Money Moral Dilemma: Should I challenge our council tax band if it means my neighbour may pay more?

13zero8

sam1974_2 said:

Mrssmith2012 said:

Therefore when you describe a situation where the residents of the majority of the houses have lived and raised a family etc and have owned the house for a long long time they will be in a lower band than the house in the estate that was bought by a newer family who the previous owners had added extensions etc as the change in band only happens at the point of sale. So I wouldn't assume all the new neighbours are paying less than you, they are possibly paying more if the house they have bought meets the criteria explained above. You can dispute a band, either rebanding on sale or an initial banding of a new property but you generally only have 6 months to do so. 

Simple example below-

If you bought a 2 bedroom bungalow and it was a band C and you renovated it, adding 2 further bedrooms and additional living space then your band would stay in C. But if you sold the house as a 4 bedroom spacious family home a couple of years later then the new owners will likely see an increase in the council tax band for example it may rise from C to E, again based on what a house of that size and spec would have been worth back in 1991.

Hope this helps.

As houses have been sold by their family members, the new owners are on the same banding as the original owners, even the ones who brought about 4 years ago and have since converted part of the back of the property into an annexe to use as a holiday let. 

I’ve checked the VOA and no changes are registered on any of them. 

I’m wading through the nearest other streets and can see one has been changed to a lower band. Doesn’t say when, just from 1993 so maybe they asked to be revalued 🤷🏻‍♀️

13zero8 said:

I challenged the band of my house a few months after moving in. Was successful and the council tax was reduced by one band. Thought about letting the previous owners know about the reduction so they could claim back £1000s for the 20 odd years of overpayments (which I'm sure would've been a MSE record refund, or close to). Decided against telling them in the end because they did me dirty when I moved in, by refusing to pay for something they agreed to pay for, leaving me to foot the bill.

Karma's a b****h! 

My understanding from reading here is that once the banding is lowered, the previous owners would have received an automatic refund as they have their new address, contact details and probably bank details already from when they moved, de-registered the account at your house and re-registered their new address. 

Wondering how they would track down all previous owners on a property... could be loads of them. Or couples that have divorced/separated? They could be paying refunds to people who shouldn't be getting the entire figure. 

Hopefully the auto refund is a bit of an old wives tale, but if it's not then I hope it goes to the husband's account and he keeps it all for himself - it was the ex-wife who was worse.

Regarding whether or not to challenge a property's banding because of the risk of neighbour's banding increasing.... 100% challenge it. I can't see a single reason why someone should keep quiet and potentially be paying more for their council tax so that their neighbours can continue to pay an incorrectly lower amount than they should. Ok, I wouldn't grass them up if it made no difference to my situation, but if there's a chance I could save money by paying against a lower banding then it's a no brainer for me. 

squirrel59

I can't imagine you querying your council tax band will affect anyone else, but just ring up the council and find out. If you want to be circumspect, say you're ringing on behalf of your elderly aunt.

pollypenny

I would challenge the banding.  We have a large 3 bedroom bungalow, built 1967 and are band E ( Wales).   Across the road are some interesting-war 2 bedrooms bungalows, on small plots, also on Band E. 

Seems unfair to me. 

gloriouslyhappy

“ Wondering how they would track down all previous owners on a property... could be loads of them. Or couples that have divorced/separated? They could be paying refunds to people who shouldn't be getting the entire figure. ”

A family member moved abroad and used my address, with permission, for mail forwarding. Last year, TEN years and six months after they moved, they got a letter from the council saying they were entitled to a CT refund. I was amazed, scanned and emailed the letter to my relative, and then we did an email dance with the council for several months around their lack of a UK banking account until the council finally accepted my relative’s instruction to use my bank account.

The refund was over £1500 and even after deducting the bank overseas transfer fees, it was still a hefty windfall for my relative. They were thrilled and I was delighted with the thank you flowers they sent me. TEN years!! Astonishing!!

Bigfatsean

There are many sites on the Internet and of course mse giving good advice on how to challenge your banding. We did it and ours was reduced by a band. I was just gutted that they gave it as a credit against our ct bill as much of it was from the years before I met my wife. I was hoping to bank the cheque in my personal savings but alas no. 

As to the moral dilemma I'd say do it. If everyone else's ct bill goes up then the equilibrium is restored and although it's possibly tough on your elderly neighbours they may be able to apply for benefits to help with the cost, and it is only what they should have been paying for years. It's my understanding that they will not be billed for past years underpayment. On the other hand you may get down banded and then you will get refunded. All in all I think you should do it - why should you pay more than someone with the same house?
Good luck 

SenatorEdwardBaynes

We moved into our house and discovered that we were the only one in the street banded E, most were D and some C! Some though, were marked for review. This means that at the point of the house being sold the council tax banding will be reviewed and most likely increased. 

To challenge you need to give examples of other similar houses in the street for comparison. While I did consider the impact on my new neighbours, I was aggrieved at the banding. 

Ultimately our appeal was successful and we have been reduced to band D. It might be that my submission has impacted on neighbours’ properties but my expectation is that any change will be at the point of their sale so will not affect current occupants. 

Anyone considering challenging their council tax banding needs to be aware that you can only do so within 6 months of taking on liability for the council tax. 

darleydame

Easy enough to look up the tax band for your postcode
http://cti.voa.gov.uk/cti/InitS.asp?lcn=0&refresh=2021427113015

meknowalot-51

I didn't think council band rates could be re-adjusted from the 1991 figures,after reading the replies on here it clearly can.As i see it,all you will achieve is causing your neighbour possible financial hardship,for what?.The council could end up re-assessing the whole area,they could all be bumped up,with the most ironic outcome is that YOUR moved up as well.Unless you have it on good authority that yours is going to be decreased with the others unadjusted(extremely unlikely),then leave well alone.

lincroft1710

SenatorEdwardBaynes said:

Anyone considering challenging their council tax banding needs to be aware that you can only do so within 6 months of taking on liability for the council tax. 

Not strictly correct!


There is a 6 month time limit on making a valid appeal against your CT band, but outside this you can ask the VOA for a band review and you should ideally provide evidence to support your request. 

SWwriter

I had our council tax band reassessed when I lived in Cardiff and it was acknowledged as being higher than our neighbours in similar properties. However it was noted that we had just installed central heating and that addition returned it to the original band.The local authority, of course, did not know which neighbours also had central heating.