Could you be paying too much council tax?
1st July 2010
17 residents of a street in Solihull have been refunded £49,000
after challenging their council tax bands, the Telegraph
reports.
The sum, which will be shared amongst the neighbours, was won
after a resident found that 22 of the 108 houses on Woodrow
Crescent were banded as 'F' when they should have been 'E'.
Speaking to the Telegraph, Cliff Morrey, who has lived on the
street for 20 years, said: "There didn't seem to be any reason why
the houses that were banded 'F' would be a higher value - it almost
looked like houses were picked at random. Surely if there were this
many mistakes on my street, the whole area could be at risk."
It is believed thousands of properties in the UK could have been
placed in the incorrect council tax band when the system began in
1991, and most are still paying over the odds on their tax.
Incorrect bandings were largely a result of "drive-by"
valuations, where council officials would band houses purely based
on outward features such as how windows the house had.
Since 2006, 210,000 homes in England have challenged their
council tax band, of which almost 70% were found to be paying too
much.
Phil Gillen of the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) said to the
paper: "If a band review of a property results in a reduction or
increase in the council tax band, the VOA will automatically review
the bands of similar properties nearby.
"We are not aware of a widespread problem, as the number of band
changes made by the VOA in any one year is very small fraction of
the total number of dwellings in valuation lists."
If you think you may be paying too much council tax and would
like to know how to challenge your bill, please consult our free and comprehensive guide to
council tax banding.
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