Council Tax Rebanding SUCCESS stories

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  • Local council: Woking
    Band before: G
    Band after: F
    Refund: £350

    Thanks to this site! I moved in 18 months ago and didn't know about this. After reading the site, I tried the web links and realised that everyone else on my street was F apart from me, and some of the houses were bigger than mine. My purchase price, backdated, indicated that I should have been in F all along. I just wrote a very polite letter to the Valuations Agency asking if, please, they would consider it even though I was beyond the 6 month period. No contact from them but two weeks later I received an updated council tax bill and they backdated it 18 months from when I moved in. A very positive experience from a helpful and responsive council.
  • Local Borough Council: NE Derbyshire
    Council Tax Band Before: D
    Council Tax Band After: C
    Amount refunded: ~£1400

    Started the process in September after visiting MSE.com then checking the valuations on my street via the VOA website. Lodged an appeal and got denied but they said they would look into it to see if the banding was fair and consistent. I sent them all the details of which houses were the same as mine but they just seemed to ignore this and said it was fair and consistant and wouldn't be changing it. I phoned and queried this decision as all the houses on my street were built at the same time, about 13 years ago and the 5 that were the same as mine were all banded lower. I spoke to someone who didn't seem particularly interested who said he would look in to it. Phoned back another month later and another discusion seemed to reveal that they thought my house was bigger than all the others. Possibly the original details were wrong and also the fact that we had had an extension built, so that now it was bigger, may have introduced confusion. When I pointed this out and made the point that the extension should not affect the valuation until it is sold on, the penny finally seemed to drop. A further phone call after Christmas revealed that the banding had been reduced from D to C backdated to 1993. £940 has been received already but due to the fact that the rest will have to worked out manually (a further 6 years) there is more yet to come. I estimate the total rebate to be in the region of £1400 .

    My advice: be polite, courteous and patient but if you know you are right don't be fobbed off it would have been easy to give up at many points along the process.

    My wife said we had no chance of getting any money back when I first told her about this .....now she is planning how to spend £1400!!!!

    Well done Martin:beer:
  • I do wish you had spoken to me Martin,
    no I don't crave fame but I will forgo modesty at this point because when you are the Chairperson of a Tenants Association of a pre WW2 Housing Estate back when a Government introduces, a 'Community Tax' which of course has been called a lot of other things before settling on Council Tax, and you discover that you and your neighbours flats have been valued by Estate Agents driving around your estate in an expensive car I, we, were upset!!!
    A retired Union Representative is one of our neighbours and he knew all about tribunals. One day this gentleman stepped into the TA office and told us he had won his case against the Valuation Office, it dawned on me and one of the professional Community Workers we were so lucky to have then, that of course!! this set a premise.
    Our regular TA newsletter explained to the 777 households of our estate what we wanted to do on their behalf and volunteers and the staff went on the doorstep to explain to everyone, in case of communication problems. We made a mass application covering many band valuations and to give them their due the Valuation Office were very helpful, indeed at a meeting they agreed to reduce their paperwork they would accept a single application from each block for all the residences in each block, after we got a couple of hundred applications and a petition together.
    Didn't go near the Council we knew that would slow things down.
    It took quite a bit of work but it was worth it as virtually everyone had their valuation band reduced by one, I can't tell you what happened to those who wanted to complete the application themselves, that of course is their business and yes we had a party when the Valuation Office came through. To this day people have saved money and even those that moved here later have benefited in a place where money is tight for the working people of my estate.
    Approximately 770 property bands were adjusted even the empty flats on our estate which, ironically stands on the edge of Dulwich where a certain Mrs Thatcher had a home at that time.

  • MSE_Martin
    MSE_Martin Posts: 8,272
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    IMPORTANT NOTE!

    This thread is only to report succcesses or experiences.



    All off-topic posts have been deleted.

    If you want to feedback on the issues around this subject, whether good or bad, whether you agree or not please go to the
    Discussion on Council Tax Cost Cutting


    Martin
    Martin Lewis, Money Saving Expert.
    Please note, answers don't constitute financial advice, it is based on generalised journalistic research. Always ensure any decision is made with regards to your own individual circumstance.
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  • nrgmonkey wrote:
    Local Council: Adur
    Band Before: D
    Band After: C
    Refund: £1150 (approx)

    Hi all you moneysavers!

    I looked at this article and wasn't sure it would work for me, but gave it a try online. In my street, all were valued in band D except for 2 houses at the end of the street that challenged in 1993 and were reduced to band C.

    My online challenge was answered rapidly with the reply that it was an invalid proposal (as I had been in the property more than 6 months). I was advised that I could challenge but must provide further evidence. Downhearted, I thought that I would gather some really good evidence / pictures / plans etc. but put it off for a few weeks because I was busy. The morning I was going to go out and complete the report, I received a letter notifying me of my new council tax band and another telling me I had a large refund.... and how did I want my money!

    Don't be shy........ just go for it.

    I love this site! Now to shaft the banks!!!

    I hope that this helps someone.

    Kind Regards
    I have yet to challange the council tax band but my situation sound very similar to yours. All the houses on my street are a Band E (including mine), apart from a few who have extended and are a Band F. I assumed this meant I would not be suitable for a rebate, however, when calulating the 1991 cost it seems I am about £500 less than the Band E valuation states so I might be able to move to a Band D. Will give it a try now after having read your post. Thanks.
  • frase64
    frase64 Posts: 21 Forumite
    Local Borough Council: Stafford
    Council Tax Band Before: F
    Council Tax Band After: E
    Amount refunded: £300

    We moved into our house at the end of 2003 and our council tax was set in Band F.

    As our house was only 4 years old it was difficult for me to find out how much it would have been valued at in 1991 (I didn't know about this site then).

    I checked the banding for 3 other properties the same as ours and they were in band E. We assumed ours was higher because one of our garages had previously been converted into a living space and the others weren't.

    There was another housing estate near to us which was older and the houses there were very similar so I drove around to see which properties were 'similar' to ours and noted down their addresses. I checked their banding and they were all in Band E.

    I submitted an appeal online stating my reasons for believing why we shouldn't be in Band F at https://www.voa.gov.uk and a few days later received a letter giving a date that the hearing would take place. Shortly after the set date we received another letter stating that our property had been incorrectly banded and had been moved back to Band E.

    After talking with neighbours I found that when the properties were first built, all of them were put into Band F and everyone got together and appealed with great success, some of them were dropped by 2 bands!

    If you don't try you'll never know and you've got nothing to lose in most cases. I just wish I'd have known about MSE as it would have saved me a lot of time and hassle.
    Worst Debt November 2005 £11,089.80:eek:
    Quidco since November 2006 £969.31:T
    PROUD TO BE CLEAR OF MY DEBTS :money:
  • Kirklees Metropoloitan Council: Huddersfield
    Band C changed to Band B

    We bought our house in 1996 and at the time the house prices had dropped a little. The price of our house was not in the range for the C banding and I appealed. An Officer from the Valuation Office visited me at home and looked at my house but said that because the banding was done on the valuation of my house in 1991, when they had evidence of it actually being sold for more money I was unable to have my banding change and could appeal. I decided there was little point.

    But about a year later my neighbour came round to tell me that some of our neighbours all living in the same style 3 bed semi's had successfully had their banding changed by comparing houses built by the same builder in another village and similar area whose banding was B. She gave me the address to write to and all I had to do was put this information in a letter and mention that some of my neighbours had had their banding reduced. A few weeks letter I received a reply saying our banding was redued and that the money we had overpaid would be deducted from our present bill.

    I then was inspired to look at my MIL's house which is a long street of terrace properties that were all banded B but some were much bigger than others. I applied to the Valuation Office and they visited my in-laws and reduced their banding. Being pensioners the really felt the benefit of their banding being reduced and it was back dated four years, the amount they'd overpaid was taken off their current years bill.

    It was very easy to do so go for it! I felt like I'd won the lottery especially after being told we couldn't have our banding reduced. Just to find out later they were actually reducing the banding of our neighbours but if my neighbour hadn't told me I would never have known. It's not like the council are actually going to write to you and tell you that your neighbours have had their banding reduced is it?
    :j Addicted to money saving
  • When I bought my first property in Cambridgeshire in 1994 my property was banded as D. I did my research as to the banding of same properties to find they were band C and successfully had it downgraded to a C. I also discovered that water bills for properties were based on the valuation of your house so therefore challenged Anglian Water. I was told that no-one had ever had their water bills reduced because of valuation being wrong. I challenged this as my water rates were based on a dearer property. I am pleased to report that my water rates were reduced. Surely this would be the case for everyone.
  • Voa website has been busy since the programme on Friday night:
    http://www.voa.gov.uk/council_tax/cti_home.htm
    try this another way in to check your banding.:j
    :confused:
  • SORRY IF THIS POST IS IN THE WRONG AREA

    Hi All


    Great posts, have followed Council Tax rebanding

    Have been on VOA site, and looked at our banding which is marked up as B, Band review pending. Have read their explanation of this and it seems to suggest that even now we have modernised, the rating which was A should have perhap stayed the same as the property has not be sold, am I right in thinking this?

    We bought the property a small detached bunglow in 1983, which was unmodernised, no hot water,heating and only two bedrooms. We paid around 23,000 at the time. We live in a close and are the only bunglow of this age so have had problems rating against the other properties in the area. The other properties are modern terraces and are rated B along with some bigger properties with higher ratings.

    All advise would be appreciated Thanks in advance
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