Anyone questioned Council tax band ?

[Hopthegoodgod]

I am convinced my banding for council tax is incorrect. I am currently band G but other compatible properties in the area are band F. I have filled in the Martin Lewis template letter and submitted to Valuation office Agency. Has anyone successfully challenged their band and got a back dated reduction?

How can you find out what the others on street are? Would be interesting to see

I tried but they said the houses I was comparing to weren’t like for like. Despite all being 3-bed post war semis on the same road.

There is a link about three posts above yours.

by looking it up on the link I previously posted.

My mum did several years ago now after reading an article on Martin Lewis’ website.
My parents had lived in their house since it was built and she successfully argued that it had been placed in a higher banding than other similar properties in the road and elsewhere in the area.
I know that there was some correspondence between her and the Council but it resulted in a refund of several thousand pounds as her claim was backdated as far as it could be as they had been the only owners of the property.

Yes we did. Claim direct with the valuation office rather than via your council. We followed the advice on the Martin Lewis website too. The flat was a band D (1 bed) as were 4 flats in the block. All the other flats were 2 beds and also band D. I looked up loads of 1 bed flats nearby that were band B or C (within around 1 or 2 mile radius) of similar type and included these as evidence. I also included the purchase price when flats built (was after the valuation dates).
Took a few months before we heard back but was changed to band C. Was pretty straightforward!

there is some misunderstanding of the process in recent posts

a) the banding for the property was determined by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) in 1991 or when the property was built (if after that) or when notified there has been a sale of a property with an improvement indicator registered against it. (The VOA is a branch of HMRC. It does however work with the separate Land Registry's records of who owns what so gets updated info that way)

b) the VOA notifies each council what the band is for each property in that council

c) the council has no say whatsoever in a banding decision

d) if you contest your banding, then it is the VOA who will examine the case and look at whatever evidence you submit

e) if you disagree with the VOA's contest decision you can appeal against the VOA and that appeal will be considered by a Valuation Tribunal which is independent of the VOA (and again has nothing whatsoever to do with your council)

Once the VOA has determined a band, or reached a decision in a contest, or been overruled by a Valuation Tribunal, then it is the VOA who instructs the council what band to use. The council must do what it is told, it cannot change anything.

Delays in the process are typically caused by the VOA having a backlog of cases from across the entirety of England (Wales, NI, & Scotland are different)

I got my house rebanded. From c down to b, very straightforward. No valuers came out. Got a refund for the whole time I had lived there, which was 12 years. Just had to prove there was similar houses to mine in the b band in my area. Which was easy to do. Well worth doing. Got about £3000 back for 1hr of work.

Tried. Failed. Went all the way to tribunal.

Modern property. Was banded crazily highly (F) when new due to artifical newbuild price. All other properties of a similar size were much lower (D). Their prices appreciated while my property stagnated and when I bought it they were all selling for the same price. My flat was around 8 years old.

Valuation agency wouldn't budge and tribunal agreed their methodology was sound as they would only look at price when entered valuation roll/ or at the date the valuations were done in 1990s.

Made me think they whole thing is a giant fuck up as my friend's period town house elsewhere in central london (worth multiple milliions) is also Band F. My flat is worth a tiny fraction of that yet we pay the same council tax. It is madness.

Quite frankly they need to reband everything.

You sound very knowledgeable so hope you can help clarify my situation! Our house is one band above the majority of the street despite it being smaller than many. It was deemed a higher band as the previous owner had converted the loft to add an additional bedroom. Many owners have extended their houses in various directions but they are still the band below ours, I guess because they have not yet sold and are still at yhe 1991 valuation.
However, a house which has had large top and back extensions has recently sold and remains at the lower band! Has this slipped through?
I sent a challenge a couple of years ago but was told I needed to provide more evidence. I will be using this one as an example but want to check i have understood correctly that, improvements made to an original house only affect the band when a new buyer comes along? Thank you.

Yes, I did! Having followed Martin Lewis's guidelines I successfully had our house down-graded from band F to band E. As we had been living in the house since before the Council Tax bands existed, we got a refund of the difference between E and F for every year from 1991 until 2015. The refund was about £4k.

I might have to try this. We are in Band G, which seems crazy to me, as it's not a big house. However, all the houses around here are different, and I'd need to do quite a bit of research to construct a case.

sent a challenge a couple of years ago but was told I needed to provide more evidence

how much evidence did you send?
I read it was 5 houses within a certain distance as evidence
so used the list online of houses and council tax bands, then picked 5 I knew where in the lower band and viable the same size/bedroom size

We did. I spoke to the council. I checked the bands along my street and saw we were in a higher band than similar size flats. The council said to email the valuation office. Six weeks later I got a cheque for a few thousand. They back dated it by 15 years. The council said in the past you would get the full amount but the Lib Dem’s were against paying back the full amount and it was discretionary. However I did receive the full amount. It is straightforward and easy to apply for. Good luck

"improvements made to an original house only affect the band when a new buyer comes along?"

Correct, until a property changes owner any work done to it cannot lead to a band increase.

In your case, you querying might lead to them being harmonised with you, since you accept that your house has been extended and is therefore "more" when you bought it than it was when originally built. Highly unlikely they would reduce your banding increase given those facts

Reported...

I read this thread back in January, and debated contesting the banding of my own house....but never got around to actually doing anything.

Then yesterday I received a letter from the district council of the house I lived in previously (from 1997 to 2009), and guess what? Someone must have done exactly this for my old house, and I am due a refund of over £2,500 for 11 years of overpayment of council tax! So thank you, nameless current house owner, for doing all the legwork.

To be honest, I'm quite impressed that the council contacted me at all, because I would never have known. Also surprised I could benefit from someone else's claim. And luckily I haven't moved again, or they wouldn't have found me.

To be honest, I'm quite impressed that the council contacted me at all, because I would never have known. Also surprised I could benefit from someone else's claim. And luckily I haven't moved again, or they wouldn't have found me.

Even the executors of a form home owner can ask for the tax refund, I know someone who did and the relative had lived in the house for 19 years, it was a sizeable difference over the 19 years between the two bands - the council had to refund the overpayment

Yes I did, but we live very rurally so no immediate neighbours.
I challenged it around two years after purchase, using sold prices of other properties that were in the same band we were.
They quickly agreed, no valuer came round, then a refund of the difference shortly followed