Council Tax Rebanding SUCCESS stories

lincroft1710 · 17 April 2009 at 6:36PM

caxia - I'm a little surprised at the reply you have received from VOA. Although they are correct in that you have no right of appeal, they should investigate your band and if appropriate reduce it.

If the Band E house had a disability, which your's doesn't or VOA believe tribunal decision was perverse or based on misleading or false evidence, then your band may not be reduced, but these circumstances are rare.

sarah_pitcher · 20 April 2009 at 5:11PM

local council: dorset county council
council tax band before:D
council tax band after: C
Amount refunded:£1,400

This was very hard work to get our band changed. I spoke to a lady at our local council offices she was no help at all

, she insisted that we were in the correct band even though all the other houses are in band c.
I then got in touch with the Bournemouth VOA officer who agreed with me, and he changed the banding and we got the refund, back dated to 10yrs. The hard work payed off.:T:T

koolmummy · 28 April 2009 at 2:35PM

Local Borough Council: Horsham District Council
Council Tax Band Before: E
Council Tax Band After: D
Amount refunded:£1905.64
Annual saving going forward:£350

Rang the VOA office about 8 weeks ago, explained to a very nice lady that all of the other similar properties in my area were a band D and I felt that a band E for my property was incorrect.

Got a letter a couple of weeks later saying they were reviewing my band.

Further letter arrived saying that having completed a review they agree that my property should be a D. I have been refunded 9 years of overpayment.

Big thanks:beer: to Martin and all of the fantastic contributors to this site.

willeira · 30 April 2009 at 9:08PM

Local Council - North Somerset
Banding before - F
Banding after - E
Amount refunded - Confirmed today as £2,958.12!!

Found moneysavingexpert on 13/03/2009 after receiving my 2009/2010 council tax bill. I do not normally check this bill as I queried our banding many years ago and was told that I had no grounds to appeal. Any way I happened to be at home when the bill arrived(usually at work) so I decided to have a play on the internet to see what I could turn up and the rest is history. Armed with council tax bandings for my near and not so near neighbours which seemed to indicate that people with larger properties were in a band below mine which convinced me that there was a chance. The VOA huffed and puffed a bit when I phoned, however agreed to have a look at my case with the information supplied and report back within 8 weeks. The valuation officer phoned within 2 weeks and confirmed that he had rebanded us in band E, a saving this year of £300 and that we could claim back to 1993.

An interesting thing happened when I phoned the council office to claim my refund. They said I could have £1,458 or thereabouts and I was expecting about £2,500, I then asked how much my monthly direct debit for the rest of the year was going to be and the chap said nothing!!! so I rephrased my question to ask what my FULL refund would ammount to and he then said £2,958.12 and I said can I have that and continue paying my direct debit and he reluctantly agreed. The refund has been confirmed to be hitting my bank account tomorrow 01/05/2009.

Many,many thanks moneysavingexpert.com .

Bill Clews and family:beer:

biddy4 · 2 May 2009 at 3:09PM

How do you manage to get your banding reduced.i have written twice to complain about it but they wont budge.i am paying same tax as a property bigger than mine.have checked what the value should of been in 1991 and it is less than what they say.they said it has already been reduced once but it is still in the wrong band according to the calculator when you check.

lincroft1710 · 2 May 2009 at 5:45PM

biddy4 - house price calculators are not very accurate. Valuation Office Agency do not use them, they have access to 1991 (and every other year) actual house sale prices. Because of width of bands, especially higher ones, there will be many different houses in same band, so larger properties can easily be in same band as yours. Also the larger property may be in a band that is too low.

As you have written twice and your only reasons for seeking reduction are house price index calculation and larger house in same band, if VOA say no, there's not much you can do. If you can find similar house to yours near you which is in lower band, it may help, but again that house may be in wrong band.

UsFour · 5 May 2009 at 1:17PM

Local Borough Council: Calderdale Met BC
Council Tax Band Before: B
Council Tax Band After: A
Amount refunded: £1300
Annual saving going forward: £120

Thank you Martin Lewis! :j I would never have known about this overcharge but for you.

Checked all my info on the vauluation office website to check neighbouring properties. Valuation Office were very helpful...it took about 2 months to sort out that I had been paying band B instead of band A since 1993 ... took about a week before council has sent me revised bills showing overpayment of around £1300. I am sending payment requests to them today.

I really didn't think it would be worth my while doing this as I am very sceptical about burocracy ever giving anybody like me anything back (instead they take it away from me...sadly I was a small share holder in Northern Rock and lost it all to the government). Am surprised how easy it has been....even though haven't got the cheque yet :rolleyes2 .

Thank doG for the internet. :T

thriftytwosome · 6 May 2009 at 1:17PM

Local Council Dorset County Council
Council tax before G
Council tax after F
Refunded £347
Saving each year £279

I did try before as larger properties local to us were in a lower band but was unsuccessful then
Recently there has been a local change in my area, we now overlook an ugly building, so I tried again and was successful!

Persistance rewarded!:j

Thanks Martin and all of you posters for your encouraging stories.:T

oldfaithful4051 · 10 May 2009 at 2:21PM

Hull City Council

Previous band B

New band A

Amount refunded £1300

Award backdated to 1993

Followed your step by step advice and found that ALL houses in my block were Band A except mine.

I contacted the local valuation office and answered a few simple questions. Received a letter next day (March 23rd) saying they hoped to conclude the investigation within 2 months.

Just under one month later I received a letter re-grading my banding followed by a nice cheque from the council a week later.

Many thanks. Without your expert advice I would still be paying more than I should

ChrisCC_3 · 12 May 2009 at 9:03AM

Local Borough Council: Wandsworth
Council Tax Band Before: F
Council Tax Band After: G
Amount refunded: £750
Annual saving going forward: £150

1st letter generated a visit from the valuation officer, I was unprepared (3 week old baby & they arrived unannounced - you can imagine the scene!) They responded saying council tax band was correct. Sent a far more detailed letter 12 months later with facts on all the idenbtical houses in the road, inc. the fact that when peoperties were built in 1896, they were built in blocks of 5 to identical plabs / sizes (a fact I gleaned from a neighbour who'd lived here for years), 2nd visit (new officer) finally happened 9 months after receipt of my letter (apparently they've been inundated recently!) and 2 weeks later, letter confirming drop in council tax arrived. 1 month after that, council sent revised bill, meaning our c.tax this year is only a few hundred pounds - a real result!

Thank you to everyone on this site who helped, by letting me see what you've all written in your letters, and the reassurance that if you get all your facts right & submit them clearly, and persevere then you've a far better chance of success!

p.s. the money saved is being used to pay off our mortgage - our final remaining debt!

Council Tax Rebanding SUCCESS stories

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