Council tax refund success

RedrobinRes1dense

Council Area: East Renfrewshire

Tax band before : G

Tax band after : F

Amount refunded : £9538

Annual saving : £387

House bought in 1976 but I only checked tax band in 2021 after reading Martin's advice. Discovered that my house was the only one of 10 very similar properties in our small street in band G. First attempt at claiming was turned down (reason : out of time). Meanwhile during the Covid pandemic I forgot about the matter but in May 2023 got a call out of the blue from a senior valuation assessor.

As result band reduced to F and repayment of tax from 1993. The council took 10 weeks to refund the above amount but only after phone calls and emails to local councillors.

MSE_Kit

Hi Red Robin,

Kit from MoneySavingExpert here - hope you're well and thanks for getting in touch about this great success (congrats!).

I wondered whether you'd be willing to have your success featured in a news story (it would be written by me)? The reason I ask is that £10,000 is one of the bigger council tax band successes we've seen for a while. If so, could you kindly drop me an email at [email protected], as I've got some follow-up questions that I would like to ask.

Thanks,

Kit

lincroft1710

MSE_Kit said:

Hi Red Robin,

Kit from MoneySavingExpert here - hope you're well and thanks for getting in touch about this great success (congrats!).

I wondered whether you'd be willing to have your success featured in a news story (it would be written by me)? The reason I ask is that £10,000 is one of the bigger council tax band successes we've seen for a while. If so, could you kindly drop me an email at [email protected], as I've got some follow-up questions that I would like to ask.

Thanks,

Kit

Kit, this story may not be as big as you think it is.


Firstly being Scotland, the band values are much lower than in England. Scottish Band G starts at over £106,000, (still in Band E in England). Secondly Scottish CT payments include water and sewerage, so that £9538 refund includes 30 years worth of water and sewerage overpayments, not just CT.

MSE_Kit

lincroft1710 said:

MSE_Kit said:

Hi Red Robin,

Kit from MoneySavingExpert here - hope you're well and thanks for getting in touch about this great success (congrats!).

I wondered whether you'd be willing to have your success featured in a news story (it would be written by me)? The reason I ask is that £10,000 is one of the bigger council tax band successes we've seen for a while. If so, could you kindly drop me an email at [email protected], as I've got some follow-up questions that I would like to ask.

Thanks,

Kit

Kit, this story may not be as big as you think it is.


Firstly being Scotland, the band values are much lower than in England. Scottish Band G starts at over £106,000, (still in Band E in England). Secondly Scottish CT payments include water and sewerage, so that £9538 refund includes 30 years worth of water and sewerage overpayments, not just CT.

Interesting - thank you for the heads up