COUNCIL TAX: A TREE HOUSE MAY RAISE BILLS

First published: This is Money

Big Brother: Ministers are working on the creation of a national house database

Ministers are building a database covering all 23m homes in England which will be used to calculate future Council Tax bills. Now the opposition say they have uncovered evidence that residents of houses which have garden buildings, landscaped gardens or even proximity to a village green would face increases.

They accused the Government of carrying out a nationwide Council Tax revaluation 'by stealth', though ministers insist the exercise has been put off at least until after the next General Election. Current Council Tax bills are based on assessments of properties made in 1991. A revaluation would see millions of people moving into higher Council Tax bands and facing bigger bills.

In answer to Parliamentary questions, a local government minister said a tree house could be taken into account during the banding of a property for Council Tax if it was deemed to 'add value'. Currently, revaluing of a home takes place only when it is sold or let for more than seven years. In the forthcoming revaluation, all properties will be reassessed, said Eric Pickles.

Wales has already had a Council Tax revaluation, which saw four times as many homes moving up a band as moving down. Ministers have admitted that Council Tax inspectors at the Valuation Office Agency intend to measure conservatories and log details of greenhouses.A special code will flag up 'positive' features, including 'proximity to open fields, a village green or extensive landscaped grounds'. Mr Pickles said: 'The English garden is one of the defining traits of our national identity. Now the Government has been caught red-handed cooking up new ways of taxing those with green fingers.

'Families face higher Council Tax bills if they saved up for a conservatory, greenhouse or a nice garden or just live near a village green. 'Council Tax inspectors are even going to size up and tax tree houses. Faced with the prospect of a higher Council Tax for a tree house, I fear cash-strapped dads, struggling to make ends meet, will be pressured into cutting down or dismantling their tree house. 'No-one is safe from the Governments tax bombshell - not even children.' Council Tax bills have doubled since 1997. A further inflation-busting rise of £62 a year on the typical Band D home is expected in April, taking the average bill to £120 a month.

Tax inspectors are amassing millions of photographs of homes and logging details of the number of bedrooms, bathrooms and conservatories. Official figures show they have already stored digital images of 1.6m properties and are logging details of rooms, attics, fitted cupboards, porches and outbuildings for millions more. Conservatories have been logged at 768,000 properties. A spokesman for the Communities and Local Government department said last night: 'It is ridiculous to suggest that adding a tree house will affect Council Tax.

'Band changes are made only once a property is sold, so no one will be penalised for adding a tree house or making improvements.'

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

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