A COUPLE’S successful campaign to challenge the amount they paid in council tax could open the floodgates for thousands of other homeowners.

Jennifer Cooper and her partner Mick Valbonesi are urging everyone on the Chalvedon estate, in Pitsea, to check and challenge their council tax bandings, after they discovered she had been overpaying her bill for 14 years.

They claim in one road alone, homeowners could be owed as much as £50,000, with each household possibly due between £1,000 and £1,500.

Miss Cooper, 60, was refunded £1,204 by Basildon Council, after she realised her home had been incorrectly valued as a Band C property, when it should have been a Band B. Miss Cooper lived in Moretons for about 30 years, but she now lives with Mick, on Canvey, after selling her property in 2008.

He happened to be checking his own council tax banding on the Directgov website, when out of curiosity he and Miss Cooper decided to look up her former home as well.

Mr Valbonesi, 52, said: “When you looked at her house, all around her were Bs. There should be no difference, they’re identical houses. People there need to check this. We have knocked on some doors, but we can’t go round telling them all.”

Once Miss Cooper lodged an appeal with the Valuation Office Agency, the band was dropped to a B after three days.

Then she was given her money back within five weeks.

She said: “I feel angry really because at one point in my life I struggled and I wouldn’t have needed help if I was on the right banding.”

A spokesman for Basildon Council said a stream of council tax rebates would have a “minimal effect” on the authority.

It collects approximately £100million of council tax a year, but only keeps about £16million. The spokesman added: “The Valuations Office Agency is responsible for council tax banding, and any appeals would have to be lodged with them. We receive weekly reports from them and adjust residents’ accounts within a week if an appeal has been successful.”