Paying the wrong council tax band?
Check it free. Challenge it properly.
Bands in England are still based on 1991 values (Wales was last revalued in 2003). The checker compares your home with similar homes in your postcode and back-casts your value — the two tests the VOA and MoneySavingExpert both say to run. If both point lower, the £29 challenge pack builds the case the VOA expects.
No account. Bands from the VOA list, sizes from the EPC register. Challenging on GOV.UK is free.
27%
of resolved challenges were moved to a lower band in 2023-24, the last year the VOA published. Under 1% went up.
Source: VOA, Council Tax challenges and changes, March 2024
6 months
The window after moving in (or after a VOA band change) in which you have a legal right to a formal proposal with a tribunal appeal behind it.
Source: gov.uk/challenge-council-tax-band
1993 / 6 years
How far back a successful challenge can be refunded — in England to the day you became liable, and no earlier than 1 April 1993, with no time limit. In Wales backdating is capped at six years before the band is changed.
Source: Council Tax (Alteration of Lists and Appeals) (England) Regulations 2009, reg 11; Council Tax (Alteration of Lists and Appeals) Regulations 1993, reg 14(6)(b)
Two checks, one honest verdict, then the pack.
1 · Neighbours
Enter your postcode and pick your address. We pull every band on the street from the VOA list and the size and age of each home from the EPC register, then score how alike each one is to yours. Similar homes in a lower band are your comparables.
2 · Value
Tell us what your home is worth today (or what you paid). We back-cast it to 1 April 1991 (2003 in Wales) using regional growth and read off the band. If the neighbours say lower but the value says higher, the neighbours are probably the ones in the wrong band — and we say so.
3 · The £29 pack
Route decision (proposal or band review) with the six-month deadline, the five best comparables formatted the way the VOA asks, a formal letter, the exact text for the GOV.UK form, an evidence checklist, the objections the VOA raises and how to answer them, and a workspace to upload the reply and prepare a Valuation Tribunal appeal.
Built for the VOA, not for you to feel better.
- ✓Proposal-or-review decision and the six-month deadline, tracked
- ✓Up to five comparables with band, floor area and construction age from official data
- ✓Formal challenge letter, and the compressed text for the GOV.UK form
- ✓Evidence checklist and a place to keep your bill, EPC, photos and sale evidence
- ✓“If the VOA says…” — the standard objections, answered
- ✓Upload the decision letter and get it explained; Valuation Tribunal appeal guidance if you had a proposal
- ✓Ask CourtPilot anything about the case, any time
One property · one-off
£29
Submitting to the VOA is free. We charge for building the case, not the outcome. No subscription. Bands can go up as well as down, which is why the free check comes first.
Start with the free checkCompare: letter-only services charge about £5 for a template and stop there. Claims firms take a cut of your refund for the same GOV.UK form you can file yourself.
Questions people ask before they challenge
Is it free to challenge my council tax band?
Yes. Submitting a challenge to the Valuation Office Agency on GOV.UK costs nothing, and the VOA never charges. CourtPilot charges £29 to build the case — the comparables, the letter, the form text and the follow-through — not for the outcome. The free checker tells you whether it is worth doing at all.
Can my council tax band go up if I challenge it?
It can, and neighbours the VOA looks at can be re-banded too. In the last published year (2023-24) fewer than 1% of resolved challenges ended in an increase and 27% in a decrease. That is why CourtPilot runs two checks — your neighbours and your 1991 value — and only calls a case strong when both agree.
What is the difference between a proposal and a band review?
A proposal is a formal challenge you have a legal right to make — mainly if you have been the taxpayer for less than six months or the VOA changed the band in the last six months. If the VOA rejects it you can appeal to the Valuation Tribunal. A band review is for everyone else: the VOA looks at your evidence but you have no automatic appeal. CourtPilot works out which one you are on and tracks the six-month deadline.
What evidence does the VOA accept?
Up to five similar homes — same type, size, age and style, on your street or estate — that sit in a lower band, and sale prices from April 1989 to March 1993 (April 2001 to March 2005 in Wales). The VOA says it does not treat Rightmove, Zoopla or house-price-index estimates as strong evidence, so CourtPilot builds the comparables from the VOA list and the EPC register and uses value back-casting only as supporting context.
How much could I get back?
A one-band drop is worth one ninth of your council’s Band D charge at the lower bands — around £200–£300 a year on the 2026/27 England average Band D of £2,392, and more from Band E upwards where the steps are two or three ninths. A successful challenge is backdated to the day you became liable at the address, or 1 April 1993 at the earliest in England, with no time limit. In Wales backdating is capped at six years before the day the band is changed (Council Tax (Alteration of Lists and Appeals) Regulations 1993, regulation 14(6)(b)), and can never reach past 1 April 2005. The checker estimates both figures using your own council’s charge.
How long does the VOA take?
Simple reviews can be a few weeks; two to six months is common and the backlog was rising at the last count. If you made a formal proposal the VOA must issue a decision, and you have three months from that decision (four in Wales) to appeal to the Valuation Tribunal.
Does it cover Scotland?
Not yet. Scottish bands are set by the Scottish Assessors and challenged through a different, proposal-only process. CourtPilot covers England and Wales.
Look up what every band costs where you live: council tax bands by council in England and Wales. Or read the guides: is my band too high?, how to challenge a band, how far back a refund goes and appealing to the Valuation Tribunal.
CourtPilot is independent and not affiliated with the Valuation Office Agency, HMRC or any council. This is an information and drafting service, not legal advice.