Written question asked by Lord Bates (Conservative), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord McKenzie of Luton (Labour) on Wednesday, 9 December 2009.

Council Tax

Question: 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, hasbeen 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.

Answer: 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 Section 18(1) of the Commissioners for the Revenue and Customs Act 2005.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 239; 715 c128-9WA
Session: 2009-10
Subjects: Council tax Housing Inspections Valuation Valuation Office Agency HM Land Registry Barnet Rightmove
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk