Council Tax Rebanding SUCCESS stories

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  • BucksMum
    BucksMum Posts: 1 Newbie
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    Council - Buckinghamshire
    Previous band - F
    Current band - E
    Refund - £6,095.00

    After watching Martin on This Morning back in March I looked into our council band, I always thought we were in a higher band due to being detached. Our lane consists of 12 very different properties and the ones that were banded F were alot larger than our cottage. We emailed the valuation office and they came back to us saying they needed more evidence. We sent a further email showing the difference in the other F banded properties to ours and local cottages nearer our size that were band E. They replied with a letter stating they would look into our case and a couple of months later we received a letter saying our cottage had been rebanded to band E and our total refund for the last 21 years was just over £6k. We received our refund from Bucks County Council about 3 weeks later. I'm so glad I switched on the tele that morning!!! Thanks Martin !!!
  • SoftJohn
    SoftJohn Posts: 3 Newbie
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    We were in a similar situation as you as our bungalow was built in 1983. We purchased it, from a builder who designed and built it himself, so it is unique. We had to find other properties that had the same specifications as ours. We needed get as many properties as we could and as much data as was available used our knowledge of the village, Zoopla, the Valuation Office Agency and the MSE Price/Tax band calculator.
    We constructed a spreadsheet consisting 11 columns: - House Number, Road Name, Type of house, Number of bedrooms, Bathrooms, Reception rooms, Date Sold, Sale Price, Estimated 1991 price, Current Tax Band and Suggested Tax Band. From our knowledge of the village and Zoopla we found out the information for the first eight column. From the Valuation Office website, we obtained the Current Tax band and from the MSE website the Estimated 1991 Sale Price and Suggested Tax Band. We did this for over 60 properties in the village. Half of them looked like they were in the correct band but the other half were like ours, one band too high. Some of the 25 or so remaining did not have the same accommodation as ours so we ignored them The remaining 18 we used as evidence which we passed on to the Valuation Office. We have been successful and our band was reduced from G to F. We do not know if this type of evidence would be acceptable if you are contemplating an appeal.
  • SoftJohn
    SoftJohn Posts: 3 Newbie
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    [FONT=&quot]Success at last[/FONT]
    [FONT=&quot]
    [/FONT]
    [FONT=&quot]Local Borough Council: North Somerset[/FONT]
    [FONT=&quot]Council Tax Band Before: G[/FONT]
    [FONT=&quot]Council Tax Band After: F[/FONT]
    [FONT=&quot]Amount refunded: £6533.71[/FONT][FONT=&quot]
    Annual saving going forward: £372.00[/FONT]
  • Northstand
    Northstand Posts: 1 Newbie
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    We successfully challenged our council tax banding in Feb 2008 from band b to band a, we got a letter from valuation office to say matter was closed. Imagine our shock when in June 2018 the valuation office contacted us to say based on evidence from after our appeal date Feb 2008 they were overturning the decision from 2008 and reinstating our house in band b. We have been accused of financially benefiting from lower council tax, were this leaves at the moment we are UN sure. So anybody who has successfully challenged there banding there may be a sting in the tail
  • CIS
    CIS Posts: 12,260 Forumite
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    Northstand wrote: »
    We successfully challenged our council tax banding in Feb 2008 from band b to band a, we got a letter from valuation office to say matter was closed. Imagine our shock when in June 2018 the valuation office contacted us to say based on evidence from after our appeal date Feb 2008 they were overturning the decision from 2008 and reinstating our house in band b. We have been accused of financially benefiting from lower council tax, were this leaves at the moment we are UN sure. So anybody who has successfully challenged there banding there may be a sting in the tail


    Any extra Council Tax will become due from when the band increase has been dated, for any period (if any) where the property remains in the lower band then the council tax charge remains due at that lower band.
    I no longer work in Council Tax Recovery but instead work as a specialist Council Tax paralegal assisting landlords and Council Tax payers with council tax disputes and valuation tribunals. My views are my own reading of the law and you should always check with the local authority in question.
  • lincroft1710
    lincroft1710 Posts: 17,648 Forumite
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    edited 19 August 2018 at 2:02PM
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    Northstand wrote: »
    We have been accused of financially benefiting from lower council tax, were this leaves at the moment we are UN sure. So anybody who has successfully challenged there banding there may be a sting in the tail

    Who has accused you?

    Increasing a band after a reduction has been agreed does happen, although not very often and rarely after a period of 10 years. Usually it is blatantly obvious that the reduction should have never have happened
    If you are querying your Council Tax band would you please state whether you are in England, Scotland or Wales
  • MM14
    MM14 Posts: 1 Newbie
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    Local Borough Council: East Renfrewshire
    Council Tax Band Before: E
    Council Tax Band After: D
    Amount refunded:£6148
    Annual saving going forward: £300

    First challenged the band in April 2017 but was told because we had been in the property since before 1993 they said we had 6 months from the date Council Tax started and that we did not have a claim. We wrote a letter of appeal and through numerous phone calls and waiting 17 months for it to come up for appeal - we had a visit from the assessor who had done his homework and agreed that it had been a mistake and that they would be lowering the band to a band D. So please don’t give up when they initially say you don’t qualify , be nice and patient but be firm and say you want to go to an appeal hearing. 25years of back payments on the way Woohoo
  • AvidSaver
    AvidSaver Posts: 50 Forumite
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    When I appealed my daughter's council tax banding, as I felt it should be band B (currently band C), it was refused. However I feel strongly and have taken the route of presenting at a tribunal (1/11/18). Have other members been successful with council tax rebanding after a tribunal? My daughter's flat is effectively a new build (the building started it's life as an office building but has recently been converted to flats).
  • lincroft1710
    lincroft1710 Posts: 17,648 Forumite
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    AvidSaver wrote: »
    When I appealed my daughter's council tax banding, as I felt it should be band B (currently band C), it was refused. However I feel strongly and have taken the route of presenting at a tribunal (1/11/18). Have other members been successful with council tax rebanding after a tribunal? My daughter's flat is effectively a new build (the building started it's life as an office building but has recently been converted to flats).

    Whether you are successful or not will usually depend upon the strength of the evidence you present and also the strength of the evidence presented by the VOA.
    If you are querying your Council Tax band would you please state whether you are in England, Scotland or Wales
  • System
    System Posts: 178,094 Community Admin
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    edited 18 September 2018 at 11:06AM
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    Resolved Thanks for help.
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