{"id":109526,"date":"2026-08-24T00:36:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T00:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/109526\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T00:36:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T00:36:11","slug":"council-tax-police-to-descend-on-your-home-to-work-out-if-you-should-pay-even-more-per-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/109526\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Council tax police’ to descend on YOUR home to work out if you should pay even more per month"},"content":{"rendered":"

HMRC valuation agents will be sent to homes across England to work out whether they are eligible to pay the steep new “mansion tax”.<\/p>\n

The agents, already branded the “council tax police” by critics, will determine whether properties exceed the \u00a32million threshold for the duty.<\/p>\n

Homeowners who deny inspectors access could face criminal prosecution and a fine of up to \u00a3200.<\/p>\n

While refusing to supply requested information without a “reasonable excuse” could attract a fine of as much as \u00a3500.<\/p>\n

The levy, formally called the high-value council tax surcharge<\/a>, was announced by ex-Chancellor Rachel Reeves at last year’s Budget.<\/p>\n

Properties valued above \u00a32million could be charged as much as \u00a37,500 more per year, depending on their worth.<\/p>\n

London and the South East are expected to bear the brunt of the policy, though expensive rural properties will also be caught up in the raid.<\/p>\n

Shadow Chancellor Sir Mel Stride has branded the enforcement measures a “sinister assault on civil liberties.”<\/p>\n

“We may have changed Prime Minister, but it’s the same old story with Labour – how can we raise taxes to pay for more benefits? Now they have chosen a sinister assault on civil liberties as their latest method,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Andy<\/p>\n

‘Andy Burnham and Angela Rayner are sending their council tax police to people’s homes so they can drag them into paying their new family homes tax,’ Mel Stride said<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

PA<\/p>\n

“Andy Burnham and Angela Rayner are sending their council tax police to people’s homes so they can drag them into paying their new family homes tax.<\/p>\n

“This is a tax on aspiration, on working hard and investing well, and Labour will stop at nothing to make as many people as possible liable for it.”<\/p>\n

Sir James Cleverly, the Shadow Housing Secretary, described the inspections as “snooping”.<\/p>\n

“Hard-working families and pensioners face the prospect of HMRC tax inspectors snooping around their gardens and inside their homes, to justify hiking taxes on them,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Even homes which are below the new tax thresholds face these intrusive checks, with the threat of criminal prosecutions and fines if people refuse.”<\/p>\n

\"Sir<\/p>\n

Shadow Housing Secretary James Cleverly said the new inspections amounted to ‘snooping’<\/p>\n

| GETTY<\/p>\n

HMRC’s Valuation Office will initially rely on third-party data and publicly available information to assess property values.<\/p>\n

Satellite technology will also be used to “spy” on homes targeted under the surcharge<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ministers have confirmed in parliamentary questions that “internal inspections” of homes will also be carried out.<\/p>\n

Inspectors will record details including a property’s size, architectural style, number of floors, rooms, bedrooms and bathrooms.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Russell, the Valuation Office’s chief executive, told MPs earlier this year that homes previously valued above \u00a31.5million would be reassessed to check whether they now surpassed the \u00a32million threshold.<\/p>\n

He said he wanted to “make sure we’re not missing anything.”<\/p>\n

\"Bailiff\"\/<\/p>\n

Ministers have confirmed in parliamentary questions that ‘internal inspections’ of homes will also be carried out<\/p>\n

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GETTY<\/p>\n

Property experts have told the Government that “regular” inspections by qualified surveyors conducting full physical surveys would be needed to keep valuation records up-to-date.<\/p>\n

A Government spokesman defended the policy by pointing to “inequality” in the council tax system.<\/p>\n

“The public understands that we are addressing a longstanding unfairness, where a Band D home in Darlington pays more in council tax than a \u00a310m mansion in Mayfair,” the spokesman said.<\/p>\n

“The Valuation Office has extensive experience valuing domestic property, and will use a wide range of evidence to determine bandings.”<\/p>\n

The spokesman claimed any visits would take place by prior agreement with the property owner and in line with the Government’s code of practice.<\/p>\n

Junior Treasury minister Dan Tomlinson, meanwhile, confirmed the Valuation Office would contact homeowners to “arrange a visit.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HMRC valuation agents will be sent to homes across England to work out whether they are eligible to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109527,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[253,16,73,5,6],"class_list":["post-109526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uk","tag-money","tag-sgg","tag-tax","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/117147689423408581","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}