Council tax banding. Has anyone successfully challenged their banding

[notacooldad]

I ha e just found out that my house on a block of 14 is in a higher banding than everyone else.
We are a semi detached house and next door is lower. Some houses on the block are double fronted and have large back gardens.
I've only found out by chance as it never crossed my mind to query it before.
If you've had a successful challenge does anything get backdated?

I submitted 5 months ago so I’m expecting a response any time now! I used the MoneySavingExpert guide. I picked several nearby properties which are the same as mine but a lower band. I provided floor plan and photos (thanks Rightmove!). I went further and reviewed all available sold prices in the early 1990s in the local area for similar sized properties and not one sold for more than a £65k which is my attempt at proving a point! I’m not optimistic but it’s been niggling at me for years so I figured I’d regret not trying.

Thank you for your replies.
I've had a look at the MSE page and I've started an email from the template.
I might as well give it a go!

@Rosebud987

My parents were in a G. The lady who had it before them enjoyed being a G because she thought it gave her status…
What a daft mentality!! I don't understand that one!!

I have
I had to find i think it was five similar properties nearby with the lower band. I did it as soon as i bought the house though

I know someone who successfully challenged hers a few years ago. Her son bought a house last year and she helped him to do the same.

Both of them had their council tax bands reduced.

How long did it take for you to get an answer? I have applied today!

It is almost impossible to find out what your house would have cost in 1991 because that is pre internet. The valuation office contacted us a whole year after we moved in putting our house up a band because the previous owners built an extension.
I argued that even with the extension this house would not have been worth £60k in 1991 and sent them all the info that MSE tells you to. We bought a house in 1985 and in 1997 and that value at the time would have been far more than we could have ever afforded.
They took another whole year to reply, quoting prices of 3 random properties in our town that aren't remotely like our house or even in the same district. Our house was built in the 60s and is a typical square box with a tiny garden. One of the comparisons was a stonebuilt cottage built before 1881 in a tree-lined boulevard 3.5 miles away.
I complained but they weren't having it and of course it's gone up even more this year so we are back to £2550 (from £1900 when we moved in 3 years ago).

I’ve been digging into this area quite a bit. The key thing is usually not just “my neighbours pay less”, but whether you can show a pattern of comparable properties: same type, similar size/layout etc.

I built a tool called Rebandify that helps pull this kind of evidence together for households challenging their council tax band. I’m the founder, so take this as disclosed, but the basic checks are:

1. compare similar nearby properties,
2. check the historic valuation logic,

It also generates an argument you can copy/paste into your challenge.

The link is rebandify.co.uk

Yes we did. It was reduced by one band and we received a rebate for the previous years we'd paid at the higher rate. It was very simple to do, didn't take long. We felt pretty sure that the other same/ very similar properties wouldn't be increased so we took the chance and it paid off.