HOME REVALUATION

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Council tax snoopers are to be given the power to impose £1,000 on-the-spot fines to householders who refuse to let them into their homes and the bill will rise by £200 a day until inspectors are allowed entry. Officials will be able to take photographs inside properties and anyone who refuses to give officials “reasonable assistance” will also face a £1,000 penalty. The powers will be enforced under Article 38 of a new Rates Order.

Council tax bills will in future be charged as a percentage of the value of a house. Gardens, patios, conservatories, double glazing, the number of bedrooms and parking spaces will all incur higher council tax. Even a porch can end up sending a bill sky high. Under existing law, anyone who obstructs a valuation officer already commits an offence and may be liable to a fine of up to £500 if convicted but previously, they had no right to enter a property and had to base valuations simply from looking at its exterior.

The Valuation Office Agency, part of the Inland Revenue, has received confirmation from the Surveillance Commissioner that inspectors will not be contravening the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act or the Human Rights Act. A government spokesman said, “There will not be armies of people sticking cameras through your window. The only time a valuer will go out is if you have a peculiar property.” And how will they know what that is.....? (Source: The Sun, Oct/06)

The threat of big council tax rises for millions of householders was lifted when, in an embarrassing U-turn, the Government decided to postpone a review of the property values of all homes in England. The official reason is that the revaluation exercise is being postponed until after the Government has considered the outcome of a review by Sir Michael Lyons into local government finance. Ministers had become increasingly concerned about prospects of a severe backlash in London, the South and other areas where property values have risen sharply since the last revaluation 14 years ago.

A revaluation has already been carried out in Wales, resulting in one in three homes going up by one band or more. In Scotland the issue has been postponed until after the 2007 election for the devolved Edinburgh parliament. Recently, Tony Blair said that a Tory pledge during the election to scrap the revaluation was "an act of desperate opportunism". However, under the existing system, bills are still likely to rise by well above inflation, possibly by at least 6% in 2006. The Valuation Office Agency took on extra staff for the exercise, which was to have been completed in time for new bills to be levied on the basis of the updated values in April 2007.

When the last revaluation was carried out in 1991, the average house cost £73,000. The figure is now just under £180,000. The Labour manifesto promised that the Government would make the tax "fairer", political code for saying that it would be linked more to ability to pay, with more bands to take account of increased property values. Sarah Teather, the Liberal Democrats' local government spokesman, said that council tax was in a "desperate mess". She accused the Government of letting down millions of pensioners and low-paid workers who were struggling to pay the tax.

Sir Sandy Bruce Lockhart, the chairman of the Local Government Association, said that wholesale reform was needed of how local government was funded. Council tax was flawed and revaluation would only add to the problem, he said. "It cannot be sensible to base a property tax on house prices in 1991 but we do not believe that people should be penalised because their homes have increased in value during the past decade." Eric Pickles, the Tory local government spokesman, said the council tax plans were now "in complete disarray".

Speculation has been rife in council circles that the Government was getting cold feet about introducing a revalued council tax system two years before the expected next election. Officials representing John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, who has overall responsibility for local government, said, "Any announcement we make will be made at the appropriate time." In a further embarrassment, ministers are required by law to introduce the revaluation by 2007 and will have to amend the Local Government Act of 2003 to postpone the process. (Source: Daily Telegraph)

At least half of English households face huge council tax increases under a nationwide reassessment of property values by a 'Big Brother', computer. The Government has tried to play down the effects of the survey of 21million homes, but it will add hundreds of pounds to most bills. The American company which designs the system the Government will use to update property values has been forbidden from disclosing details of the project but its bosses admitted its method of assessing properties nearly always found them undervalued.

Teams of inspectors will record costly home improvements such as loft extensions, double-glazing and conservatories, using aerial and satellite photographs to spot home improvements. Good schools, low crime rates and clean streets will also be taken into account to assess new levels of council tax. Ministers will use the American software to rate a neighbourhood on the quality of local services and the type of people living there. The computer software provided by Cole Layer Trumble uses information bought from retail giants and credit-card firms, and will allow inspectors to calculate a precise value of a home based not only on its size and features but also its location.

The Government awarded the contract to the American company despite bids from British firms. The headquarters of Cole Layer Trumble is a windowless two-storey building on an industrial estate in Dayton, Ohio. General manager Jim Keenan said, "We have been supplying software and consultation since 2003. It has been adapted for use in the UK. We are strictly directed by our contract not to discuss what we are actually doing there." (Source: Mail on Sunday, Nov/06)

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