Could filling in a HIP put up your council tax?

Ministers have announced that sellers will have to complete a ‘property information questionnaire’ detailing any home improvements.

But Conservatives said that it will contain just the kind of detail Evaluation Officers need to decide which council tax band people should be put in.

Television presenter Kirsty Allsop in an early and unfruitful campaign against Home Information Packs

The questionnaire, to be filled in by sellers, would cover new bathrooms and bedrooms, parking spaces, extensions and double glazing, plus the previous council tax band and a list of utilities connected to the house.

The information will be stored in the Government’s electronic database for HIPs, allowing the Valuation Office to use it to reassign council tax bands, the Conservatives claim.

Current council tax bills are based on assessments made in 1991. A revaluation would see millions move up into higher bands, facing bigger bills.

HIPs have been universally opposed by estate agent trade bodies, the legal profession and the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

Widespread confusion over HIPs forced former communities secretary Ruth Kelly into a climbdown last year when she delayed their implementation and limited their initial enforcement to the largest homes.

Tory housing spokesman Grant Shapps said: ‘HIPs have already strangled the housing market by discouraging sellers. Given its fragile state, the property market needs more bureaucratic red tape like a hole in the head. Behind the smokescreen of HIPs, Labour’s real agenda is to build up a property database of every home.

‘Property information questionnaires are most likely just another way of conducting Labour’s controversial council tax revaluation and rebanding by the back door.’

Launching a consultation on the questionnaires this year, Housing Minister Caroline Flint said they were designed to ensure buyers get more information about a property up front, reducing the likelihood that sales would fall through.

The Government said the questionnaire had been designed to be easy to fill in without the need for professional help. They could be included in HIPs as soon as January next year.

It would also ask sellers for information on the length of the leasehold; as well as the size of the ground rent and service charges.

Last night a spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said: ‘There is no revaluation taking place and we have persistently said it won’t even be considered before the next general election.’

* Higher rates of stamp duty on homes bought for more than £250,000 should be abolished, the Council of Mortgage Lenders said yesterday.

It called on the Government to introduce the ‘temporary concession’ to kick-start the ailing housing market.

Instead a standard rate of one per cent for all homes sold for over £125,000 would apply for the next few months, or even years.