VOA officials to lose automatic right of entry for council tax valuations

Officials from the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) will no longer have automatic right of entry into homes and businesses in order to value them for council tax and business rates, the Communities Secretary has proposed.

Under the legislative proposals VOA officials unable to gain access to a property by consent would have to seek the authority of a judicial tribunal for a proposed entry.

Two powers operated by the agency, an arm of HM Revenue & Customs, would be amended:

• Section 26 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992; and
• Paragraph 7 of Schedule 9 to the Local Government Finance Act 1988.

The proposed law changes would be carried out through the Protection of Freedoms Act.

The Department for Communities and Local Government said the changes would be made in this Parliament, subject to the ratification of an order by Parliament.

Eric Pickles said: “I am a firm believer that we should be cutting down on the number of government snoopers who can barge into a person’s home. This government has clamped down on the overuse and abuse of snooping with over 300 powers of entry already being abolished as well as stopping spy cars and bin snoopers.

“We are now curtailing the powers of council tax inspectors. This complements the steps we have taken to stop a council tax revaluation and terminate the tax revaluation database to protect hard-working people from unwanted tax rises.”

More information on the statutory consultation can be found here. It will run until February 2015.