A campaign by a consumer watchdog has already alerted over 130,000 householders that they were paying too much council tax and were in need of a re-band.

Council tax payers in England and Scotland are being urged to check and challenge their tax band after research showed that nearly one million people might be in the wrong band. And that if so, people could be entitled to back-dated compensation stretching back a good number of years.

The watchdog has campaigned vigorously for refunds after highlighting the fact that council bands were first established in a rush in 1991, as a way of coping with the withdrawal of the deeply unpopular poll tax. It was what has become known as ‘second gear’ valuations, councils sent out valuation officials to guess which houses were in which bands, and this was usually done via a drive-by in a car. The watchdog points out that this hurried process has never been repeated and that numerous mistakes were made.

It recommends that people question their council tax band, mainly by looking at comparative properties in their area (the information is available online) and use various online calculators to come up with the correct figure.

If re-banded, a householder could save between £100 and £200 a year, and if back-dated to when council tax was fist introduced in 1993, this could amount to thousands of pounds if the property has been in the same hands.

Many people have gathered themselves a £1,000 windfall, with one street collectively claiming back £100,000.

So, check your council tax band now.

Guest Article by Neil Camp