Council Tax

Question

Asked by

Lord Bates
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Valuation Office Agency undertook an internal or external inspection of the property in the London Borough of Barnet with billing authority reference 45320001500019 when it was revalued for council tax in March; whether information derived from (a) the Land Registry, and (b) Rightmove, has  been collected on the house; and which individual (1) dwelling house coding, and (2) value significant codes, are assigned by the Valuation Office Agency to that dwelling. [HL239]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government & Department for Work and Pensions (Lord McKenzie of Luton)
The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) will always endeavour to gather property information from other sources, such as Rightmove, in order to minimise the inconvenience to taxpayers of having to gather the information it needs by visiting a property. Internal inspections of houses are particularly rare as most of the information required to ascribe a council tax band can be established externally. The VOA does not use information from the Land Registry for council tax purposes.

The specific information requested relates to the tax affairs of an individual or organisation and cannot be disclosed by virtue of Section 18(1) of the Commissioners for the Revenue and Customs Act 2005.