Council Tax re-banded down - but refund impossible to obtain

Sarahlou34

I successfully challenged my Council Tax Band from F to E, which took the VOA 17 months to respond to!

I've had our revised Council Tax bill, but thats where it stops. We're owed almost £4k and yet there is no guidance, no form and no response at Basildon Council to figure out how I get our money back.

I'm absolutely irritated,  frustrated, annoyed and disgusted at this entire process TBH - I've jumped through every hoop and never missed a payment - yet there seems no way to obtain the rebate they are obliged to provide.

Anyone got any suggestions before I seek legal advice and pay out a chunk of that £? 

DE_612183

Have you applied on-line for the refund?

If you have and are not getting anywhere, then it's a Letter Before Action and then Money Claim On-line.

No need for solicitors - who will probably charge a fair chunk of the £4k you are owed.

lincroft1710

DE_612183 said:

Have you applied on-line for the refund?

If you have and are not getting anywhere, then it's a Letter Before Action and then Money Claim On-line.

No need for solicitors - who will probably charge a fair chunk of the £4k you are owed.

If the effective date of the rebanding has not been backdated, then a CT payer cannot claim anything via MCOL as the council are correct in law by not refunding any overpayment made before the effective date.


To the OP, firstly check the effective date of the band reduction. Depending on your answer it may be the VOA you need to contact. Secondly check the exact amount you are required to pay with the revised CT bill.and compare it with what you would have paid were your home still in Band F. Thirdly be aware many councils have no records of CT payments more than 6 years old, so any refund would be limited to 6 years. 

Jude57

Sarahlou34 said:

I successfully challenged my Council Tax Band from F to E, which took the VOA 17 months to respond to!

I've had our revised Council Tax bill, but thats where it stops. We're owed almost £4k and yet there is no guidance, no form and no response at Basildon Council to figure out how I get our money back.

I'm absolutely irritated,  frustrated, annoyed and disgusted at this entire process TBH - I've jumped through every hoop and never missed a payment - yet there seems no way to obtain the rebate they are obliged to provide.

Anyone got any suggestions before I seek legal advice and pay out a chunk of that £? 

There's no need to spend money on legal advice because a solicitor can't do anything you can't do yourself. The steps to take are set out below.

I worked in Council Tax recovery and was also responsible for issuing refunds. I ran an enquiry once a week to identify accounts in credit, examined each one to ensure the credit was correct and that the credit did qualify as a refund, rather than needing to be adjusted or transferred to a new Council Tax account, then authorised it. It was very easy to refund customers who paid by direct debit or standing order but took slightly longer (say, a week to ten working days) to raise a cheque for the refund.

Send (or take by hand) a letter addressed to the Head of Revenues at the Council asking specifically for a refund based on the Hill dated XX/XX/25. Give 21 working days for a response and if you receive none, escalate, in writing, a formal complaint. The Council's complaints procedure and timescales for responses should be available on their website. If this produces no satisfactory response, you should contact your local Councillor, again, their contact details should be on the Council's website, and ask them to intercede in your behalf. It's what they are elected to do and they have physical access to the Council Officers who can resolve this. If, though unlikely, there's still no satisfactory response, contact the Local Government Ombudsman and lodge a complaint. They won't even look at your complaint until you've given the Council a chance to out things right so document everything with a timeline. 

Be aware that the Council will almost certainly deduct the remaining Council Tax due for the period up to 31/03/26 from the refund. They're entitled to do this because, technically, the full amount of Council Tax is due on 1st April each year but regulations give the right to pay by instalments which you have been doing. Please continue to pay the instalments as due, as annoying as that is. There's nothing elected Councillors and the Ombudsman like better than a resident who has done everything right and has 'clean hands' when making a complaint!

I hope this helps and good luck with it all.

lincroft1710

Jude57 said:

Sarahlou34 said:

I successfully challenged my Council Tax Band from F to E, which took the VOA 17 months to respond to!

I've had our revised Council Tax bill, but thats where it stops. We're owed almost £4k and yet there is no guidance, no form and no response at Basildon Council to figure out how I get our money back.

I'm absolutely irritated,  frustrated, annoyed and disgusted at this entire process TBH - I've jumped through every hoop and never missed a payment - yet there seems no way to obtain the rebate they are obliged to provide.

Anyone got any suggestions before I seek legal advice and pay out a chunk of that £? 

There's no need to spend money on legal advice because a solicitor can't do anything you can't do yourself. The steps to take are set out below.

I worked in Council Tax recovery and was also responsible for issuing refunds. I ran an enquiry once a week to identify accounts in credit, examined each one to ensure the credit was correct and that the credit did qualify as a refund, rather than needing to be adjusted or transferred to a new Council Tax account, then authorised it. It was very easy to refund customers who paid by direct debit or standing order but took slightly longer (say, a week to ten working days) to raise a cheque for the refund.

Send (or take by hand) a letter addressed to the Head of Revenues at the Council asking specifically for a refund based on the Hill dated XX/XX/25. Give 21 working days for a response and if you receive none, escalate, in writing, a formal complaint. The Council's complaints procedure and timescales for responses should be available on their website. If this produces no satisfactory response, you should contact your local Councillor, again, their contact details should be on the Council's website, and ask them to intercede in your behalf. It's what they are elected to do and they have physical access to the Council Officers who can resolve this. If, though unlikely, there's still no satisfactory response, contact the Local Government Ombudsman and lodge a complaint. They won't even look at your complaint until you've given the Council a chance to out things right so document everything with a timeline. 

Be aware that the Council will almost certainly deduct the remaining Council Tax due for the period up to 31/03/26 from the refund. They're entitled to do this because, technically, the full amount of Council Tax is due on 1st April each year but regulations give the right to pay by instalments which you have been doing. Please continue to pay the instalments as due, as annoying as that is. There's nothing elected Councillors and the Ombudsman like better than a resident who has done everything right and has 'clean hands' when making a complaint!

I hope this helps and good luck with it all.

Although this is good advice, as I said in my previous post, if the VOA have not backdated the effective date, then the council are correct in not giving a refund for overpayment in previous years.

Jude57

lincroft1710 said:

Jude57 said:

Sarahlou34 said:

I successfully challenged my Council Tax Band from F to E, which took the VOA 17 months to respond to!

I've had our revised Council Tax bill, but thats where it stops. We're owed almost £4k and yet there is no guidance, no form and no response at Basildon Council to figure out how I get our money back.

I'm absolutely irritated,  frustrated, annoyed and disgusted at this entire process TBH - I've jumped through every hoop and never missed a payment - yet there seems no way to obtain the rebate they are obliged to provide.

Anyone got any suggestions before I seek legal advice and pay out a chunk of that £? 

There's no need to spend money on legal advice because a solicitor can't do anything you can't do yourself. The steps to take are set out below.

I worked in Council Tax recovery and was also responsible for issuing refunds. I ran an enquiry once a week to identify accounts in credit, examined each one to ensure the credit was correct and that the credit did qualify as a refund, rather than needing to be adjusted or transferred to a new Council Tax account, then authorised it. It was very easy to refund customers who paid by direct debit or standing order but took slightly longer (say, a week to ten working days) to raise a cheque for the refund.

Send (or take by hand) a letter addressed to the Head of Revenues at the Council asking specifically for a refund based on the Hill dated XX/XX/25. Give 21 working days for a response and if you receive none, escalate, in writing, a formal complaint. The Council's complaints procedure and timescales for responses should be available on their website. If this produces no satisfactory response, you should contact your local Councillor, again, their contact details should be on the Council's website, and ask them to intercede in your behalf. It's what they are elected to do and they have physical access to the Council Officers who can resolve this. If, though unlikely, there's still no satisfactory response, contact the Local Government Ombudsman and lodge a complaint. They won't even look at your complaint until you've given the Council a chance to out things right so document everything with a timeline. 

Be aware that the Council will almost certainly deduct the remaining Council Tax due for the period up to 31/03/26 from the refund. They're entitled to do this because, technically, the full amount of Council Tax is due on 1st April each year but regulations give the right to pay by instalments which you have been doing. Please continue to pay the instalments as due, as annoying as that is. There's nothing elected Councillors and the Ombudsman like better than a resident who has done everything right and has 'clean hands' when making a complaint!

I hope this helps and good luck with it all.

Although this is good advice, as I said in my previous post, if the VOA have not backdated the effective date, then the council are correct in not giving a refund for overpayment in previous years.

I assumed, the OP having received a revised CTax bill, it showed a credit of around £4,000, and that there had been at least some backdating but you're quite right to draw attention to the possibility that any backdating didn't in fact create a net credit. You know what they say about assumptions!

lincroft1710

Jude57 said:

lincroft1710 said:

Jude57 said:

Sarahlou34 said:

I successfully challenged my Council Tax Band from F to E, which took the VOA 17 months to respond to!

I've had our revised Council Tax bill, but thats where it stops. We're owed almost £4k and yet there is no guidance, no form and no response at Basildon Council to figure out how I get our money back.

I'm absolutely irritated,  frustrated, annoyed and disgusted at this entire process TBH - I've jumped through every hoop and never missed a payment - yet there seems no way to obtain the rebate they are obliged to provide.

Anyone got any suggestions before I seek legal advice and pay out a chunk of that £? 

There's no need to spend money on legal advice because a solicitor can't do anything you can't do yourself. The steps to take are set out below.

I worked in Council Tax recovery and was also responsible for issuing refunds. I ran an enquiry once a week to identify accounts in credit, examined each one to ensure the credit was correct and that the credit did qualify as a refund, rather than needing to be adjusted or transferred to a new Council Tax account, then authorised it. It was very easy to refund customers who paid by direct debit or standing order but took slightly longer (say, a week to ten working days) to raise a cheque for the refund.

Send (or take by hand) a letter addressed to the Head of Revenues at the Council asking specifically for a refund based on the Hill dated XX/XX/25. Give 21 working days for a response and if you receive none, escalate, in writing, a formal complaint. The Council's complaints procedure and timescales for responses should be available on their website. If this produces no satisfactory response, you should contact your local Councillor, again, their contact details should be on the Council's website, and ask them to intercede in your behalf. It's what they are elected to do and they have physical access to the Council Officers who can resolve this. If, though unlikely, there's still no satisfactory response, contact the Local Government Ombudsman and lodge a complaint. They won't even look at your complaint until you've given the Council a chance to out things right so document everything with a timeline. 

Be aware that the Council will almost certainly deduct the remaining Council Tax due for the period up to 31/03/26 from the refund. They're entitled to do this because, technically, the full amount of Council Tax is due on 1st April each year but regulations give the right to pay by instalments which you have been doing. Please continue to pay the instalments as due, as annoying as that is. There's nothing elected Councillors and the Ombudsman like better than a resident who has done everything right and has 'clean hands' when making a complaint!

I hope this helps and good luck with it all.

Although this is good advice, as I said in my previous post, if the VOA have not backdated the effective date, then the council are correct in not giving a refund for overpayment in previous years.

I assumed, the OP having received a revised CTax bill, it showed a credit of around £4,000, and that there had been at least some backdating but you're quite right to draw attention to the possibility that any backdating didn't in fact create a net credit. You know what they say about assumptions!

I read it as the OP believed they had overpaid over the years by about £4K, but had not been refunded this amount by the council

Sarahlou34

Thanks. This has been backdated to 1993, I am of course continuing to pay my council tax, it will just be at the agreed, reduced rate.

The refund forms available to me do not relate to this situation.

Wonka_2

So were you resident/bill payer all the way back to 1993 (and if so on what basis did you challenge 30yrs later ?)

Have they given any indication you’re due a refund ?

lincroft1710

Sarahlou34 said:

Thanks. This has been backdated to 1993, I am of course continuing to pay my council tax, it will just be at the agreed, reduced rate.

The refund forms available to me do not relate to this situation.

I agree with @Jude57 that the council should deduct the amount of CT owing until 31March 2026 from any refund and then either credit your bank account or send a cheque for the remainder. You do not say when you received your revised CT bill but there may possibly be a delay before you actually receive the refund. I would say that it is most unusual for a council not to issue a refund.

Jude57

lincroft1710 said:

Sarahlou34 said:

Thanks. This has been backdated to 1993, I am of course continuing to pay my council tax, it will just be at the agreed, reduced rate.

The refund forms available to me do not relate to this situation.

I agree with @Jude57 that the council should deduct the amount of CT owing until 31March 2026 from any refund and then either credit your bank account or send a cheque for the remainder. You do not say when you received your revised CT bill but there may possibly be a delay before you actually receive the refund. I would say that it is most unusual for a council not to issue a refund.

In my experience, as set out above, it's virtually unheard of for a credit balance not to be refunded. Even when a customer is deceased and with no contact from relatives, I made every effort to find out who was eligible for the refund, be it executors, administrators etc. I was always surprised by the number of customers who were due a refund but simply vanished with no forwarding address. Again, every effort was made to trace them and every penny of credit NOT refunded was closely scrutinised by the audit team to ensure my team (in reality, just me) had done all we could to pay back the credit to the customer. On the very rare occasions that it was impossible to refund, the money was held in an interest bearing suspense account so that it could be refunded if the customer eventually popped up.

You're right that Councils, especially the larger ones, are generally slow to go through their processes and there's no indication that the OP has tried anything other than using online forms. I'm assuming the OP doesn't pay by direct debit because the credit on their CTax account would prevent further direct debits being processed. If that's so, a cheque will need to be raised and that does take longer.