Welsh council tax payers could save up to nine million pounds by appealing against new council tax bands said a property website this week.

The company estimates that up to 65,000 properties across Wales could be incorrectly banded when the council tax system is revised on 1 April 2005. Hometrack, a property data services company, urges all Welsh council tax payers to check their council tax banding, and believes a potential £9 million in council tax could be saved.

From 1^st of April:

• Over 500,000 properties in Wales will move up at least one council tax band. (see table 1 overleaf)
• Welsh residents will pay an estimated extra £175 million in council tax because of re-banding.
• Moving from band D to band E will cost individuals an extra £242 per annum, an increase of 28%.
• Up to 65,000 properties may be incorrectly banded
• Welsh citizens only have 18 months in which to notify the VOA of an inaccurate banding
• The new bandings will be used until 2013.

Hometrack, which utilises a database of over six million property records across the UK to undertake on-line valuations is offering a user-friendly service to help council tax-payers evaluate the potential to propose a rebanding and provide specific information and comparables to support this. By entering a postcode and new council tax band Hometrack will reveal the estimated potential of a successful appeal.

 Mark Witherspoon, chief executive of Hometrack says: "Due to the rebanding of the council tax we estimate Welsh council tax payers will pay £175 million extra, with up to 5% paying more than their fair share. The bandings are based on the Valuation Office Agency data, and their valuation methodology and as a consequence we believe thousands of homes will be incorrectly banded."

"From April 1^st the onus is on the council tax-payer to ensure they are paying the correct amount and if they wish to make a proposal for rebanding they must produce evidence. Hometrack’s product is revolutionary - there is no other product in the market place that offers customers this independent breadth of information on property values. We believe Hometrack’s product will provide invaluable evidence to verify or appeal your council tax band."

Hometrack’s database offers unsurpassed accuracy on automated property valuations, using a range of data sources, including; a database of surveyors’ valuations, Land Registry, Ordnance Survey, the Hometrack Index and socio-economic data from CACI.

In contrast the Valuation Office Agency relies on only one source – their own district valuers and utilises a valuation method that relies on an estimate, using what is known as a beacon property to estimate other property values in the area. Therefore, if the valuation of the beacon property is wrong – the chances are the properties that are based on the value of the beacon property are also incorrect.

Hometrack’s Council Tax Checker costs £9.95 and not only will enable the Welsh residents to find out by what probability they are likely to be correctly or incorrectly banded but also provides a local area report giving information about house prices and recent housing market trends and facts. If the council tax-payer wishes to appeal against the banding it will cost a further £29.95 to access the comparable evidence to support the challenge. The Hometrack Council Tax Checker will be available from the 1st April.

For further information please visit; www.hometrack.co.uk