Martin Lewis issues council tax warning as some get refunds of over £6k

Hundreds of thousands of homes could be in the wrong council tax band, Martin Lewis said

Martin Lewis has issued a fresh alert for families who could be overpaying on their council tax. On the June 26 edition of Good Morning Britain, the financial expert revealed that "hundreds of thousands" of homes in England and Scotland might be categorised under the wrong council tax band. This misclassification could lead to people paying more than necessary due to the way council tax bands are assessed.

If your home is incorrectly banded, you could be entitled to a substantial refund from your local council. Some have reported receiving more than £6,000 in total.

To find out if you're owed money, Martin suggests conducting two quick online checks.

Here's how you can reduce your council tax

Martin advised: "There are two checks everybody should do on their council tax band. Now these are my way of devising it so it's not an official system but this is for safety."

His first tip is to compare your council tax band with those of similar or identical properties in your street. He added: "So you find a similar, or preferably, identical property in your street and you check your council tax band compared to theirs."

"Don't worry, you don't have to get in touch with the neighbours, you can see your council tax bands at gov.uk for England and saa.gov.uk for Scotland...if you are in a higher band in an identical property, that's your first tick - the neighbour's tick."

He further emphasised that a second check should always be carried out by looking at the 1991 value of your property or a similar one on your street. This can be done using free online check and challenge tools.

He added: "The reason I say both; if you are in a higher band than your neighbours, there is a chance all your neighbours are in too low a band and if you ask the list to be checked their band will be put up which won't make you very popular."

Thrifty social media users who took Martin's advice are now urging others to do the same after successfully reducing their council tax. Shell Clarke, writing on X, said: "After martin talking about this in a show a couple of years ago I looked into what my neighbours bands were and if their properties were similar to mine, which they were.

"My husband said I was wasting my time. I challenged the local authority and won, receiving a refund of £6649". While Bev North said: "Hi Martin. Did the council tax check you suggested a while ago.

"Claimed two and half thousand pounds back. Many thanks!"

Karen Halliwell added: "Just checked my council tax band and filled out the challenge form took me a couple of minutes as I found I was in a higher band than my neighbours thank you so much for the information."