within 10-12 weeks.

In the meantime i found a neighbour was also applying to have his band changed (he had only recently moved in).

After about 5 weeks, my neighbour spoke to the officer dealing with both our applications, and was told our flats were down as 2 bedrooms, and as they were only 1 bedroom, we would have the band changed to B.
:T


Hey presto, 2 days later i had a letter from the valuations office saying my band had been reduced to B.

A week later i had a letter from Woking borough council, with revised bills going back to when we moved in (March 2004), and they resulted in £580 being paid into my account for the rebate.
:j


Instead of paying me back the money over paypaid for this year so far, they revised my direct debit so im only paying £88 for the next few months, instead of the usual monthly payments for band B of roughly £112.


So in summary, ive had £580 rebate, and am saving nearly £160 a year in total.
:rotfl: :beer:
Think the money will have to go towards a well deserved holiday