It’s been revealed that teams of HMRC valuation agents will visit homes in person to assess whether they are valued at £2m or more.

£2m is the threshold at which owners will from 2028 pay the High Value Council Tax Surcharge or HVCTS – commonly known as the mansion tax.

Unlike standard council tax, which is typically paid by the person living in the property, the mansion tax is levied directly on the property owner.

Today’s Sunday Telegraph says owners who refuse to agree to an inspection will be committing a criminal offence, punishable with a fine of up to £200.

The inspectors will also make assessments of property interiors including numbers of rooms, storeys, bedrooms and bathrooms.

The tax will be charged at £2,500 annually for homes in England valued at £2m or more, with higher charges applying above £2.5m, £3.5m and £5m. 

Zoopla says there are some 183,000 homes in England estimated to be valued at or above £2m. And another 75,000 sit just below the threshold.

The government tells the Telegraph that a variety of valuation methods will be used; the Conservatives have branded the idea of home visits “a sinister assault on civil liberties.”

The Telegraph itself, in addition to a news report on inspection details, devotes an editorial column to denouncing the tax.

It says: “The mansion tax itself effectively turns families into tenants in their own homes, at risk of losing their property if they are no longer willing or able to pay the state for the pleasure of owning it. 

“Then to enforce the tax, the state must maintain an oppressive inspectorate, with the power to enter the houses of law-abiding people.”

The new tax comes into force in April 2028.

You can read the Telegraph news story in full here, although for some readers it may be behind a paywall: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2026/08/22/burnham-to-send-mansion-tax-police-to-your-home/