Property attribute data (PAD)
Guidance on the information the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) holds about your property for Council Tax purposes.
Property attribute data is the information the VOA holds about the physical features of a property.
The information we hold about your property goes towards determining your Council Tax band.
When data is collected
Property attribute data is historic. It usually relates to the state of a property on the most recent of the following dates:
- at the Council Tax list compilation date, which is 1 April 1993 in England or 1 April 2005 in Wales)
- when it was entered into the Council Tax list, for example, when it was built
- when its entry to the Council Tax list was last updated
We only update the data we hold under certain circumstances. They are:
- when a property is sold
- the use of the property has changed
- a property has been split or merged
The data we hold
At a minimum, property attribute data will include:
- group, such as house, flat, bungalow
- type, for example detached, semi-detached
- age, which is the time period when the property was built
- floor area, which is the size of the property in m2. We measure properties in line with our code of measuring practice – guidance on how we measure different properties is available on GOV.UK
- total number of rooms. We include living rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms and studies, but exclude conservatories, kitchens, utility rooms, bathrooms and toilets
- number of bedrooms. We count all bedrooms, even if they are not currently being used as bedrooms. This includes box rooms and bedrooms being used as studies
- number of bathrooms. We only list a bathroom if it has at least 3 fittings, for example, toilet, basin and shower. This means a toilet with just a basin would not be included
- number of floors your home has. For example, a house with a ground floor and first floor is a 2-storey property
Legally we cannot review improvements to a property until it is sold. Any improvements made to a property will only be reflected in the data once a sale has taken place.
How to request your property attribute data
You can request your property attribute data by phone or using our contact form.
If you are requesting your data online, please select the following options:
- Select ‘I want to make a new query’.
- Select ‘Council Tax’.
- Select ‘other’.
Then provide a description of your request.
You can only request your own property’s data, not that of your neighbours.
We must verify that you are the taxpayer before we release the data. Please have a copy of your Council Tax bill ready to share with us as part of the verification process.
What to do if your data is incorrect
If you are requesting your data to support a Council Tax band challenge, please note that incorrect data does not always mean your band is wrong.
This is because bands are in a range, and the impact on your property’s valuation may not be significant enough to move you into a lower band.
Updates to this page
Last updated 14 November 2024 + show all updates
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Minor updates to content.
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First published.