Council Tax refund Letter

[saltdeanseagull1]

I have today received a letter from Randall & Vickers "Consumer Champions" saying that many properties in my area have been placed in the wrong council tax band and that may include mine. I therefore could be entitled to a refund.

This is a "no win no fee" letter a bit like the PPI crap you see on TV so never in a million years will I reply to them. But I was just wondering if there is any likely hood that the council have put a load of properties in the wrong bands. I have never heard of this before so was wondeing if anyone else has heard about it and if so did you get you bill reduced and a refund.

 

[edna krabappel]

I have today received a letter from Randall & Vickers "Consumer Champions" saying that many properties in my area have been placed in the wrong council tax band and that may include mine. I therefore could be entitled to a refund.

This is a "no win no fee" letter a bit like the PPI crap you see on TV so never in a million years will I reply to them. But I was just wondering if there is any likely hood that the council have put a load of properties in the wrong bands. I have never heard of this before so was wondeing if anyone else has heard about it and if so did you get you bill reduced and a refund.

You could find out yourself if there was any chance of your property being over-rated by the council, and save paying any money to some dodgy firm.

I know someone who successfully argued their property down from a Band D to a Band C (I think) and reduced their bills without a solicitor getting a sniff.

 

[gullshark]

From what I know you don't need a middle man, you can do it all yourself for free.

 

[dgh123]

All information if you think that it could be wrong: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/YourlocalcouncilandCouncilTax/CouncilTax/DG_10037424

 

[Norman Potting]

When we moved into our present house 5 years ago about 6 months later we got a Council Tax refund of around £2.5K out of the blue. I really couldn't believe it (the letter implied it related to our new house) but it turned out that the new owner of our old house had successfully challenged the banding, got it reduced and Wealden bless 'em had refunded an appropriate amount to us (we will ignore the fact that we had presumably been overpaying for around 12 years beforehand!).

If we had know about the website above we may have spotted an inconsistency between properties and found out sooner.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

It isn't a complete scam, because you can challenge council tax bandings, but if you want to do so you do not need to pay part of any refund to some shyster ambulance chasers when you can easily do it yourself.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/council-tax-bands-change

 

[DumLum]

You certainly don't need any consumer champions. I made a phone call, council sent me a form, bloke visited my flat and a few days later I was informed I would be in a lower band. From memory they refund up to a couple of years? I had only just moved in so didn't benefit from a refund but previous occupant was entitled to one.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

All information if you think that it could be wrong: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/YourlocalcouncilandCouncilTax/CouncilTax/DG_10037424

This.

And here's a bit more ...

http://www.voa.gov.uk/corporate/_downloads/pdf/VO7857_disagree_ct_banding.pdf

 

[Lord Bracknell]

You can check your Council Tax banding (and that of your neighbours) online.

Search for your Council Tax band