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

Up to 400,000 homes in England and Scotland are in the wrong council tax band. Yet in 10 minutes, at no cost, you can check 'n' challenge your banding, not only potentially slashing what you pay now but getting a backdated rebate stretching as far back as 1993.

Thousands have already tried this and succeeded, and stories of payouts in the £1,000s are commonplace. This is a step-by-step guide to see if you can join them.

Why you may be overpaying

Many homes are in the wrong council tax band, and have been since 1991. Here's the story:

nce upon a time, way back in 1991, in time for the launch of its new council tax system the government needed every house in the land to be put in a valuation band. But time was short, and the job large, so the people in charge asked estate agents and others to help.

Yet even with all the estate agents' help, they didn't have time to get the detailed information together, so they set about doing it quickly by pairing up and driving down countless streets, allocating each property a band with just a glance. They became known as “second gear valuations” as they never even stopped their cars, never mind got out of them.

Many years passed, and still nobody came to rescue the poor valuations in England and Scotland, though the Welsh government reassessed all homes there. So the flawed old valuation still dictates much of the kingdom's banding, which is why you could be paying more than your neighbour even though you live in exactly the SAME size house.

This may sound like a fairytale, but every word is true.

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 some MoneySavers' success stories:

"Last week got the letter from VOA saying we were being reduced to an E effective from when we moved in in August 2000. Next day got the letter from the Council stating the same and that the refund was £2,369. Money was paid into my account yesterday. Total time less than 4 weeks."

"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!"

"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. If you're new, feel free to read others' stories there.

Council tax reclaiming: Step by step

Follow the steps below and you could see a payout in as little as a month:

The Valuation Check

A second useful step is to estimate what your house was worth back in 1991, as that's when the council tax bands were defined.

This CAN'T be used as evidence in appeals. But it enables you to check out various house prices and it's an important test that you're on the right track if you decide to appeal.

First - value your house

If you bought your house after 1991, you can simply use its price and date of sale to do this. If you rent or bought earlier you'll need to find an estimated price.

It's also worth doing this with similar neighbouring properties to check there are no anomalies.

• Go to free house price websites

  To find a price quickly, use a websites which offers historic sales price information for free. These include Nethouseprices, Zoopla and RightMove.

  Simply put in your street and it'll tell you the prices of all properties sold in it since 2000. For more details on valuation tools, read the full Free House Price Valuations guide.

• Note down the price and date

  Find the most recent sale price of a similar property to yours in your street. Now note down both the price and the date of sale.

Once you have that information, you can use it to estimate what your house would've been worth back in 1991 and what band it is in. We've built a calculator to do it for you below (find out how to do it manually).

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.

How to use the calculator

A. Scroll down the page to the calculator

B. In 'Property value' note the sales price from earlier

C. In 'Valuation date 1' enter the date of sale from earlier
(ensure you put down which quarter of the year it was).

D. In Valuation date 2' enter 1991, and Q2

E. Select your region from the drop down list

F. Click 'calculate the results'

The results, rather strangely, appear just above the calculator. For example:

A property located in the North West which was valued at £170,000 in Q2 of 2010, would be worth approx. £66,904 in Q2 of 1991. That's equivalent to a -60.64% change

You can then compare this to the table below to see what band you should have been put in, based on that house price.

What was the price of the house?	£
What was the date of sale?		Jan - Mar April - June July - Sept Oct - Dec 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991
Which UK region do you live in?		East Anglia East Midlands London North North West Northern Ireland Outer London Scotland South East (excl. London) South West West Midlands Yorkshire & Humberside What region do I live in?

Underlying data sourced from

This is only a very rough indication, but still an important safety check. You may be in a higher band than neighbours because they're in the wrong band, not you. In that case, if you appeal and stay in the same band, yet theirs' is increased, it won't make you popular. This additional check helps mitigate the chances of that happening.

If this test also indicates you are in too high a band, it's worth checking how far away you are from the band you're actually in as part of deciding whether to appeal. Use the table below...

Council Tax Bands at 1991 Property Value

Band	ENGLAND 1991 Property Value	SCOTLAND 1991 Property Value
A	All properties under £40,000	All properties under £27,000
B	£40,001 - £52,000	£27,001 - £35,000
C	£52,001 - £68,000	£35,001 - £45,000
D	£68,001 - £88,000	£45,001 - £58,000
E	£88,001 - £120,000	£58,001 - £80,000
F	£120,001 - £160,000	£80,001 - £106,000
G	£160,001 - £320,000	£106,001 - £212,000
H	over £320,000	Over £212,000

Are you in the wrong band?

At this point, we need throw in a serious warning. Challenging your band is not something to do speculatively without the checks, for one simple reason:

You can't ask for 'my band to be lowered', only for a 'reassesment', which means your band could be moved up as well as down.

It's even possible that your neighbours' band could be increased, although this is extremely rare.

This is why it is crucially important you do BOTH of the checks, and are especially careful if you've added an extension or something that increases your property's value. In terms of you being eligible for money, by far the most important check is the Neighbours' Check, yet the secondary Valuation Check is useful for seeing whether your band is too high or your neighbours' are too low.

Use the table below to see how strong your case is, to help you decide if it's worth it.

Council tax rebanding Q&A

Here are a few commonly-asked questions. If yours isn't answered below, take a look at the forum discussion.

Ensure you're getting council tax discounts

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 10 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. Perhaps split the difference, with one paying 62.5% and the other 12.5% of the full amount.

  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.

• Are you on a low income?

  If you're on a low income (and don't have more than £16,000 in savings) you may be able to receive council tax benefit to help ease the burden. The 5 Minute Benefit Check-Up will assess your eligibility and suggest if you may be entitled to any other financial support.

  Your bill could also be reduced by applying for the Second Adult Rebate if you share your home with someone who is aged at least 18, (they can't be your partner) on a low income and not paying rent or council tax themselves. This reduction could save you up to 25% off your bill.

• 

  Is your property being renovated or is it empty?

  For unoccupied and unfurnished properties which need or are undergoing major repair work to make them habitable, you can claim a council tax exemption for the first 12 months, provided the previous owner didn't. For any length of time after that, you may be entitled to up to a 50% discount off the normal rate, or no discount at all, depending on which council's area you're in. This is because each council is free to decide what "long term empty" rate it wishes to charge after the exemption has ended.

  If your property is unoccupied and unfurnished, but not being renovated, the council may grant an exemption for up to six months.

• Do you have a second home?

  You're liable for the full council tax on a second home. However, you could receive a discount of between 10-50% at the discretion of the appropriate council.

• Are you willing to have cavity wall insulation fitted?

  As an energy efficiency incentive, a possible one-off council tax rebate of up to £125 is available to thousands of households (only from some UK local authorities). To get it, you must agree to have British Gas install cavity wall insulation at the cost of £175, although you don't have to get your gas and electricity from British Gas to do it. Of course this means even with the rebate there's an overall cost, but this should be more than made up for by reduced energy bills (also see Energy Grant Grabbing).

  Before doing it, check your eligibility for an insulation grant via the British Gas website. You can't receive a grant as well as take part in the council tax rebate scheme, so if you have the choice, opt for the grant - it'll save you more. If not, check the list to see if your council is participating, and if it is, contact it.

• Do you have a disability or are you a carer?

  Reductions for disability are available, eg, if for accessibility purposes you have to live in a large home or you've had to make modifications. You could see your bill decrease by one band.

  Discounts are also available for occupiers who provide/receive care elsewhere.

Further information on council tax discounts and exemptions, and a guide to claiming these can be found on the Directgov website.