Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Original poster

Has anyone challenged council tax band before?

35 replies

NewToDarkSpaces · 23/04/2021 14:29

Our neighbours on our left have slightly bigger or same size houses than us - both semi detached. Both similarly unremarkable properties. They are on a different road to us, but literally wall to wall with us. They are on band D, we are on Band E. I was about to challenge when I saw that bands are based on what houses would have sold for in 2003 and I can see that it would make our house actually band F. So there are 2 opposing arguments. Any one had any experience in making a challenge? I definitely don't want to end up worse off as our band here has put us in a bracket £100 pcm more expensive than where we were in our last home, a similar size, in London! (we are now south of the midlands). Thanks

OP posts:
Etihad · 23/04/2021 14:37

Yes I did. It’s going back quite a while and was based on size of the property rather than values though.

My flat was the only 1 bedroom one in the block that was in B, all the others were A. Just took a letter to the council explaining the reason and I got a rebate as well as re-band.

Seem to remember it was really easy (unlike dealing with the night and day electricity meters that were the wrong way round!)

Cactusowl · 23/04/2021 14:41

I did.
I lived in a road with many identical houses. 2 out of about 80 were in band C the rest of us in band D - I didn’t get moved down but the neighbours got moved up when I checked Blush

TakeYourFinalPosition · 23/04/2021 14:43

I didn’t get moved down but the neighbours got moved up when I checked blush

This happened to us in our last house. A neighbour complained and didn’t get moved, but we all had our council tax increased.

PhillipPhillop · 23/04/2021 14:49

I did a long time ago. We moved in and it was band G. After I queried it we were moved down to F. Next door either side bigger houses I found out later were E. You only get one chance though, so make it count! Still annoyed 20 years later

Cornishmumofone · 23/04/2021 14:50

I got my rental property moved from Band E to Band B. It was a two-bedroom terraced house, identical to many others around it. The average house on my city is Band B. I think it was wrong assessed as being joint with the house next door.

Redcrayons · 23/04/2021 14:53

I went through the process on Martin Lewis site and came to the conclusion that we were potentially in too low a band so left well alone.
Make sure you’ve got all the facts first.

User27aw · 23/04/2021 14:53

I did on behalf of my inlaws. Identical houses were in a lower band. I produced a big load of evidence including houses prices from way back. Council still turned it down. No idea what happened to the other houses maybe they got moved up.

Original poster
NewToDarkSpaces · 23/04/2021 14:54

Interesting! Thank you all. @TakeYourFinalPosition do you recall on what basis you were challenging and why it all went wrong?

OP posts:
IrmaFayLear · 23/04/2021 16:25

I challenged based on the fact that we live in a house appreciably smaller and on a much smaller plot than others on the road. The council replied that we have a double garage Confused .

IrmaFayLear · 23/04/2021 16:27

And that bigger houses further along we’re on a lower band - but they had single garages - I guess the council are not going to roll over easily.

Jarstastic · 23/04/2021 19:13

I challenged many years ago on a London flat after reading Money Saving Expert. I think it would have been 2003 or later though.

I just said that flat was G whilst other flats with slightly more square footage were F. They rebanded and I got a refund for a couple of years of overpayment!

Cipot · 23/04/2021 19:28

We challenged because our ndn with a same build house was on D whilst we were on E. Initially we were told no. Then we got a letter a few months later saying there been a mistake and we could go onto D.

TakeYourFinalPosition · 23/04/2021 19:28

@NewToDarkSpaces I didn’t challenge - our neighbours did, on the basis that some of the other similar houses paid less than them. They didn’t get moved down, but we all got moved up.

Acovic · 23/04/2021 20:11

I did.

New build in Scotland completed early 2000s. All older blocks (some still modern just existed in 1993) in the street had properties of the same size as my flat, selling at the same price that I paid in 2006 for mine a band lower (I was F the older properties were mostly E, but there were some Ds).

I lost as the Scottish valuation people use some weird formula for new builds to try to scale the value back to the 1993 date they use for council tax valuation. As my block had been overhyped and overpriced when it was launched this was enough to put it in a higher band.

I think the valuation system is a joke. And have been very wary ever since when buying properties.

I now live in London - some of the older properties here are in ridiculously low bands compared to equivalently priced modern properties.

This is not intended to be a stealth boast but an example of how stupid the system is . I know of 2 families who own 4 storey georgian townhouses worth >£2 million which are in band F. This is the same council tax band as my one bed flat which is worth a fraction of that value (probably

bumpdownthestairs · 23/04/2021 20:15

Ndn challenged as all our street are a C, next street over exactly the same size, style houses etc are an A 🤨 she got nowhere with it! Still think the banding is wrong but they obviously aren't going to change it anytime soon.

Janedownourlane · 23/04/2021 20:21

We didnt based on the fact that we knew that we could stay the same but all the neighbours could be moved up. We didnt know if they would be told that we were responsible! However, after we moved, the new owners immediately challenged it and were moved down a band! We only found out when we received a large rebate for all the excess council tax we had paid, so it can work out ok!

flashbac · 23/04/2021 20:40

It doesn't answer your question OP but Council tax is an unfair regressive tax. There's a campaign group to get it changed at fairershare.org.uk/

Witchlight · 24/04/2021 00:02

I challenged mine 2 years ago. I used the Martin Lewis website for strategy and info.

I am one of 4 houses which are 2 pairs of similar looking houses.

We are paired with one which has been significantly extended and we were both valued as H

The other pair (same size as me) are not extended and classed as F

All 4 houses have been in the same hands since the original valuation.

I challenged and was moved to F. I understand all the houses were valued very quickly by driving by. My argument was.

  1. we had been erroneously grouped with the much extended property as we are attached to it, rather than the 2 houses the same size.
  2. we did not have the information to challenge it until we were aware of how our neighbours’ houses were valued, when the data was published.

It was a large refund.

NewPapaGuinea · 24/04/2021 11:11

Previous terrace house was in Band C, yet all the other houses were Band B. Successfully challenged it and was put in Band B with a nice chunk of cash back. MSE has a great guide to help make sure you are in the wrong band and provide the evidence to back up your case.

tanguero · 24/04/2021 12:07

Council tax bands are based on what a property's value would have been on April 1st, 1991 (England), April 1st, 2003 (Wales) - even if it has been built after those dates. If we are to continue with the Council Tax as a means of raising local revenues, then it is surely time - in England - for a re-valuation of all properties.

user1494050295 · 24/04/2021 12:39

I did a very straight forward process abd I got a refund inc a refund from way back

RainbowCake · 24/04/2021 17:58

I did a couple of years back, I think we were on E (4 bed townhouse, row of 4) the detached huge 5 bed at the end of the road was E yet the townhouses opposite and the one at the end of our row was D. It was very odd. We got banded down. I just sent an email to our council outlining the values and footprints of the houses and that I didn't agree with our banding. I found a list of the values and bandings of the whole street somewhere with a quick google.
Was approved about 2 week later.

gluteustothemaximus · 24/04/2021 18:02

I did. Went from Band C to Band B and got a rebate.

Only did it after a lot of research though. Luckily I had the house prices on all the house sale info I kept so know it would probably be a good result.

All the info is on Martin Lewis's website and how to check before going ahead.

Throwntothewolves · 24/04/2021 18:07

I did in my first flat, which was on the second floor above a shop with another flat below. It was in the eves and tiny. The flat below was a bit bigger. The council responded to say they had got the flat numbers the wrong way round and the error had been rectified. So I dropped a band and the downstairs neighbours went up one. Felt a bit guilty about that!

Chalcroft · 24/04/2021 18:08

Yes we did. The council changed the band of the house as we moved in without viewing the house. We spoke to the council and got someone to come and view the property and they agreed to revert