Inspectors will be sent to high‑value homes — and owners could be forced to cough up thousands under Burnham’s new levy.
HMRC agents will now be knocking on £2 million‑plus doors like they’re delivering a parcel — except instead of a box, it’s a tax bill the size of your hallway.
If you slam the door on the inspectors, you’re technically committing a criminal offence — and The Telegraph says you could be slapped with a £200 fine for telling HMRC to jog on.
In her Budget, Rachel Reeves revealed that from April 2028, any home worth over £2 million will get slapped with an annual surcharge — basically a ‘Congratulations, your house is too posh’ bill.
The bill depends on how posh your place is — anywhere from £2,500 to £7,500 a year for the privilege of owning a house that makes HMRC raise an eyebrow.
Around 165,000 homes are set to be whacked with the charge in 2028/29 — basically half the country’s posh postcodes getting a ‘Congrats, you’re minted’ bill from the OBR.
The vast majority of homes getting whacked will be in London and the South East — basically everywhere the postman wears designer trainers.
Homes in the firing line will be picked out using third‑party data and public info — basically HMRC scrolling the internet like a nosy neighbour with a spreadsheet.
To roll out the levy, officials will have to assess England’s priciest council‑tax homes — basically the VOA rummaging through top‑band properties like they’re judging a very expensive beauty contest.
Fewer than 1% of England’s homes are expected to top £2 million — basically the tiny sliver of properties where even the garden shed probably has mood lighting.
Jonathan Russell, the VOA boss, told MPs that valuers will ‘probably look’ at £1.5 million homes too — basically having a nose around anything pricey just in case they’ve missed a secret swimming pool.
Internal inspections will happen whenever key details can only be checked from inside — basically the VOA telling The Telegraph they’ll pop round for a nosey whenever a tape measure or a peek behind your curtains is required.
Inspectors will jot down everything — size, style, floors, rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms — basically giving your house the full ‘property MOT’ while pretending they’re not judging your taste in tiles.
And brace yourself — there could be regular inspections too, with surveyors popping round for full physical surveys to ‘keep valuations up to date’, like a never‑ending house‑proud MOT.
So it’s not even a Burnham policy — the whole thing was announced before he was back in Parliament. He’s basically turned up to Westminster and found someone else’s tax baby already crying in the corner.
It sounds like a dictator move, but really it’s just HMRC doing what HMRC does — turning up with a clipboard and acting like they’re auditioning for a home‑inspection reality show.
So what rights do we actually have? Basically, you get notice, you get to schedule the visit, you can check their ID, and you can challenge the valuation — but you can’t slam the door forever, because refusing entry becomes a fineable offence.
Start with MPs’ homes first — and their second homes too — before you start poking around everyone else’s curtains.
It’s starting to sound a bit like the Doomsday Book — the Government wandering around England making notes on everyone’s homes like it’s 1086 all over again.
An Englishman’s home is his castle — pull up the drawbridge and tell them to foxtrot Oscar.
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