Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has made an estimate of the potential impact of the classification of ancillary spaces as separate dwellings for council tax purposes on costs for owners of listed buildings.

The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) is the organisation responsible for determining the council tax band of all domestic properties. In doing this they will make an assessment of whether a property consists of one dwelling or multiple dwellings. They will make this decision based on legislation and case law. The government does not have any plans to change this approach.

Where part of a property is liable as a separate dwelling, it will be liable for the standard rate of council tax for that band set by local authorities in the area. The council tax system does contain a number of discounts and exemptions to reflect different types of annexes. The government’s guidance on how annexes are treated for council tax purposes can be found here.