PlayTonight: Council Tax cover up
Published: Friday, 7 March 2008, 11:16AM
Are you paying more council tax than your neighbours? Last year Tonight’s Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis revealed how to check and challenge your council tax band; thousands succeeded, each getting a massive payout.
Now it’s become a political issue with the Tories accusing the Government of hiding the fact 400,000 homes are paying too much.
Tonight examines whether this stacks up, showing how to check if you're a victim and, if so, how to get your money back.
WHY YOU MAY BE IN THE WRONG BAND
The amount you pay in council tax depends on which band you’re in. In England and Scotland, the bands depend on the 1991 valuation of house price values. Yet these didn’t involve someone coming to your home; many were ‘second gear valuations’, so called because they were often done by literally driving past houses and allocating a band.
As this programme shows, not only are we still reliant on the same system, but apart from in Wales, there’s been no revaluation in seventeen years. All in all this means it has more holes than Swiss cheese.
HOW TO GRAB YOUR CASH BACK
By challenging your council tax band, you can not only lower your current band, but grab a backdated payout from the date you moved in.
The first step is to check your council tax band and the band of any of your neighbours in similar houses for free. If there looks to be a discrepancy, i.e. you’re in a higher band than neighbours in a similar property, you may have a case. See the links below for details.
If there’s a chance you’re in the wrong band, bizarrely you need to work out what your house was worth in 1991, because that’s how council tax bands are allocated. Finally, compare this to the 1991 bands; if it looks like you should be in a lower band, you’re in action.
If both the above steps show you’re in the wrong band, then you can challenge your band and possibly grab thousands of pounds back.
Web Links
Martin Lewis’ full step by step council tax rebanding guide
www.moneysavingexpert.com/council
Valuation Office Agency (VOA) (Council Tax System for England & Wales)
www.voa.gov.uk/
Scottish Assessors Association (Scottish Council Tax Website)
www.saa.gov.uk/
Eric Pickles’ MP’s Council Tax Statement website
http://www.ericpickles.com/newsarticle.php?id=1308
Valuation Tribunal Service
www.valuation-tribunals.gov.uk
Past Council Tax Rebanding Coverage
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2007/jan/25/counciltax.business http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/01/25/ntax25.xml