Burnham's 'mansion tax police' to enter homes and count your bedrooms or face a £200 fine

HMRC inspectors will visit properties across England armed with a checklist of features to determine whether homes should be hit with a new annual surcharge of up to £7,500. Anyone who refuses entry to the government's valuation agents faces a criminal fine of up to £200. Tory shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride condemned the plan as "another Labour tax on aspiration, carried out through alarmingly authoritarian means." Property experts are now warning the £2m threshold could be lowered to £1.5m and that current rates may be only "introductory."

HMRC agents will mark up homes for higher tax based on scenic views, conservatories, balconies, paddocks, annexes, gated entrances and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms.

Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake called it "the sinister reality of Labour's secret council tax snooping plot laid bare."

The tax is expected to raise £430m a year, with 55 per cent of that coming from just four London boroughs — critics call the yield a "rounding error" against the cost of legal challenges.