The controversy over Home Information Packs (HIPs) continues with what Conservatives claim will threaten ‘backdoor revaluation’ following Government plans to extend the scheme.
Tory minister’s claim Labour plans to snoop on things like home extensions and parking spaces. Residential Landlords selling their properties will be forced to fill out a compulsory ‘Property Information Questionnaire’ containing details of building work, new bedrooms, bathrooms, double glazing, parking spaces and their previous council tax band, with such information likely to be stored by the Government via an electronic register of Home Information Packs.
Conservatives are warning that this information will not only add to the hassle of selling a home, but also pave the way for property details being logged and catalogued by the Valuation Office Agency – the Government’s council tax inspectors.
The Valuation Office Agency is already using a contract with online estate agent portal, Rightmove, to monitor every property sale for the looming revaluation in England and build up a detailed revaluation property database.
Parking spaces and home extensions are key property details that the Valuation Office Agency is seeking to collect to build up its Automated Valuation Model database. The property database will be used to calculate new council tax bandings using complex technology bought in from America.
During the Parliamentary passage of the Housing Act 2004 which legislated for Home Information Packs, Labour Ministers highlighted its potential use for council tax purposes: “we do take into account the possibility that the [HIP] register could be of value in making broad assessments of the condition of the nation’s housing stock” (Keith Hill, then Minister for Housing).
Shadow Housing Minister Grant Shapps, said: “Home Information Packs have already strangled the housing market by discouraging sellers. Given its fragile state, the property market needs more bureaucratic red tape like a hole in the head.
“Behind the smokescreen of HIPs, Labour's real agenda is to build up a property database of every home.
Property Information Questionnaires are most likely just another way of conducting Labour’s controversial council tax revaluation and re-banding by the backdoor.
“The public will be clobbered twice - once for a costly Home Information Pack and then again in the form of higher council tax bills for home improvements and their parking spaces.”
