Council Tax Band Success - are my council right?

MancMar

After 13 months, the Valuation Office have finally agreed to the submitted evidence and changed my property band from a C to a B - leaving me with c7 years rebate! Woo. 

Now the issue. Having read multiple comments and success stories on here of people receiving a cheque with the difference, I've been expecting the same. As I'd not heard anything from my local council on the matter, I've just rang their council tax office. They confirmed that the property has now been changed to a band B and that my account is in credit by £106.

When I queried why so little credit, they advised that they will not issue a full refund and the difference has been added as a credit to my account and that I will now not pay anything for the remainder of this financial year. I requested that my monthly direct debit continues as I'm 6 weeks from completing a sale on the house and the full amount (c£2k) is refunded to me but they refused. 

I also requested that they provide me with a full breakdown of the reduction dating back till when I took ownership of the house so I could fully understand the ££ savings - again, they refused and said that such a thing is 'not normal practice'. 

Is this normal? I was hoping for a bit of extra cash to help pay for the house move. 

Any help would be appreciated.

Jude57

MancMar said:

After 13 months, the Valuation Office have finally agreed to the submitted evidence and changed my property band from a C to a B - leaving me with c7 years rebate! Woo. 

Now the issue. Having read multiple comments and success stories on here of people receiving a cheque with the difference, I've been expecting the same. As I'd not heard anything from my local council on the matter, I've just rang their council tax office. They confirmed that the property has now been changed to a band B and that my account is in credit by £106.

When I queried why so little credit, they advised that they will not issue a full refund and the difference has been added as a credit to my account and that I will now not pay anything for the remainder of this financial year. I requested that my monthly direct debit continues as I'm 6 weeks from completing a sale on the house and the full amount (c£2k) is refunded to me but they refused. 

I also requested that they provide me with a full breakdown of the reduction dating back till when I took ownership of the house so I could fully understand the ££ savings - again, they refused and said that such a thing is 'not normal practice'. 

Is this normal? I was hoping for a bit of extra cash to help pay for the house move. 

Any help would be appreciated.

Technically, yes. Council Tax is, technically, a daily charge that is billed annually. The full annual amount is due immediately the bill is issued but the legislation provides for 10 monthly instalments to be offered. A credit to your account being used to clear the current year's outstanding balance is reasonable.

If you're moving to a different Band B property in the same Council area, I could understand that the Council Tax department would hang on to the credit and carry it over to the new property to clear what is due for the rest of the financial year on that property. I would, though, expect them to refund any credit remaining after that, over a deminimus amount which could be around the £50 mark. This assumes you're moving to another Band B property. If you're moving to a house in a higher Band, then even with the credit you may of course still have something to pay for the current year, over and above the credit. If you're moving outside that Council area, once your Council Tax account for the property is closed, you are entitled to a refund of the credit. It's most likely that the refund would be made to the account from which your Direct Debit was taken because that's the simplest method. The Council won't refund you anything until the account is closed wherever you're moving to.

I hope this helps.

TANZA_2

I was wondering what evidence you sent. I am appealing my council tax band. My house is in Band G but recent valuations from estate agents say it is valued at £750000 but new properties in my village have been sold for £1250000 and are in Band F. I sent this but did I need more evidence? 

lincroft1710

TANZA_2 said:

I was wondering what evidence you sent. I am appealing my council tax band. My house is in Band G but recent valuations from estate agents say it is valued at £750000 but new properties in my village have been sold for £1250000 and are in Band F. I sent this but did I need more evidence? 

Properties currently valued at £750K and in Band G, may not be incorrect. Properties currently selling for £1.25M and in Band F sounds very incorrect. So I would look for other evidence, preferably houses of a similar age, size and type as yours in Band F. No harm in you looking at neighbouring villages also.