Council tax bands

Lower your band & save £1,000s

Updated 21 June 2022

Council tax bills rose by around 3% for millions of households in April, adding to the cost of living crunch. It's more important than ever therefore to check whether your property's in the right council tax band – if it's not, you could be vastly overpaying. Thousands who were in too high a band have successfully challenged this, with pay-outs worth £100s or £1,000s being commonplace.

This guide is aimed at residents of England and Scotland. Council tax banding errors are less likely in Wales following a nationwide revaluation in 2003, while Northern Ireland uses a completely different system.

Other MSE council tax guides...

Council tax discounts – Check if you can get money off.
Reclaim overpaid council tax – if you've moved since 1993.
Claim a discount if you're 'severely mentally impaired'

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100,000s are in the wrong band – how council tax bands were originally calculated

Many homes are in the wrong council tax bands, and have been since 1991. The story:

Once upon a time, way back in 1991, in time for the launch of its new council tax system, the Government needed every property 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 mostly 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 property.

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

How much can you expect to get if you successfully challenge your band?

It's well worth asking: "What council tax band am I in?"

Get your banding decreased and, as well as paying between £100 and £400 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.

MoneySavingExpert.com reported a massive reclaim success in 2020, where one man challenged his band and saved himself and his 29 neighbours £10,000s. Read the full MSE News story.

Here are some other MoneySavers' success stories:

Following your advice we contacted the Valuation Agency and found we had been in the wrong tax band since 1996. We have just received a refund of £6,972. So glad we took your advice, as before your programme we did not realise we could contest our banding. With grateful thanks.

Thanks for your advice on council tax banding. I recently challenged my own banding using the information on your website and am pleased to say I have been rebanded from E to D. I've received a rebate dating back to 1993 for £7,943, plus a reduction of £470 for this year and those going forward.

I've been campaigning about this since 2007

A front page of the Daily Express from 2007 featuring the headline "Tax refunds for millions"

When I first launched this system in 2007 it hit the headlines in a big way, making the front page of scores of newspapers on the same day I presented a prime-time ITV show on how to do it.

The Government's Valuation Office Agency website, which is a key part of the technique, crashed for a week under the traffic.

If you've succeeded to lower your band, please report your council tax cashback successes.

Have a watch of my council tax banding video explainer below. Although the visuals look a bit grainy (it was filmed back in 2008), all of the information contained in it still stands.

MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis explains council tax bandings

Embedded YouTube Video

Council tax reclaiming – step-by-step

Follow the steps below to check if you're eligible for a payout:

Step 1: The Neighbours Check

By far the most important step is to find out if your band's higher than neighbours in similar or identical properties. You could simply ask them, but there's no need as it's public info.

The band of every property in England and Scotland is available via these websites...

In England, use the Valuation Office Agency (VOA)

In Scotland, use the Scottish Assessors' Association (SAA)

So first check your band, and compare it with your neighbours' bands. Make sure the properties are as close as possible in size and value. Sadly, the sheer scale of the database means a few properties are missed off it. If that happens, either speak to your 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 (though it may just mean that they're all in the wrong band). This happened to a street in Hull, when one unidentified resident appealed as she was in band B, and all her neighbours in similar properties were in band A.

But instead of her getting a council tax cut, all her neighbours are now facing larger bills as they were all upbanded. This is why it's vital to also do the Valuation Check below.

Step 2: The Valuation Check

A second crucial step is to estimate what your home was worth in 1991, as that's when and how the council tax bands were defined.

This CAN'T be used as evidence if you challenge your band. But it enables you to check out various property prices on your street and it's an important test that you're on the right track if you do decide to challenge.

To make the valuation, follow the steps below:

A. Value your property

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 website which offers free historic sales price information. These include Nethouseprices, Zoopla and Rightmove.

Enter your street name and it'll tell you the prices of all properties sold there since 2000. For more 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.

B. Find out what it was worth in 1991

Once you have that information, you can use it to estimate what your property would've been worth back in 1991, and what band it's in. I've built a calculator to do it for you below, using house price data from Nationwide.

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

This additional check helps mitigate the chances of that happening. If this test 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 challenge your band.

How to work it out manually

To do this, go to the Nationwide House Price Calculator. This is actually designed for people to put in their property 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:

Scroll down the page to the calculator.
In 'Property value', note the sales price from earlier.
In 'Valuation year 1', enter the date of sale from earlier. (Make sure you enter which quarter of the year it was.)
In 'Valuation year 2', enter 1991, and Q2.
Select your region from the dropdown list.
Click 'calculate the results'.

The results then appear, for example:

A property in north west England valued at £170,000 in Q2 of 2010 would have been worth approx £67,000 in Q2 of 1991.

C. Check council tax bands for the property's 1991 price

Now you've worked out roughly what your property was worth in 1991, you can compare this to the table below to see what band you should have been put in, based on that home value.

Council tax bands at 1991 property values

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

Step 3: Are you in the wrong band?

At this point, I need to throw in a serious warning.

Challenging your band is not something to do speculatively without the checks, for one simple reason:

You can't just ask for your band to be lowered – only for a 'reassessment', which means it could be moved up or down.

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

This is why it is crucially important you do BOTH of the checks, and to be especially careful if you've added an extension or something that increases your property's value.

In terms of you being eligible for a reduction, 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' band is too low.

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

How strong is your case for revaluation?

NEIGHBOURS CHECK	VALUATION CHECK	HAVE YOU GOT A GOOD CLAIM?
Pass	Pass	Strong
Pass	Fail	Moderate case (mild risk to neighbours)
Fail	Pass	Not worth the risk
Fail	Fail	Never

Step 4: Challenge!

If you're convinced your property band is unfair, it's time to challenge it.

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

How to challenge if you're in England: If you're in England, the Gov.uk website helps explain how to go about challenging your council tax band. You can either contact the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) directly, at which point 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 check your band by entering your postcode and selecting your address from a list. Then you can click on the link asking if you think your council tax banding is wrong and you'll be given the option to fill out a checklist which suggests reasons you could challenge.

How to challenge if you're in Scotland: In Scotland, the Scottish Assessors' Association (SAA) deals with council tax bands. Enter your postcode in the Council Tax Bands search box on the SAA homepage. Select your property from the list. If you want to challenge the banding, click on "Make a proposal". You can then fill in an online form which will be sent to your local assessor, who will contact you.

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Possible outcomes

One of the outcomes is that you're told you can't challenge - but that might not be the end of the matter

A: You get told you can't challenge it

You can only formally challenge your council tax band if you've lived in the property for six months or less. This is also called making a proposal to change your council tax band.

In England, this is done through the Valuation Office Agency (VOA). It might be able to change your band before you need to challenge, so get in touch with it first and explain why you think your band is wrong – make sure to include evidence. If you're unhappy with its decision, you can then formally challenge via its website.

What if I've lived in my property longer than six months?

If you've lived in your property for more than six months, you can still contact the VOA with evidence of why you think your band should be changed, and it will decide if it's enough to review your case.

Asking for a review is a different process than making a challenge. The VOA has told me it will be quicker and more efficient to ring it on 03000 501 501 if you're in England, or 03000 505 505 if you're in Wales. This is because you'll get to speak to an expert directly, who will help you with queries and explain the process.

However, you can also write a letter politely explaining: "I am writing to tell you I believe the council tax banding list of my property is incorrect, my house is in the wrong band, and I ask that you investigate to check, and correct it if it is in the wrong band." You will need to provide evidence along with your letter (for more, see the Gov.uk guidance on how to challenge your council tax band).

Send your letter to: Valuation Office Agency, Customer Service Centre, Wycliffe House, Green Lane, Durham, DH1 3UW.

This has worked and does work, though there are no guarantees. It can need some perseverance and you may only get a band change going forward, but no backdated payout. See the council tax successes forum thread for details from many people who have pushed through this.

If it still doesn't help, you could complain to the Adjudicator's Office, which covers complaints about VOA administration (such as mistakes or misleading advice, not disagreements with its decision).

Live in Scotland?

For those in Scotland, proposals to change a council tax band are dealt with by your local assessor.

Similarly to England, you can only formally challenge a band if you've lived in your property for six months or less, though there are scenarios where you can challenge even if you've lived there for longer – see details of these on the Scottish Assessors' Association website.

If the assessor determines that you can't challenge (for whatever reason), it'll need to give you notice of this. You can appeal this decision, but it must be done within four weeks of that notice being served. Where the assessor stands by its original decision, your appeal will then be sent for hearing at the Valuation Appeal Committee.

You have three months to appeal if your challenge if rejected

B: Your challenge gets rejected

If you challenged your banding in England and were rejected – and you think it's wrong – you've got three months to appeal to the Valuation Tribunal.

Note: This option is only available if you've lived in the property for six months or less, or any of the other qualifying circumstances apply to you.

If you've lived in the property for more than six months and the VOA has decided there isn't enough evidence to review your case, or it has done so and decided not to change your band, you won't be able to appeal and the matter ends there. However, if you find new evidence that hasn't already been reviewed, you can try again.

Remember, the check and 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 changed.

'My challenge was rejected – is it worth pursuing further?'

I often get emails from people saying: "I went through all the steps, they investigated and turned me down – what now?" For most, unfortunately it's probably time to give up.

However, if you've a compelling reason to take your case further – and the evidence to back it up – it could be worth appealing. Remember, the 'valuation check' calculator can't be used as evidence for house values in 1991, but if you can get actual sale prices from that time, this can be used.

The Gov.uk website provides further details on the Valuation Tribunal's process. If it decides against you, it's almost certainly time to give up. You do have a final right of appeal through the High Court if you really want it (though you'd need to prove the Valuation Tribunal made an error in law, not just that you disagree with what it said).

Live in Scotland?

For those in Scotland, if you're formally able to challenge your band, but the challenge can not be resolved by your local assessor within six months, the dispute will then be referred to the Valuation Appeal Committee.

You'll be given notice of the date and time of the hearing, and further details of the procedure.

If your challenge succeeds then you'll likely pay less council tax going forward and you may even get a backdated payout

C: You succeed!

Expect to have your band lowered and make sure you get a backdated rebate from when you moved into the property (or 1993, whichever is later). You may also want to consider contacting previous occupants, as they should be entitled to a payout too.

Please share your story. The more info I have, the better I can finesse this system. Please report your council tax rebanding successes on the MSE Forum.

Council tax rebanding FAQs

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

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Are you eligible for a council tax discount?

The full council tax rate is the default setting, but many people qualify for a discount or reduction.

Discounts and reductions are worth at least 25% off your total bill, though there are also many people due nearer to off 50% – if not the whole bill wiped entirely. Head over to our Council tax discounts guide which has full information on who qualifies and how to apply.

In brief though, discounts and reductions can be awarded to people including (but not limited to):

Students
People who live alone (or only with under-18s)
People living with a severe mental impairment (SMI)
Those on a low income / benefits / universal credit
Those on pension credit

Discounts can also be awarded to certain properties too. See our Council tax discounts guide.

Other MSE council tax guides...

Reclaim overpaid council tax – if you've moved since 1993.
Claim a discount if you're 'severely mentally impaired'

MSE weekly email

FREE weekly MoneySaving email

For more tips on how to cut your council tax bill, simply sign up today – it's spam-free!

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MSE Forum

Have your say in our forum!

Council tax reclaiming

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