Government plans to send inspectors to value homes as part of Labour’s ‘Mansion Tax’ grab and consequent revaluation project are set to put a huge strain on the already-struggling tribunal system. And it’s two different tribunals set to blow…
The OBR expects one in five property owners to appeal the revaluation imposed upon them by HMRC. The taxman is set to revalue more than 315,000 homes every five years. So that’s 63,000 appeals every half-decade…
The Valuation Tribunal for England got just over 8,000 appeals in the whole of 2024-25, carrying 4,700 forward from April 2024. New appeals bring an almost tenfold increase in caseload for the tribunal – good luck…
Under council tax rules and following the introduction of safeguards in 2015, if the occupier of a property refuses entry to an HMRC inspection official, the taxman has to secure permission from the First-tier Tribunal, specifically the Property Chamber, which handles applications from valuation officers to enter premises. This “can be lengthy and costly.”
Even before the Labour Renters’ Rights Act took effect, only 21% of rent appeals at the Property Chamber were decided within 10 weeks, with 80% taking longer. Because the RRA abolished ‘no-fault’ evictions and gives every tenant the right to challenge a rent increase at the tribunal for free, that tribunal will be busy enough too…
The practical result of inspections, revaluations and their inevitable appeals is that there will be massive delays in the court system which will likely force more property owner-occupiers to appeal the amount of tax they have been forced to pay. The domino effect – instead the new tax grab should be scrapped and HMRC should keep out of people’s homes…
Lee Anderson, speaking to The Sun’s Tom Scotson, reveals the wokest thing he’s ever done: “I once had a vegetarian thought, about becoming a vegetarian. That was quickly dismissed when I had a bacon sandwich…”