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This document relates to council tax in England. Click here for information relating to Wales
The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) is a central government agency responsible for valuing homes for council tax purposes. It does not set the level of council tax nor collect the money, which is the task of local government.
It is the duty of the VOA to act fairly and impartially, and to make sure that each home is correctly assessed and placed in the right band. This is so that there is the fairest possible basis on which local councils can send bills to taxpayers for the right amount of council tax – no more, no less. In carrying out this duty, the VOA operates to professional standards.
The VOA has had responsibility for valuing properties for council tax since it was first introduced by the previous government in 1993, and before then for the earlier system of domestic rates.
The VOA publishes targets for the speed and quality of its service and reports against them annually. All its network offices have achieved the Charter Mark standard as a recognition of excellence in customer service.
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Council tax is a local tax, set by local councils to help pay for local services. It uses the relative value of homes to determine each household’s contribution for these local services.
The VOA’s job is to place each home in one of eight valuation bands, which then determines the amount to be paid. But it is individual local authorities, not the VOA, who set the local council tax for each year. Within a local area, bills for homes in each of the bands will differ according to proportions laid down in the legislation.
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The VOA values a home on the basis of its value at 1 April 1991. Even new homes are valued on the basis of what they would have been worth in 1991.
In undertaking valuations the VOA needs to take account of the characteristics of a home and everything that goes to make up its value - positive or negative. This is just what any other valuer would do.
The principles of valuation for council tax are exactly the same as they were when council tax was first introduced in 1993. Contrary to press reports, there is absolutely no change being made to the existing basis of valuation to increase the amount of council tax paid, for example by taking account of additional property features that have previously not affected a property's banding.
More Information on the valuation of dwellings can be found in the Council Tax section of this website.
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No. The powers and duties of the VOA's Listing Officers regarding council tax valuations have not changed since council tax was introduced in 1993. They are exactly the same.
The basis of valuation is set down in regulations made under the Local Government Finance Act 1992. Minor updates were made to the initial regulations in 1994, and they have not changed since.
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A new and clearer process for handling council tax proposals and appeals in England was introduced on 1 April 2008. It gives more control to the taxpayer but does not alter the existing rights to have a council tax banding reviewed. It will simply mean a less bureaucratic, more customer focused process in which, wherever possible, disputes will be settled without the need for a formal appeal process. It is absolutely untrue to suggest that individuals’ rights are being curtailed or made more difficult under the new procedure. You can find out more here.
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It is a basic issue of fairness for everyone that the VOA holds enough information on properties to enable valuations to be done accurately. This is to ensure that people pay the right amount of council tax. The VOA has always held property information - that is its job.
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In order to maintain accurate and fair lists of council tax bandings the VOA has always needed to keep the information it holds about property up to date. This is a key part of the VOA’s responsibilities.
It does this in a number of ways, for example:
- When a home is extended or altered such that planning permission is required, the local authority must pass on details to the VOA. But this doesn't mean that the banding will increase. Any effect on market value (always by reference to values at 1991) may not be sufficient to move the property into the next band. And even if it is, then the change to a new band only takes place when the property is sold. If there is no sale, the band remains unchanged.
- The VOA sometimes uses questionnaires so that the occupier can confirm information about a property. It does this to save the need for a visit and to ensure as little disruption as possible to taxpayers. There is, however, no legal requirement for taxpayers to respond to such questionnaires - the VOA will always be prepared to arrange a visit if this is more convenient for the occupier.
- Again, to help it fulfil its duty to keep its records up-to-date at the minimum inconvenience and cost to taxpayers the VOA also uses other sources of freely available and publicly published information. For example In addition, it has a contract with Rightmove to access their historic archive of sales particulars for homes that have previously been for sale on the property market. These particulars have all previously been freely available to the public on their website
- The VOA will sometimes ask to visit a property when the information it needs cannot be ascertained from other sources. This can often be at the occupier's request, for example when they have challenged the council tax banding of their property and wish the VOA to carry out a review. The VOA has no new powers which allow its staff to force their way into people’s homes.
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It is absolutely untrue that personal information about people's holidays, number of pets etc. is held, as reported in some sections of the media. Such information has nothing to do with the value of property.
The only information about individuals held by the VOA is contact information eg a telephone number – this is usually given by individuals in cases where they have queried their council tax band.
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The VOA has digitised its already existing paper based records of property characteristics to make use of modern technology so that the organisation can continue to carry out its functions efficiently and effectively. The characteristics comprise such information as the age and type of property (detached, semi-detached, terraced, flat etc), number of bedrooms, location, and size - the sort of information that goes to make up the value of a property. This investment in modern technology, which is now assisting the VOA's day to day business and its service to local authorities and the public, provides no basis for claims that the VOA is attempting secretly to increase council tax bandings.
It is absolutely untrue that the VOA holds a new “big brother” database, as also reported by some sections of the media.
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As the VOA’s responsibility is to value property it needs to take account, first and foremost, of all the characteristics of a property which will affect value. This is the same for council tax banding as it is for any property valuation, for example the valuation that an estate agent will undertake when a property is going to be sold. Such characteristics would include:
- age
- type (e.g. detached, semi-detached, terraced, house, bungalow, flat)
- overall size, number of rooms and so on
- the situation of the property
- features of the locality
None of this is new – it is exactly the sort of information that anyone would consider when buying a property. It is what makes up the market value of a property.
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No. There have been a number of completely untrue reports about new, extra charges for characteristics such as living in a quiet area or a conservation area, or having a nice view. Such characteristics, and many others, have always been likely to contribute to the overall value of any property and have therefore always needed to be considered - together with others such as age, location and type - to assess value. So too have characteristics that might decrease the value of a property. Any valuer, and anyone buying a home, would do the same. Other characteristics mentioned in reports, for example garden sheds, rabbit hutches or even garden gnomes, clearly do not affect property values at all, and would never be taken into account by the VOA.
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No. There have been a number of completely untrue reports about the use of personal information in judgements about council tax bandings. Reports that the VOA values your home according to how many pets you own, your love life, or where you go on holiday are nonsense – because such things have nothing whatever to do with the value of property. The VOA neither needs, wants, nor collects such information.
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No. No revaluation is currently taking place in England. Reports of a “revaluation by stealth” are pure invention.
Previous plans for a revaluation in England, which was scheduled to come into effect on 1 April 2007, were postponed in September 2005. In preparation for the revaluation, and before it was postponed, the VOA had digitised its existing paper based records and developed an automated valuation model , which is a tool used by many administrations across the world to support large scale valuation work. The VOA is naturally continuing to maintain its database of property details in its new electronic form, as this is its job. This is cheaper and more reliable than paper-based records. However, this does not mean that there is any form of ongoing revaluation by stealth. This is untrue.
Nor, as has already been explained above, does the database of property details contain any personal information – it is about property alone, and contains only those details needed to provide an accurate valuation of a dwelling.
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No. The VOA has no new powers which allow its staff to force their way into people’s homes. It does not need or want these powers. Press reports of a “snoopers’ charter” are completely without foundation, and have caused unnecessary anxiety to many householders, particularly the old and vulnerable.
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The VOA has always been required to keep its information up to date and accurate, in accordance with the legislation. This is its job. In doing so it always tries to ensure as little disruption to taxpayers as possible.
- The VOA rarely needs to visit people’s homes and only does so when information to carry out a valuation and band a property cannot be ascertained from other sources.
- Fewer than 1% of homeowners in England and Wales receive a visit from VOA staff in any year.
- On those rare occasions when the VOA does need to look at your home, generally it can get all the information it needs from the outside, usually from the road.
- Sometimes a visit to a home can be helpful but VOA staff will only ask to go inside a property where the information cannot be gathered by any other means. In this instance they make every effort to arrange an appointment in advance and they always carry and present identity cards that incorporate a photograph. VOA staff would only enter a person's home with the householder’s permission
- The VOA powers on visits and inspections have not changed since council tax was introduced in 1993. The listing officers have had powers of entry for many years, as do many other statutory bodies, but they do not have, and never have had, powers to enter homes forcibly.
- No-one has ever been fined or prosecuted for refusing to allow a member of the VOA on to their property.
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It is nonsense to suggest that Home Inspectors, who will prepare reports on homes for Home Information Packs (HIPs), are collecting information for council tax purposes. The private sector employees who will carry out this task will be strictly regulated by independent certification schemes, and access to their reports will be restricted by law to those involved in buying and selling homes, their advisers and mortgage lenders and those monitoring the performance and quality of the reports. There is no connection between this scheme and the VOA’s work on valuing properties for council tax purposes.
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The VOA occasionally needs to take photographs of domestic properties - usually, external only - to help them in undertaking their responsibilities for compiling and maintaining council tax valuation lists. However, reports of VOA staff assembling huge numbers of inappropriate or intrusive photographs are, again, completely misleading.
- Photographs are normally of the exterior only, and are wherever possible only taken from the public highway.
- Internal photographs are not taken except in the very rare instances when an internal physical feature of a property has a bearing on value – but this would not be done without the permission of the occupier. VOA policy is that such photographs are deleted as soon as they have served their purpose.
The purpose behind this is simply to assist the valuer in coming to an accurate assessment of the value of the property.
Photographs are held for only 3% of dwellings in England. The overwhelming majority of these are of the exterior elevations. The VOA policy is that photographs should exclude individuals and any feature that could link the property to an individual, for example a car registration plate.
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Home improvements carried out after council tax was introduced in April 1993, which lead to an increase in the value of a property would not lead to an increase in a council tax banding until the property is sold. The purpose of this is, and has always been, to ensure that householders are not penalised for making improvements to their homes. The vast majority of sales result in a change of occupier and it is the new occupier who is liable for any increase in council tax resulting from any change to the banding. In addition, council tax bands cover a range of values, so an increase in the value of a home does not automatically mean a higher band, as long as the value stays within the range of the existing band.'
- What if the property is demolished and rebuilt or substantially altered?
When a property is vacated and demolished or structurally altered in such a fundamental way that it ceases to be possible to occupy it as a dwelling, whilst a new property is constructed in its place the old band will be deleted from the list and the new property will be banded as a completely new dwelling according to its value at 1/4/91 in England or 1/4/2003 in Wales. In these circumstances it is possible that this could lead to an increase in the council tax banding without a sale taking place.
- What if the extension is a self contained annexe?
Where the improvement is in the form of an annexe with its own facilities for self contained living. The annexe will be treated as a separate dwelling and banded in addition to the main house. In this case you will receive a separate council tax bill for the annex in addition to the bill for the main house.
Self Contained Units Fact Sheet (English)
Self Contained Units Fact Sheet (Welsh)
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Adding energy efficient measures such as double glazing or cavity wall insulation will have no effect on the current council tax banding of a property. The same is true of equipment such as micro wind turbines and solar panels. If a property is sold, improvements may have an effect but only if they are such that they push the value of the property into the next band range. These sorts of energy efficiency measures are, in isolation, unlikely to do so.
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No. Reports of the VOA using satellite or “spy in the sky” technology are again untrue.
Many other countries find this a useful tool but the VOA has no contractual arrangements to use aerial or satellite photography for valuation purposes. VOA staff can view aerial or satellite images that are freely available to the public on the internet. This can help determine whether a visit is needed, for example where part of a property appears to have been demolished and the VOA records potentially need to be updated. But the VOA does not rely solely on such images for deciding on changes to council tax bandings.
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The VOA is satisfied that the original bandings undertaken when council tax was introduced in 1993 were made competently. The number of formal appeals made by householders has been low. In 1993, i.e. the first year when there was an open right to challenge the banding, the level of formal challenge was 4.4%. Since the first year the number of challenges has been a further 2.6% of the number of dwellings. In the year to 31 March 2006 the lowest annual number of formal challenges were received, amounting to only 0.12% of the total number of dwellings.
Some limited media coverage has raised the issue of homes which may have been incorrectly banded when council tax was introduced. This initially drew on a small number of case studies. Whilst there are now limited circumstances in which a formal challenge can be made, where people have genuine concerns that their home might be in the wrong band they should contact their local VOA Listing Officer and ask that the banding be reviewed. If the Listing Officer is satisfied that the banding should be altered he or she will make that change. In some cases a review leads the Listing Officer to increase the banding rather than reduce it.
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There is nothing secretive about the way the VOA undertakes its task. In recent months we have updated this website to provide more and better information for the public. For example people can find information on:
- Key Facts – to clarify the truth behind scaremongering stories in the press
- The valuation lists setting out bands for every property in England and Wales
- The manual that is used by staff to carry out their functions, covering a raft of detail from the basis of valuation to the alteration of council tax valuation lists
- How to contact the VOA and the local office
- What to do if you want to query the band on your home and the circumstances when an appeal can be made
- Advice on such issues as “granny annexes” and working from home
- Visits to properties and when these might be helpful
The site also contains information about how the VOA undertakes its task, inspections of property, the circumstances when this may be helpful (in most cases it will not), and the collection of property information - what sort of information is taken into account when valuing a property which can be found in the dwelling house coding guide, also on the website.
The fact that the VOA has been more open about the way it conducts the task of valuing property for council tax has been used as evidence that it is doing something new, secret or unfair. In fact it is simply providing more and better information to the public.
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In Wales, council tax and council tax revaluation are matters for the devolved Welsh Assembly. The Welsh Assembly undertook to revalue property, and a council tax revaluation came into effect on 1 April 2005. All homes were allocated a council tax band based on their value on 1 April 2003. The council tax bands in Wales were adjusted to reflect 2003 values and an extra band was added at the top. The purpose of the revaluation in Wales was to keep the assessments on homes in line with fluctuations in the property market. There was no change to the way that homes were valued for council tax.
During the period 1 April 2005 to 31 January 2007 (the first 22 months of the council tax lists coming into force for Wales) just 2.95% of households have questioned their council tax band to date either through an informal enquiry or appeal. A third fewer appeals / enquiries have been received on the 2005 Council Tax Valuation Lists compared with the first 2 years of the 1993 List.
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The VOA has no involvement in valuing homes for council tax in Northern Ireland or Scotland. Northern Ireland and Scotland have different local government finance systems. Northern Ireland recently valued homes for tax purposes but the VOA has no involvement there.
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Valuation Office Agency
14 March 2007
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