Government 'using HIPs to push up council tax'

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By Vivienne Morgan, PA Political Staff

The Government will use data gathered from the controversial Home Information Packs to "hike up property taxes", the Conservatives claim.

Shadow local government and communities secretary Eric Pickles said the HIPs would create a massive property database that will be used for a stealthy revaluation of council tax and tax rises.

Mr Pickles said the database could hold detailed information on 20 million homes by 2014.

He predicted that Prime Minister Gordon Brown would use the data to "fill his coffers and hike up property taxes even more".

And he said the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) had made an "explicit bid" to access the database and, given that existing legislation allowed ministers to use it for "any public purpose", granting it would be "a mere formality".

But his claims were categorically denied by a spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government, who said: "This is total codswallop. Time and again we have made clear the VOA will not have access to this register. We have even set it out in the law so there could be no doubt," he insisted.

He added: "No revaluation is currently taking place in England. Reports of a revaluation by stealth are pure invention."

HIPs have come into force after a two-month delay and a watering down of their content.

They aim to speed up the home-buying process by giving people more information on a property before they put in an offer.

A new energy performance certificate (EPC) will give information on reducing energy consumption and making homes more environmentally friendly.

From August 1, all sellers in England and Wales whose property has four or more bedrooms must have one of the packs.

The packs will be extended to smaller properties when more energy assessors have qualified.

Critics claim the packs add to the cost of selling a home while bringing little benefit to the consumer.

Mr Pickles warned: "Ministers are now moving ahead with a database of HIPs. This will hold every detail of the - currently voluntary - Home Condition Reports, and the new compulsory EPCs."