How to check your Council Tax band

In short

Your Council Tax band is a letter (A–H in England and Scotland, A–I in Wales) the Valuation Office Agency assigned to your home in 1991 — or, for Wales, 2003. It dictates how much your local council can charge you each year. Up to 600,000 UK homes are in the wrong band, often because the original surveyor never came inside.

You can check yours in under a minute on the official site at tax.service.gov.uk/check-council-tax-band. Enter your address, see your band, then look up two or three neighbouring properties of similar type and size. If most of them are in a lower band than yours, you may be paying more than you should.

The three signs your band may be wrong

1. Your neighbours pay less. This is the most common and most persuasive evidence. Walk your street on the VOA website and write down the bands. If 6 out of 9 similar homes are in a lower band than yours, you have a strong case.

2. Your home was banded based on a misjudged 1991 value. Bands were rushed. Surveyors often drove past at the kerb. Properties with extensions, awkward layouts, or recent revaluation history are most likely to have inherited a wrong band.

3. You bought recently and the band was set on the sale price. Bands aren't supposed to track recent sales — they are anchored to 1991 (or 2003 in Wales). If yours was changed shortly after you moved in based on the purchase price, the change may be appealable.

What to do next

If you suspect your band is wrong:

1. Run a free postcode check here — it shows you your band, the bands of your comparables, and an honest score on whether a challenge is likely to succeed.
2. If the score is Strong or Moderate, gather some 1991-era evidence (see the evidence guide).
3. Submit a formal proposal (if you've been in the property less than 6 months) or an informal band review (if longer).

A note of caution

The VOA can revise bands up as well as down. The risk is small when most of your neighbours are in a lower band — that's the entire point of using the neighbours method — but it is not zero. Our scoring engine will tell you not to challenge in cases where the evidence is weak or mixed.