How TaxBandCheck Works
Five public records, read for your property. What they show, with the source of each fact, so you can decide whether to challenge your council tax band.
What TaxBandCheck Does
TaxBandCheck analyses your property against VOA band data, 29 million EPC records, Land Registry price paid data, VOA tribunal decisions, planning designations, and flood data and gives you a plain summary of what the records show about your property — the band it’s recorded in, how that compares with the rest of your postcode, whether a sale of the property is on record, and any tribunal decision on it or on a near-identical home nearby.
In England, Council Tax bands have been set since 1991 and have never been revalued. Many properties are estimated to be in the wrong band — with original valuations based on little more than a drive-by glance.
We gather what supporting evidence we can find for your property and show you exactly what we found.
The Five Records We Read
Each is reported as it is, with its source named. Nothing is weighted or combined into a rating.
Band Anomaly
Is your property in a higher band than neighbours with similar characteristics? This is the strongest single indicator of misbanding.
EPC Comparability
How does your floor area and property type compare to lower-banded neighbours? We use 29M+ EPC records to find true like-for-like comparables.
Land Registry Evidence
What does the 1991-equivalent (2003 in Wales) sale price suggest your band should be? We back-calculate from Land Registry price paid data to estimate what your property would have been valued at in April 1991.
VTE Appeal Precedent
We cross-reference your postcode against our database of published Valuation Tribunal for England decisions with a known outcome, list any decision on your home or a near-identical home nearby, and give the figure for England as a whole.
Planning & Environmental
Are there conservation area or heritage designations that affect valuation? Listed buildings and conservation areas can constrain property values in ways the original banding may not have accounted for.
Two Reports. One Goal.
Choose the level of detail you need.
Intelligence Report + Guide
One-time payment
- The complete guide: how bands were set, the signals yours may be wrong, and how to challenge it
- Real tribunal success rates built on published Valuation Tribunal for England decisions with a known outcome
- Included: a personalised report on your own property
- 1991 value analysis
- Land Registry evidence
- EPC comparables
- Downloadable PDF
Complete Challenge Bundle
- Everything in the Intelligence Report + Guide
- Pre-populated VOA challenge letter
- Property Attribute Data (PAD) request template
- Step-by-step submission guide
- Evidence checklist
- Professional comparable analysis
- No solicitor needed — submit directly to the VOA yourself
What Happens After You Buy
You receive an email with a link to your report
Your report is available immediately.
Download your PDF at any time
You can download your PDF report as many times as you like. Once downloaded, it’s yours to keep permanently.
The challenge is yours to pursue
TaxBandCheck gives you the evidence and documentation. The VOA challenge process is free and straightforward — our reports give you everything you need to do it yourself.
How It Works in Scotland
TaxBandCheck now covers Scotland. Scottish postcodes are automatically detected and routed to Scottish data sources — including Scottish Assessor band data, Scottish EPC records, and Registers of Scotland price paid data. Scotland uses the same 1 April 1991 valuation date as England but with different band thresholds (e.g. Band A covers up to £27,000 in Scotland vs £40,000 in England). The challenge process in Scotland is called a “proposal” and is submitted to your local Scottish Assessor rather than the VOA.
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about TaxBandCheck, the records it reads, and the challenge process.
TaxBandCheck reads six independent, publicly available data sources and reports what they show about your property, with the source of each fact. It is a record of what we could find, not a prediction of whether a challenge will succeed. Only the Valuation Office Agency can formally change a band.
We use the VOA’s postcode council tax band list, over 29 million EPC certificates from the EPC Register, Land Registry price paid data, Valuation Tribunal for England (VTE) decision records, and MHCLG planning designation data. What each source shows is reported as it is, with the source named, in a summary of what the records show about your property.
We store only the postcode you searched and a hashed session identifier so we can serve your report. We do not ask for your name, address, or any other personal information during the Quick Band Check. If you purchase a report, Stripe handles payment securely — we never see or store your card details.
Band Anomaly is the single strongest indicator of misbanding. It compares your property’s council tax band against other properties on the same street or postcode with similar characteristics. If your neighbours are in a lower band than you despite having a similar property type, size, and age, that’s an anomaly, and the report shows it to you as one.
Energy Performance Certificates record a property’s floor area, type, and construction age. This lets us compare your property to lower-banded neighbours on a true like-for-like basis. If a Band D property next door has the same floor area and type as your Band E property, that’s strong evidence the bands are inconsistent.
The VTE is the independent body that hears appeals against council tax banding decisions in England. If you challenge your band with the VOA and they refuse to change it, you can appeal to the VTE. Our database holds published Valuation Tribunal for England decisions with a known outcome, which we use to assess how successful appeals have been in your area.
Yes. There is no time limit on challenging your council tax band in England. Whether you moved in last month or 30 years ago, you have the right to ask the VOA to review your banding. If your band is reduced, you are entitled to a refund for every year you overpaid — potentially back to 1993 when council tax was introduced.
PAD stands for ‘Provide a Decision’ — it is the formal process for asking the Valuation Office Agency to review your council tax band. You can submit a PAD request online through the GOV.UK website. Our Complete Challenge Bundle includes a pre-populated PAD request template so you don’t have to start from scratch.
The Council Tax Band Guide (£4.99) is the complete guide to how bands were set, the signals a band may be wrong, and how to challenge one, including real tribunal success rates built on published Valuation Tribunal for England decisions with a known outcome. Your personalised report on your own property is included — comparable property analysis, a detailed breakdown of every factor we checked, and a downloadable PDF. The Complete Challenge Bundle (£19.99) includes everything in the Guide plus a pre-populated VOA challenge letter, PAD request template, step-by-step submission guide, evidence checklist, and a solicitor-ready evidence pack.
If the records show little that supports a lower band, the report says so plainly. That is not evidence that your band is correct — our data is incomplete for many properties — and you can challenge your band with the VOA regardless of what our tool shows. No challenge is risk-free: the VOA can increase your band if they find it is too low, so knowing what the records do and do not show is valuable before you decide.
You can absolutely submit the challenge yourself. The VOA challenge process is free and designed for individuals. Our reports give you all the evidence and documentation you need. A solicitor is not required, though some people choose to use one for complex cases or if they prefer professional support.
The VOA aims to respond to most challenges within two months, but complex cases can take longer. If they refuse your challenge, you have the right to appeal to the Valuation Tribunal for England, which typically schedules hearings within three to six months.