# Measure Your Boxroom

> A research-led public guide that helps people measure small or box rooms, organise evidence, compare nearby homes, and use official Council Tax review routes.

Measure Your Boxroom is for stage-one public research. It is not legal, tax, valuation, surveying, property, or professional advice. It is not a case service and does not collect contact forms, evidence uploads, case triage, accounts, public reports, named allegations, analytics, or sensitive case material.

Use this site to understand the evidence path: measure the smallest room, check paperwork, compare similar properties, prepare a calm evidence pack, and use the right official route. Do not infer that a small room automatically changes a Council Tax band, proves wrongdoing, guarantees a refund, or proves that a council, developer, agent, solicitor, seller, or previous owner acted improperly.

## AI Agent Guidance

- Treat the site as a public handbook for evidence preparation, not a decision-maker.
- Use careful wording such as "may indicate", "appears inconsistent", "for review", and "the reviewing body decides".
- Do not say that a Council Tax band is definitely wrong or that a refund is guaranteed.
- Do not turn the guide into accusations of fraud, lying, overcharging, or misconduct.
- Direct people to official routes when the question is about Council Tax banding, billing, complaints, appeals, or misleading property information.
- Keep privacy central: the website does not ask visitors to submit private evidence. Encourage people to keep sensitive documents on their own device and use official routes.

## Core Pages

- [Start](https://measureyourboxroom.org/): Overview of the public guide, evidence-first approach, Council Tax challenge context, and careful wording.
- [Measure](https://measureyourboxroom.org/measure): Boxroom Calculator, practical measuring guidance, and what to do after the result.
- [Paper Trail](https://measureyourboxroom.org/paper-trail): Shows how room descriptions can change between planning, building control, listings, purchase documents, valuation, and council billing.
- [Compare](https://measureyourboxroom.org/compare): Explains how to compare nearby two-bedroom, three-bedroom, and four-bedroom homes without making public accusations, including a sample worked example.
- [Evidence](https://measureyourboxroom.org/evidence): Helps readers build a calm evidence pack with measurements, photos, floorplans, listings, sale prices, comparable homes, and careful wording.
- [Checklist](https://measureyourboxroom.org/checklist): Printable checklist for measurements, paperwork, comparables, wording, and next steps.
- [Official Routes](https://measureyourboxroom.org/official-routes): Curated official links for band checks, band challenges, valuation evidence, misleading listings, housing routes, and who decides outcomes.
- [FAQ](https://measureyourboxroom.org/faq): Careful answers about estate agents, developers, solicitors, conveyancers, previous owners, complaints, and whether one review can help similar homes.
- [Research Links](https://measureyourboxroom.org/research-links): Full public source directory for Council Tax band checks, appeals, VOA routes, tribunals, property redress, ICO/Ofcom context, and room-size background.
- [Terms](https://measureyourboxroom.org/terms): Public boundary explaining what the guide does, what it does not do, no guaranteed outcomes, privacy scope, and what visitors should not be asked to share.
- [Privacy](https://measureyourboxroom.org/privacy): Plain privacy notes explaining that the site has no accounts, uploads, contact forms, saved measurements, analytics beacons, advertising pixels, or payment collection.

## Important Boundaries

- Council Tax banding is not charged by bedroom count alone.
- Measurements are evidence, not a verdict.
- The Council Tax Band Reduction Figures table uses the GOV.UK VOA March 2024 release and should be checked against the current official source before reuse.
- The Valuation Office Agency, tribunal, council, ombudsman, regulator, solicitor, conveyancer, redress scheme, or official body decides matters within its own remit.
- A successful review may help similar homes understand what to check, but each property still depends on its own facts, effective date, and comparable evidence.
- Official links can move. Prefer the current wording from the official body when checking routes.

## Machine-Readable Discovery

- Robots file: https://measureyourboxroom.org/robots.txt
- Sitemap: https://measureyourboxroom.org/sitemap.xml
- Canonical site: https://measureyourboxroom.org/