Satellites to 'spy' on homes as part of Government's mansion tax raid

Aerial photography could be used to help determine the value of the more expensive homes in England as part of the new council tax surcharge aimed at houses worth £2million or more.

The information will then be used to target homeowners with yearly tax bills of as much as £7,500 where the property value exceeds £5million.

The introduction of the annual council tax charge - widely dubbed the mansion tax - will mean that from April 2028, owners of properties valued at over £2million will now face the annual surcharge.

The new surcharge is set to raise an estimated £0.4billion for the government in 2029-30, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

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The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) did not deny it would use "modern technology," which includes satellite imagery, to pave the way for Rachel Reeve's raid on property wealth, the Telegraph reports.

The VOA previously used similar tactics in Wales, building an "automated valuation model" to verify the size of houses and gardens as part of the Senedd's sweeping overhaul of council tax

Officials built an "automated valuation model" as part of the Welsh council tax reforms in order to verify the size of houses and gardens.

They also looked at Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs), meaning the more energy efficient homes – for example, those with double glazing or heat pumps – may potentially be handed higher taxes.

In a written question by the Conservatives to the Government last year, Labour did not rule out applying the automated valuation model used in Wales to England.

James Cleverly, the shadow housing secretary, said: "It’s clear Labour have been using Wales as a test bed to develop the Big Brother technology to hike council tax on people’s homes."

In response, Treasury minister James Murray said: "The automated valuation model for Wales approach may be adaptable for use in other locations. However, as with Wales, this would require further investigation and significant preparatory work."

Richard Tice, the deputy leader of Reform UK, said: "So Labour plan to spy more on the British people."

On Wednesday, Mr Murray suggested that the VOA would use its "established' valuation systems to force thousands of asset-rich homeowners in England into paying more tax.

He told LBC that the VOA had "established valuation methodologies already and they know how to value properties."

Dan Tomlinson, another Treasury minister, also told the radio station that the Government was looking at using "powerful private sector data" to bring down the administrative cost of valuing homes.

Dame Harriett Baldwin, a senior Conservative MP and shadow business minister, said that there would "definitely be privacy issues around this," which was "very concerning."

She added: "This is just a dry run and a dress rehearsal for a complete revaluation of all the council tax bands."

Fewer than 0.1 per cent of homes across most constituencies outside of London are worth more than £2 million
Share of residential property transactions over the past ten years.

Announcing the measure in her Budget speech, the Chancellor said the move would address "a long-standing source of wealth inequality in our country" by hitting "less than the top 1pc of properties."

It is expected to ensnare more than 140,000 homes, with homeowners in London and the South East, where 82pc of recent sales of properties over £2 million were located, disproportionately affected.

A VOA spokesman said: "We employ professional valuers who are involved at every stage, using modern technology and industry standard techniques combined with freely available information including sales data, property attribute details and government records. We also inspect properties where needed."

He added: "This will be the same for our valuations for the high value council tax surcharge."