Council Tax Rebanding: Lower your band and save $1,000s

In ten minutes, at no cost, you can check ‘n’ challenge your council tax band, potentially slashing what you pay now and getting a backdated rebate to when the system started in 1993. Thousands have already tried this and many succeeded in getting $1,000s back and with prices expected to rise by an average 3.5% across England in Apr 09, now’s the time to check.

Many homes are in the wrong council tax band, and have been since 1991. Back then, the Tory government was trembling after the poll tax riots and was desperately awaiting the 1993 launch of the new council tax system. Yet it needed every house in the land to assessed and put in a valuation band. So, it outsourced the job to estate agents and others.

2nd gear evaluations

You probably imagine some duffle coated chap actually went into houses and said things like “two bedrooms? Is that one en suite?” but it was nothing of the kind. They had so many homes to assess, there was only one solution.

They sent people out in pairs, got in cars, and drove down countless streets, allocating each property a band with just a glance. Not only did they never get out, in the industry it became known as “second gear valuations” as they never even stopped the cars.

Even though this system was patently just a short cut; scandalously no government since 1991 has arranged any revaluation in England and Scotland, though the Welsh assembly has done it for all homes there. This leaves that flawed old valuation still dictating your band, which is why you could be paying more than your neighbour even though you live in exactly the SAME size house.

How are council tax bills worked out?

How much council tax you pay depends on your property's banding; a letter from A to H which depends on the value of your home in 1991. Individual councils then annually decide the amounts that should be payable for band B and D, with all the other bands then calculated proportionally.

Thus, it's possible you and a friend both have band C properties, yet as you live in Weston-Super-Mare you pay more than they do in Wrexham. To compare your council tax with the UK average go to Upmystreet.

How much can you expect to get?

This is no chicken feed solution. Get your banding decreased and as well as paying $100 - $200 less each year, the repayment should be backdated to when you moved into the property; as far back as when the tax started in 1993. Here’s a few examples of some MoneySavers’ success stories:

• One phone call to drop a band.
  
  “I was in a band D and after comparing, thought that to be quite excessive. I called the local listings officer and after a long discussion he just said, ‘yep, I agree with you, you're now a C'. I can't believe how easy it was; he even said it would be backdated to April 1993!”

• A dropped band and backdated payout:
  
  MoneySaver Susan47 e-mailed to say, “We successfully followed the system and appealed against our council tax banding; half our street was band E and the rest band F, yet the houses are around the same in value. They sent someone to re-evaluate our house within a fortnight. We were reclassified to an E and got a cheque for over $2,000!”

• Overnight $1,500 saved.
  
  “I telephoned my local Valuation Office as I'd discovered that my neighbour has a lower band then me, yet the house is exactly the same. They reduced my banding almost overnight, and today, almost six weeks later they've put $1,500 - yes $1,500 - into my bank account.”

Read how others fared

If you've succeeded please report your council tax cashback successes and if you're new, do feel free to read others' stories there.

By far the most important step is to find out if your band’s higher than neighbours' in similar or identical properties. While you could simply ask them, there’s no need. The band of every house in England, Wales & Scotland is public info via the following websites.

So first check your band, and then your neighbours'. Do ensure the properties are as close as possible in size and value though. Sadly, the sheer scale of the database means a few properties are missed off it, if that happens either speak to neighbours directly or contact the council and ask why.

If neighbours in similar properties are in a lower band than you… then you may have a claim.

A useful second check is to calculate what your home was worth in 1991, as the council tax bands depends on that. This is the fun bit, because you get to legally spy on what your neighbour's houses were bought/sold for. There are three parts to this check:

• Value your house on free house price sites.
  
  Go to Nethouseprices, which gives a free search of the prices of all houses sold in your street since 2000. Find the most recent sale price of a similar property to yours (or even the price you bought yours for), in your street. Now note down both the PRICE and the DATE OF SALE.
  
  For alternative tools to help read the full free house price valuations article.

 

• Now, calculate your house’s value at 1991 levels.
  
  Take the PRICE and DATE OF SALE from the first part and use it to work out what your house would've been worth in 1991 as that’s what council tax bands depend on.
  
  To do this go to the Nationwide House Price Calculator. This is actually designed for people to put in their house price when they bought it, and work out what it's worth now. Yet it is possible to use it in reverse to get a rough value back in 1991.

 

The results, rather strangely, appear just above the calculator.

• Compare it to council tax bands
  
  This gives you a rough idea of your house’s value in 1991 prices; now compare this to the actual bandings, to see what banding you should be in. Do remember as this is only a very rough indication of your house’s 1991 value, it’s a safety check more than anything else.

 

At this point, I need to throw in a serious warning. Challenging your banding involves asking for a 'reassessment', there’s no way to just ask for a 'decrease', so be warned there's a chance your band may increase, or even your neighbours could (though this is incredibly rare).

Thus be very sure you've done the checks and research, don't just do a speculative challenge; and be especially careful if you’ve added an extension or something that increases your property's value. Use the table to see how strong your case is to help you decide if it’s worth it.

By far the most important check is the Neighbours' Check… thus the table below will show how strong your case is.

 

You'll be told how your band was decided, and have the opportunity to explain why you believe it is wrong and how it should be altered. Alternatively, you can appeal online via the VOA or SAA.

There is an official list (England and Wales only, for Scotland contact your Local Assessor) of the reasons for re-valuation and, where possible when challenging the banding, you should cite one of those reasons; yet do include the fact that “my neighbour in a similar property is in a lower band.” It's far easier if you've moved within the last six months, as then there's an official process.

Remember the ‘valuation check’ is more a safety check before doing the challenge. It got very limited value in your appeal. However, if you source actual sales prices from around 1991, that’s stronger evidence.

If you've been in the property longer than six months

The Listings Office has a duty to ensure all bands are correct, so it should investigate your representations and alter the Valuation List if it believes it's required. This also applies if your re-valuation reason isn't on the official list (explained at the bottom of this VOA page).

To do this simply write a letter stating, "I believe the council tax banding list is incorrect, as my house is in the wrong band, and I ask that it is corrected." This has and does work.

What to do if that doesn't work

If you challenged your banding and your enquiry was rejected, there are some grounds for appeal. Yet remember the check ‘n’ challenge isn’t a guaranteed system. The two checks are a strong indication that you should consider challenging your banding; but that doesn’t mean it will always actually be lowered.

What to do if you succeed

Expect to have your band lowered and ensure that you get a backdated rebate from the moment you moved into the property. You may also want to consider contacting previous occupants as they should be entitled to a pay out too.

Please feedback your story; the more info the better I can finesse this system. Please report your council tax rebanding successes.

Q. Do payouts mean everyone else in the area will pay more?
A. According to Tony Travers, local government specialist from the London School of Economics, the obligation is on central government to make up the cost of substantial rebanding. The exact relationship is complex, but it does mean the cost is spread. Rather bizarrely, some individual councils may actually gain from this, as there are bigger subsidies if more people are in lower bands.

Yet let's put it in perspective; the whole point of this is to get your money back for council tax you've been overpaying for years. Fundamentally the more people who get revalued the more pressure there will be on the Government to do a nationwide revaluation and ensure everyone is paying a fair amount.

Q. Why doesn’t this apply to Wales & Northern Ireland?
A. Northern Ireland uses a completely different system to council tax so this is irrelevant. Wales does have a council tax system, but a nationwide revaluation has been done far more recently, and thus errors are less likely and less longstanding.

Q. My property usage/neighbourhood has changed, can I apply for a rebanding?
A. The bandings were assessed on 1 April 1991, and haven't been reassessed since (except in Wales) so of course for many people they’re out of date; e.g. if you've had a nightclub built next to your house or it's been turned into flats (though you could also be paying too little if your home's improved!) or property values in your specific neighbourhood have dropped compared to elsewhere.

In fact this is the traditional reason for rebanding your home, and until I launched the check n challenge was the vast majority of appeals. So yes, in these circumstances you can challenge your band.

Q. What does council tax get spent on?
A. Council tax is collected to pay for local services such as policing, education and waste management. In 1993, England, Wales and Scotland saw it replace the notorious ‘poll tax' (Northern Ireland still uses the even older 'rates system'); though it has been widely debated if the current system is much more reasonable.

Q. What type of properties have to pay council tax?
A. Be it a house, flat, mobile home or houseboat, council tax is applicable to all personal dwellings; but don't assume all households pay the same amount.

Q. Can I do it if I rent/am a tenant?
A. You pay council tax if you live somewhere, regardless of whether you are the tenant or owner. Which means if you rent it’s certainly worth going through the system to see. However before you challenge your band, courtesy dictates it's worth discussing it with your landlord first.

Q. Are ‘second gear valuations’ for real?
A. To rush through the valuation in 1991, it was often outsourced to relevant bodies such as estate agents They were simply given a list of the size of properties and asked to assess them from the outside. Within the industry it became known as 'second gear valuations', as quite literally they stayed in their cars and drove past in second gear allocating bands.

As one estate agent confessed to me, "we were on deadline, had to do 400 homes a day, working off a list. I was in a rural area, so often we couldn't even see the properties and just had to do a best guess. The system would've worked if the rebanding was done every five years." Yet it wasn't: bands haven't been revalued since, so it's no surprise so many are wrong.

Q. What should I do if I think I’m in too low a band?
A. There is no obligation on you to do anything or tell anyone. Whether you want to declare it a matter for you and your ethics. Though even if they do – there’s no guarantees it will go up.

Council tax band changes aren't the only way to save money. Under certain conditions you're able to get a discount on your council tax bill, or possibly be exempt altogether. If any of the following circumstances apply to you, contact your council immediately as you need to apply for discounts; they're not deducted automatically.

• Are you a student living alone or with other students?
  
  Full time students don't pay council tax, thus two, three or ten students living together don't pay.

 

• Do you live alone?
  
  The full bill assumes at least two adults are living in a property, so if you live alone, or are the only adult (disregarding anyone in full time education), you're eligible for the single person's discount meaning a 25% reduction. Bearing this in mind, inform the council as soon as possible if your circumstances change through a housemate/lodger leaving, becoming a student, separation, divorce, or the death of a partner/spouse.

 

• Do you live in a mixed student/non-student household?
  
  Where a student lives with a non-student, the student is disregarded so the council tax bill is reduced as though just a single person lives there.
  
  If you're contemplating this scenario it does pose a slight moral dilemma; is it fair for the non-student to pay the entire 75%? Should the student contribute? If the non-student lived with another non-student they'd only have to cough up 50% each. Alternatively, if the student lived with another student they wouldn't have to pay at all.
  
  Either way, the legal stance is that full time students are not jointly and severally liable for the bill if the non-student doesn't or can't pay. So legally students don't have to contribute.

 

• Do you earn under $16,000?
  
  If your household income is less than $16,000 (or $9,600 if you don't have children) you may be able to receive council tax benefit to help ease the burden. T

Email to a friend