Have you checked you are in the correct community charge bang. Neighbour has just got £7000 refund.

[FLOrenze]

We had a knock on our door from a neighbour a few streets away. He had read a Martin Lewis article regarding homes being in the incorrect band.

When he checked most of his street was in band E and he was in F. The houses are all the same.

It took 6 months for the rebate to come and it had gone back 19 years.

I thought you could only dispute council tax within the first six months of moving in?

We seem to be on A when our neighbours are B&C. We are keeping very quiet!

I did this 5 years ago. We got £3500 and I got 15 of my neighbours lower council tax too plus refunds.

Bear in mind it can also go up, so make sure you've done the checks Martin Lewis advises on his site before you challenge.

I did this. Bought a house in band D and got moved to an E. No improvement marker. House next door which was originally identical but had been extended unlike ours and that was band D. I appealed and lost.

A few years later the house next door changed hands and it didn't go up a band. I then got hold of a copy of the conveyance of that house from 1991. That proved its value as band D at the relevant time.

I went back to the council who told me three times that the houses were not comparable. I sent photos of both houses and the council finally but me back down to a band D. I got the extra money back but no interest on it.

Yep, much to my absolute amazement we also did this and got a rebate.

I'm debating doing this, but I'm not 100% on the criteria - I seem to be on the same band as some rather large houses and I'm in a new build bungalow. In fact, there are 3 bungalows on the patch of land that had one cottage on it a couple of years ago, and I believe all 3 bungalows are on the same band as the cottage before us, which is the same as all the big houses on the same cul de sac part.

Am I likely to get anywhere on it, or is it not done on building sizes etc? Looking online I saw it says they base it on the value of the property from whatever year (1991?) and this wasn't built back then...

(Sorry fir the ramble - been a while since I looked into it because life has turned upside down in a few ways)

If so then it's changed. I disputed my charge years after moving in and got a refund.

From Money Saving Expert. Nothing about only being able to claim within six months of moving in

Hundreds of thousands of homes across England and Scotland are thought to be in the wrong council tax band. With council tax bills having risen by 5% for millions this year, it's more important than ever to check your property's in the right band – something our tried-and-tested system can help you do. Some people have been overpaying for many years, meaning pay-outs worth £1,000s are commonplace.

It's about property values in 1991 terms, not whether it was built in 1991 or not. If you look on the MSE website, there's a calculator to get your property's estimated value in 1991 and a whole guide on how to go about it all.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/council-tax-bands-change/#stepbystep

Council tax really pisses me off. We are one of four four beds built in the road in the 80s. Since then several of the three beds have had extensions taking them to four and five bed and hugely increasing value. No change in council tax and we didn't get the additional payment for CoL.

@OneFrenchEgg it only changes band when the property is sold. On the VOA (valuation office website they are the ones that set the bands, the council produces the bills) there will be markers against their houses for a potential rebanding when sold.

@ZombiePara I would say do your research before asking for a rebanding to be looked into. I worked for council tax when someone challenged theirs turns out theirs was correct and the rest of the street was wrong, everyone in the street was increased.

Look on the VOA website to see what other houses are listed at as a starting point.

@Squiggo if it is incorrectly banded then you can apply for a change and it will be backdated. When ctax came in there was very little time to value individual houses so they just did streets. Some are hit and miss if there are different property sizes. As I said, research a lot because it can go up or you can make others go up.

I don't think that's happened. I checked for the CoL and the five bed is still a D despite being sold about ten years ago. Same as the semi next to it which has also been extended.

@Hugasauras & @Owleetawa cheers- definitely bot going to rush into anything, just baffles me that a 3 bedroom (2 plus a box room) with an open plan kitchen/lounge can be the same council tax as a 3/4 bedroom house with separate kitchen and reception room!

I've done this.
8 years of paying council tax band E, but actually we were in Band D. £3000 refund.
It was very easy, I think I just wrote to my local valuation office with my reasons.

Yep we did this several years after moving in to our property. Got rebanded, as hoped and a nice refund for our years of over paying. Very simple and quick in our case.

@ZombiePara bungalows are generally 1 council tax band higher than an equivalent house merely on size of plot. Council tax is a hereditament so the land it sits on is 50% of the ctax charge the other 50% is 2 adult occupants, hence the 25% discount for a single adult occupant (and 2 adults means a single parent with a child who hits 18 becomes a full charge, usually a student exemption is applied as students are exempt, still shit though for the parent.)

Your bungalow possibly sits on a larger plot than the houses hence the higher charge. Now that isn't set in stone obviously but your footprint is likely larger. Try to find other bungalows to see what they are billed as. Google maps is great for this on satellite view, then on street view and then cross reference to the VOA banding info.

Some councils are very willing to have their register fixed and accurate others are a little frosty. It is easier if you are in an area where there are like for like properties to compare to yours, more difficult for older properties that have more variety plus things like good primaries etc affect the perceived value of a house. Nationwide House Price Index allows you to value a property back to 1991 but obviously that is a very blunt tool but another source for information.

@Owleetawa perfect thank you! I'll start with google maps and go from there :)

I have owned 2 properties and got the bands changed for both. First from a B to an A, second from a D to a B.