MSE believes hundreds of thousands of homes may be in the ‘wrong council band’
A man has managed to claim back £7,500 on council tax – and he credits his success to Martin Lewis’ MoneySavingExpert (MSE). ‘Gordon’, a reader of the site, took on his local council after seeing their warning about potentially overcharged homeowners.
After a lengthy seven-month wait, his local authority finally confirmed that he’d been forking out too much on council tax and he was compensated for his overpayments. “Seven months later, it’s been confirmed we’ve gone from band E to band D,” he said to the financial gurus.
“We’ve also received our refund of overpaid council tax – a whopping £7.5k. Thank you all so much – we would not have done this without you.” All homes across the UK are put into council tax bands, which largely depend on the area you live in and your property value.
In England, homes are put into one of eight bands ranked from A, being properties up to £40,000, to H, properties worth more than £320,000. These values are based on the price they would have sold for in April 1991.
Scotland also ranks its homes from A to H based on prices from April 1991. An A-valued home is worth up to £27,000 and an H-value home is more than £212,000. The criteria is different in Wales and Northern Ireland.
Worryingly, MSE suggests that hundreds of thousands of homes across England and Scotland may be in the ‘wrong council band’. This is primarily because many tax bands are based on so-called ‘second-gear valuations’.
Estate agents at Petty Son and Prestwich also echo this, explaining: “The name, ‘second-gear valuation’ came about because they were done on the fly in rolling cars that never stopped to inspect individual homes, but rather took a view of a street as a whole. Little wonder, then, that there are discrepancies between neighbouring properties and that so many households are now successfully challenging their current council tax banding.”
Wondering if you’re being overcharged? MSE has laid out a step-by-step guide to check your eligibility. While it may sound straightforward, this first involves talking to your neighbours.
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If they’re charged more or less despite owning a similar property, this may be a clear sign that you’re being overcharged. However, if you’re uncomfortable asking, you can also search up property bands using Gov.uk or the Scottish Assessors’ Association website.
Next up, it’s worth finding out your current property value and what it was worth in 1991 – you can do the latter using MSE’s nifty online tool. This should then be compared to council band criteria laid out once again on Gov.uk or the Scottish Assessors’ Association.
After this, you can potentially request a ‘reassessment’. For those in England, you can do this by calling or emailing the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) with ‘supporting evidence’ on hand. Or, you can fill out the Government’s online form.
The Government also explains: “In Scotland, you submit your challenge to an assessor based in your local Valuation Joint Board or council. Find a Scottish Assessor on the Scottish Assessors Association website.”
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