Have you ever challenged your Council Tax band?

[BikeRunSki]

I did a few weeks ago, a simple phone call to the Valuation Office Agency. I suspected we were wrongly banded for a long time - our house was built in 1999 and has 3 beds and small garden; it is one of 5 new builds, and the rest have 4 beds and large gardens. From the outside they all look the same, and I suspected that they were all blanketed together (by a lazy surveyor) when they were banded

Got a letter today saying that were had been in Band E and should be (and now are) in Band D. The difference in our Local Authority is £300/yr. We have been inadvertently overpaying for 8 years and 2 months ! I understand that the LA has to pay this back to us!

If you have any reason to suspect you are paying too much council tax, ring the Valuation Office Agency, tell them why and they'll look into it for you. All free, and very easy.

Info here

When we moved into our current house I did the same thing as BikeRunSki and they moved us down from Band D to Band C. The former owners also got a rebate of several thousand pounds.

The valuation office did warn us, however, that occasionally they move houses UP not down a band!

I used to work in council tax and people do challenge them. They were valued en masse so if your property looks like others that are bigger there is a chance you are in the wrong band.

Worse case scenario, you stay the same and all your neighbours go up, how popular would you be?

I'm not saying don't ever do it, but do a lot of research beforehand. Everyone's band is online on the VOA website.

If someone has extended their property, the banding stays the same until they sell, but there is usually a marker to say that it is due to be re-banded.