Council Tax Reband - Effective date

drasticdaz2637

In April 2025 i challenged my Council Tax Band. Fast forward to January 2026 when the result came through that we had been rebanded from E to D.

I sat waiting for the local council to send out a reimbursement for the 5 years we had been at the property on the wrong tax band.

Today, after receiving no contact i called the council. Their office has said that the Valuation Office have listed the effective date of the change to April 2025.

As such i have a minor reduction in price for the rest of this year and then lower band payments in keeping with band D.

The Council are saying that i am not due any refund.

However this cant be right surely as the bands were set in 1991 so any changes must automatically be backdated surely ?

For clarity this was a new build and we are the first occupants and no alterations have been made to the property since built.

Thanks for you views in advance.

harpee

What date of change was on the decision notice the voa sent you? The band date will also show on the voa's website. If the band alteration date on the decision notice is different to what the council have used you need to contact the council to get them to check the notification the voa sent them. But if the decision notice says April 2025 and you disagree with the date, you should contact the voa, as they are responsible for the band not the council.

lincroft1710

Usually if a reduction has not been backdated it is because the reduction was on the grounds of a material change to the property or its surroundings and subsequent reduction in value. If your reduction was not on these grounds, then an error has probably been made, the likelihood being by the VOA rather than the council

drasticdaz2637

the property is a new build from 2020 and has been unchanged since built. I spoke to the VOA on the phone and they said it lookslike a mistake and forwarded it to the case worker. They then came back and said they cant just change it and i needed to submit a follow up appeal. It took a year to get to this point, hopefully this is quicker if it is just a mistake. But fingers crossed. Thanks

lincroft1710

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81890907#Comment_81890907

Things have changed in the past 20 years since I worked in the VOA as it used to be very easy to change an effective date without the need for an appeal