Martin Lewis issues warning to homeowners who could be losing out on thousands

martin lewis warning homeowners council tax band
(Image credit: Getty)

Martin Lewis has issued an urgent warning to homeowners.

The money saving expert, who regularly dishes out advice and tips and tricks to look after your bank account, has issued a warning to homeowners who could be losing out on thousands.

Speaking on his TV show The Martin Lewis Money Show, the financial expert revealed that those who own a home could be spending more money than they need to on one particular thing – council tax.

Martin explained the issue that surrounds council tax bands, revealing that it is believed that over 400,000 homes in the country are in the wrong bands.

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This means that those who own those hundreds of thousands of homes would be paying more than towards their council tax than they are required to.

The TV expert even revealed that there was one man who told him that he had been in the wrong tax band since the 1980’s.

He said that the man disclosed to him that he had only noticed the mistake when he discovered that his tax band was higher than that of his neighbours’, realising that he had paid £4,680 more in council tax than he needed to.

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After consulting Martin and listening to his advice, the man in question was fortunately able to get his money reimbursed.

When speaking about the topic on his show, the financial expert advised that viewers should double check their council tax band and can even challenge their current band, with the potential to get a tax rebate that could go back years.

To check your council tax band, all you have to do is visit Gov.uk and enter your address.

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If you think the band is incorrect, the website explains how you can go about challenging it.

You can contact the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) directly, who will tell you how your council tax band was decided and give you the opportunity to challenge it.

Aleesha Badkar
Digital Beauty Editor, woman&home

Aleesha is Digital Beauty Editor at woman&home, where she gets to share her expertise into all the best techniques, sharpest tools and newest products—with a particular savvy in skincare and fragrance.

Previously, she was Deputy Editor and Beauty & Fashion Editor for My Imperfect Life, where she headed up the beauty, fashion and eCommerce pages. In the past, she has worked as Shopping Writer at woman&home, gained an AOP awards nomination after working on their news team, contributed to Women's Health, Stylist and Goodto and earned an MA in Magazine Journalism from City, University of London.