COUNCIL TAX SNOOPERS COULD SELL YOUR DATA

First published by: This is Money

THE Government is considering selling off detailed information about people's homes gathered by Council Tax inspectors.

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Officials have discussed plans to sell details about the size and condition of households, the number of bedrooms and parking places --and even whether they contain more than one bath - to insurance and mortgage companies.

The Government has also discussed allowing the public access to their neighbours' records. The plan will cause outrage among homeowners and liberty groups already angry at Government plans for a new Council Tax valuation system that would give inspectors the right to enter any home and look for 'improvements' which could be used to increase rateable value. And it comes just months after this newspaper exposed how the DVLA was selling off drivers' personal details to car-clamping firms.

The plan was last night blasted, the Government was forcing people to reveal personal information, then profiting from it. Local Government Minister Eric Pickles said: 'This is just the latest disturbing development in the Government's plans for Council Tax inspections. We've maintained from the start that the collection of such detailed information would create a significant temptation to sell it off. The Government should be protecting people, not exploiting them.'

The proposed information sell-offfollows the Government's decision to purchase an American ' computer-assisted mass appraisal' system, which allows tax assessors to pinpoint households on a computerised map and list information gleaned from house-to-house inspections. It will include details of home improvements, number of rooms and their sizes, gardens and even views. The programme then calculates the Council Tax. The £45m database - the largest of its kind in the world --was bought from American firm Cole Layer Trundle.

Patrick O'Connor, who set up the database, said British officials had been 'very interested' in marketing the information. He revealed that he had discussed the proposals with a senior civil servant responsible for tax revaluation. 'I think he is very interested,' said Mr O'Connor, who explained that selling the information would help cover the cost of the revaluation. 'If they could sell the data, they could supplement the cost,' he said.

Mr O'Connor added that there was 'quite a bit of money' to be made. 'In Ontario they have been selling verification of an address and improvements for £2.30 a hit. They could make real money.' The new database, was initially meant only for Council Tax purposes but it has already been extended to cover capital gains tax and inheritance tax.

Last week a delegation from the Valuation Agency Office, including Mr Brankin, revealed the scale of the project to a conference held in Disneyland, Florida. Mr Brankin admitted his team of 13,000 staff had already valued more than ten million properties at a cost of 'hundreds of millions of pounds'. He said the country had been split into 10,000 'localities', allowing assessors to take into account the quality of the area for the first time.

A VAO spokesman said: 'There are no active discussions about whether we will market the information. We don't even know that the revaluation will take place.

READ WHAT: ERIC PICKLES ‘SECRETARY OF STATE’ SAYS ABOUT OVER-CHARGED COUNCIL TAX. 

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