Anyone who has moved house in the last 32 years could be owed council tax refunds, according to a BBC expert. Appearing on BBC Morning Live Cost of Living correspondent Coletta Smith said that there was a shocking £140 million in refunds is waiting to be reclaimed.
She explained there was ‘good news’ for many homeowners amid the cost of living crisis. Show host Gaby Roslin said: “So, people could be owed a share if they moved house in the last 32 years. Coletta said: “Yes, it’s a really long time span that’ll affect loads of people, so I am. on the show today, actually able to share some good news, some, as you say, money that you can get back.
“Normally I’m here talking about, ‘oh no, sorry, your energy bills are going up, your water bills are going up’. But today it’s about money that you can get back.“
The money is there because people failed to stop direct debits when they moved house, and many councils are holding large sums of money they should be paying back. She explained: “So lots of us of course pay council tax. It’s a huge chunk every year, and the idea behind this is that lots of us pay it in advance, so you, maybe you’re paying by direct debits and you forget to cancel them or you pay. Full year up front, or through a standing charge, or perhaps your council tax band has been adjusted and you haven’t realised that you’re paying the wrong band.
“So money saving expert put in a Freedom of Information request, and those latest stats show that’s across all councils in England and Wales, there is, as you say, £141 million where the account has been closed, so the person’s no longer paying, they’ve moved address. But they’re still in credit, so there’s still some money sitting there, that’s around 800,000 households, and you may well be one of them.
“So I want everyone to prick up their ears for this. It’s not often, and particularly at this time of year that we get to say, actually you may well be owed a good chunk of money.”
She explained why it dates back to 1993: “It’s 32 years because back in 1993, that’s when council tax kicked in in England, Scotland and Wales. In Northern Ireland, they kept the older rates system, that’s still the case there now.
“So if you live in Northern Ireland, contact the Land and Property Service, the LPS, their valuation system, if you think there’s an error there, and you can contact them directly and they’ll talk you through how to get a refund in Northern Ireland.”
Host Rav Wilding asked: ”So this is important and a lot of people could be eligible here. So if you’ve now, perhaps you’ve moved, you maybe live elsewhere in the UK, how do you check if you could be owed some money?”
Colette explained: “So the first thing to do is to contact your council, make sure that you’re checking your council statements. Check your council tax band, so your house is given a letter a council tax bracket, and you’ll pay a different amount depending on which one you’re in.”
The Money Saving Expert site says there are two main ways to get your money back:
- Check if the former council offers an online claims form. It suggested googling ‘[council name] Council Tax refund form’ – “we found that half the time this’ll take you to an online claims form, and if not it should take you to a page explaining your council’s process.” You might need your old council tax reference number.
- Call or email your council.