Moray couple given £4k refund after winning 10-year council tax fight
A Moray couple have been refunded £4000 after winning a 10-year fight over the size of their council tax bills.
For a whole decade Peter and Tracey Craigmile repeatedly questioned why their home was in a more expensive council tax band than every other property on their street.
The story began in July 2015 when they moved into their three-bedroomed bungalow in Milltown of Rothiemay.
Unable to understand why it was classed as Band F when it was similar to the Band E homes of their neighbours, they requested Moray Council organise an assessor to carry out a review.
Recalling the brief encounter which took place the following month, Peter says: “The guy barely got out of his car. He certainly didn’t go in our home.
“He just stood on the driveway and said it was definitely a band F property because it has a large double garage.
“I replied, “We don’t live in the garage’.
“He then mumbled something about the fact he was retiring in a fortnight and drove away.”
Peter says he knows that, of the eight on their street, their property was the only one classed as Band F. What’s more, he suspects it was the only one in the whole village.
Over the following years, the couple continued to ask for a fresh assessment, but without success.
Matters nearly came to a head in 2023 when Peter told the council he and Tracey would only be paying the same sum as their neighbours, and were prepared, if necessary, to go to court about the issue.
He says that, after being promised a new assessment by the council, they then decided to relent and pay the full Band F amount after all.
However, when the new assessment never materialised, they finally opted to go down the legal path in 2024.
A date was set for a hearing in the upper tier of the Scottish Tribunal system.
But, before the case could be heard, the council arranged for an inspector from Grampian Assessors to visit during December.
Peter says: “A woman came around with a laser measuring tool and looked around the whole place, as well as the outsides of the other properties on the street.
“Her verdict was what we’d been saying all along.”
Their bungalow has now been reclassified as Band E, with the judgment being backdated to 1995, the year that it was built.
The upshot goes beyond just the £4000 refund for Peter and Tracey.
It’s also proved very welcome news for an 80-year-old widow who lived in the bungalow before them.
Margaret Wilson, who now resides in Banchory, has now been refunded for the 20 years she was overcharged by the council.
Peter lays credit for sorting the situation to the money-saving expert Martin Lewis.
He says: “Without going on his website I’d never have known you can go to court if you think your property is in the wrong band.
“However, there is a complication. You need to be able to prove you lodged an appeal within six months of moving into your property.
“Luckily, we could show that.
“According to Martin Lewis there may be hundreds of thousands of households across the UK who are paying the wrong amount of council tax.”