England · Valuations as at
1 April 1991
Free check · No sign-up
Your council tax band was set from a 1991 valuation — often done at a glance, decades ago. We audit it two ways: against your neighbours’ bands and against your home’s own value, wound back to 1991. Both checks must agree before we’d say “challenge”.
Fair warning: most bands are correct. We say “don’t bother” far more often than “go” — that honesty is the product.
Begin the audit
Not our figures — the government’s. Of the 12,000 band reviews the Valuation Office resolved in 2023–24:
41%
of band reviews ended in a reduction
59%
changed nothing at all
<1%
ended with a higher band
Across all challenge routes the reduction rate was 27%. So most people who challenge get nothing — which is precisely why we screen first and tell you when not to bother.
Source: Valuation Office Agency, Council Tax: challenges and changes in England and Wales, March 2024 (29 August 2024). England & Wales, 1 April 2023 – 31 March 2024.
If you’ve paid council tax here for less than 6 months, you have a legal right to challenge your band.
This is the part almost nobody knows. Everyone else has to prove their band is wrong before the Valuation Office will even look. You don’t. You file, and they must review your case and give you a written decision — usually within 2 months. If they say no, you can appeal to an independent tribunal, for free.
So if our check comes back uncertain, the maths is different for you: filing costs you time, not money, and you keep a right of appeal. That is not true for anyone past the 6-month mark.
Honest caveat: a statutory right is a right to be heard, not to win. Only 19% of proposals ended in a reduction in 2023–24 — precisely because anyone can file one, evidence or not. We’ll still tell you when the evidence points the wrong way.
You qualify if
Source: GOV.UK / VOA — Challenge your Council Tax band — when you have a legal right
The check is always free. You only pay if we find a case worth making — and even then, you can always file it yourself for free with the VOA.
£29.99
We build the case. You send it.
Anyone happy to spend 10 minutes sending one email.
£49.99
You sign once. We do the rest.
People who'd rather not deal with the paperwork at all.
Free · then 25% of a win
Pay nothing unless your band comes down.
People who want zero risk and don't mind sharing the win.
If your band is reduced, we charge 25% of the one-off backdated refund (not future savings). Card required at sign-up; charged only on a confirmed reduction. Cancel any time before submission.
You never have to pay anyone. Here’s the honest difference — including the two rows where we’re no better than doing it yourself.
| Do it yourself | The Band Ledger | Claims firms | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free, always | Free check · £29.99–£49.99 if there's a case | Varies — often a share of your savings |
| Finding comparable neighbours | You look them up yourself | We find and filter them for you | Usually done for you |
| Told when NOT to challenge | No one to tell you | Yes — most checks end this way | Rarely — they earn when you file |
| Dealing with the Valuation Office | You | You, or us on the £49.99 plan | Them |
| Your odds of winning | The same | The same | The same |
| Time for a decision | Set by the VOA — around 2 months, longer if it goes to tribunal (about 9 months) | Identical — nobody can jump the queue | Identical |
Nobody can improve your odds. The Valuation Office judges the evidence, not who sent it. What we sell is working out whether you have a case at all — and assembling the evidence properly if you do.
Timescales: Valuation Office Agency official statistics. Claims-firm pricing varies by provider — check their terms.
We find homes like yours nearby — same type, similar size and age — and compare bands. If most similar neighbours sit lower, that's evidence.
We take your home's real sale price (HM Land Registry) and wind it back to 1991 using Nationwide's regional index. That implies the band you should be in.
One signal alone can mislead — your neighbours might be the ones banded wrong. Only when both checks point the same way do we call it worth challenging.
Every figure we use comes from a public source. Here they all are — including the free official route, so you can skip us entirely.