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Hiked council tax bills for Hull street

Emma Lunn
Written By:
Emma Lunn
Posted:
Updated:
16/10/2015

An entire street in Hull has had their council tax bills hiked after one resident complained to the Valuations Office Agency (VOA) they were paying more than anyone else.

The resident on Lynton Avenue in Hull challenged her council tax band with the VOA after discovering she was paying more than her neighbours with identical properties.

But instead of lowering the complainant’s tax, Hull City Council raised the taxes for everyone else, moving them from a band A to band B, adding about £160 a year to each householder’s bills.

A spokesman for the VOA said bands can change as a result of one person expressing concerns about the amount they are paying.

Martin Lewis, founder and editor of MoneySavingExpert.com, said that people aiming to re-band their council tax shouldn’t be put off by the story.

“The key is there are two checks to do. The first is the neighbours check – ‘are you in a higher band than neighbours in a similar property?’ Yet you must also do the second check – ‘what was my house worth in 1991?’ Only if both are successful should you ask for your band to be assessed.”

Mr Lewis said 100,000s of people have tried MoneySavingExpert’s “council tax check and challenge system”.

“Not everyone has succeeded in having their band lowered – though many have been successful in getting a backdated pay-out of £1,000s too. Yet I’ve not heard of anyone who passed both checks seeing their neighbours’ band increased,” he said.


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