Mansion tax valuers will be able to photograph homes without the owner’s approval

Mansion tax inspectors are being trained to take photographs of people’s homes to determine whether they will be liable for the tax – whether the owners consent or not, reports suggest. 

Following Whitehall instructions, inspectors will be permitted to take photos of the exterior of people’s homes and gardens to determine liability for the mansion tax. 

From April 2028, the mansion tax, formally known as the High Value Council Tax Surcharge, will be imposed on properties valued at more than £2million. 

This was introduced by Rachel Reeves in the 2025 Budget, and will be enforced from April 2028. 

The annual levy of between £2,500 and £7,500 is expected to affect approximately 150,000 homes. New valuations will happen every five years. 

The Valuation Office Agency, which assesses the value of properties for council tax purposes in England and Wales, is conducting a ‘targeted exercise’ to identify which properties in England will be liable to pay the levy.

According to The Times, a document obtained under Freedom of Information laws showed that mansion tax inspectors will be ‘collecting and recording the facts and information’ by visiting people’s homes to take notes and photographs. 

They will be able to take photos of people’s homes from public highways, even if homeowners object to having the photos taken. 

The Conservatives have called the guidance for mansion tax inspectors a ‘snoopers’ charter’, and said it was ‘outrageous’. 

Inspectors will gather information about details such as the dates of alterations or extensions added to a property, its overall condition, survey data or any lease or licence details. 

The document obtained via the Freedom of Information request seen by The Times said internal and external photographs were ‘essential’, as they gave a clear record of a home, ‘particularly where areas are in question/ alterations have been made/extensions completed/ongoing works/adaptations made to dwellings’. 

If mansion tax inspectors want to go into a property they are probing, they must get the homeowner’s permission to enter. 

But if a homeowner objects to the inspector entering their property, the inspector must make a record of the refusal in his or her notes. 

If a homeowner refuses to let an inspector enter their property, the homeowner’s name, if known, must be recorded, and the matter could potentially be escalated to the inspector’s manager. 

According to reports of the handbook, notes and photos made during the visit will comprise the ‘bedrock’ of the Valuation Office’s property database.

Invasion of privacy 

Concerns are mounting about the impact of home inspections on people’s privacy. 

Guy Meacock, director of buying agents Prime Purchase, said: ‘While most people would acknowledge the need to change the massively outdated council tax system, taking photos of people’s homes will be highly contentious and likely to meet with strong resistance. 

‘The British are by and large private people – this will be seen as a significant invasion of privacy.’

And James Nightingall of property search company HomeFinder AI told This is Money: ‘If we really think about it, sending officials around to take photos of people’s homes without their approval is surreal and an invasion of privacy. 

‘The majority of homeowners will be unhappy with this move.’ 

Katie Lam, the Conservatives’ shadow housing secretary, said: ‘Labour’s tax inspectors are being given free rein to snoop on people’s homes, photograph their gardens and feed that information into property valuations — all without people’s permission. 

‘Families should not have to worry that the garden they’ve worked hard to maintain will become another excuse for the taxman to slap them with a bigger bill. This is an outrageous invasion of privacy and another example of Labour treating people’s homes as a cash machine.’

Labour has reportedly said it would ‘draw on its long-established property database’ to identify homes liable to pay the mansion tax. The same document is also used by inspectors for council tax inspections.  

‘Overhead and street view imagery from search engine maps’ can be used to establish the value of a home, documents published via the Freedom of Information request showed. 

Aerial photographs from Ordnance Survey, available via the taxpayer-funded Public Sector Geospatial Agreement, are also able to be considered for the mansion tax. 

A Government spokesman said: ‘HMRC’s approach is well-established and already used to ensure fair and accurate banding for millions of homes for council tax. In most cases, properties are valued without the need for a visit.

‘The surcharge addresses a longstanding unfairness where a Band D home in Darlington pays more in council tax than a £10million mansion in Mayfair and will apply to less than 1 per cent of properties in England.’

HM Revenue & Customs told This is Money inspectors would always ‘respect’ the individuals whose homes they were looking at, and that most cases would not require a home visit. 

It said the inspections were about making sure it valued homes correctly to ensure the right tax was collected, ‘no more, no less’. 

Households affected by the mansion tax will see which draft tax band they have been allocated in autumn 2027.

Homeowners will be able to challenge the decision if they disagree with it, before the first bills are issued by councils from March 2028. 

Valuations are likely to be disputed as there are around 75,000 properties just below the £2million threshold. 

Last month, John Healey declined to cut the planned mansion tax threshold from £2million to £1.5million in the Budget, after Labour MPs warned that the move would hit the governing party in its central London strongholds.