Council Tax Claims

Up to 400,000 homes in England and Scotland could be in the wrong council tax bands. Yet in 10 minutes, you can check and challenge your banding, not only potentially slashing what you pay now, but getting a backdated rebate stretching as far back as 1993.

Thousands have tried this and succeeded, and stories of payouts in the £1,000s are commonplace.

Council tax. We all have to pay it, and every year it goes up, leaving us to dig deeper and deeper into our bank accounts simply to keep up. This year alone, there has been another 2% hike thanks to Mr Osbourne.

But what would you say if you were to learn that it’s possible you’ve been paying too much in council tax? Not only that, but also that you could reclaim the excess you’ve been paying for as long as you’ve lived in your property or from 1993?

Now that would be worthwhile, not only for the payout, but also for the black eye it could give the local council. Since they rely on the income from council taxes, you can understand why councils haven’t been too eager to spread the word about the fact that a number of people have been overpaying for years.

How It Happened
The problem began in 1991. Back then houses were valued and put into different bands for council tax purposes. The bands ran (and still run) from A to H, A being the cheapest and H the most expensive. Tax is charged according to the band your property is in.

You’d imagine that such an event would have been thoroughly and carefully organised, but it wasn’t. Indeed, much of the banding was left to local Estate Agents, who simply drove past and allocated a band (although, to be fair, it was roughly based on house prices).

The VOA revaluation promised in 2005 has been postponed indefinitely. Wales performed a revaluation in 2003.

What This Means To You
If you are able to prove your home has been banded incorrectly, you may be able to reduce your band immediately. Whats more, you may also be able to claim back all overpaid Council Tax as far as 1993 (2003 for Wales). Our clients typically reclaim anything from £250 – £4000 in overpaid Council Tax.