Skip to main content
Normal View

Valuation Office

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 4 December 2013

Wednesday, 4 December 2013

Questions (62)

Barry Cowen

Question:

62. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will provide in tabular form a county breakdown of the the number of re-valuations undertaken by the Valuation Office; the number of valuation appeals received by the office since March 2011; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52007/13]

View answer

Written answers

The work of the Valuation Office is underpinned by the Valuation Act, 2001 which provides for the valuation of all commercial and industrial property. The Commissioner of Valuation is independent in the performance of his functions under the Act and the making of valuations for local authority rating is his sole prerogative. There are two provisions in the legislation governing the assessment of valuations, i.e. revision and revaluation.

Revision of valuation is the mechanism used to maintain existing local authority valuation lists. It is used to add new properties to the list, to amend the valuations of altered properties and to remove demolished or defunct properties from the list. The valuations of commercial properties at revision are determined by reference to the net annual values of comparable properties on the same valuation list. That is to say that they are compared with similar type properties in the same local authority area to ensure, in so far as it is possible, that they are all treated equally.

In accordance with the 2001 Act, which came into force on 2nd May, 2002, a national programme is being rolled out progressively for the revaluation of all commercial and industrial properties in the State. The revaluation programme aims to provide up-to-date valuations for individual properties across all economic sectors that are subject to local authority rates. It is an important programme, especially given the significant changes in rental values following the economic downturn of recent years. The revaluation process is the mechanism whereby economic changes that take place in the property market are reflected in the valuation lists for rates purposes and in individual ratepayers’ rates liabilities.

The purpose of a revaluation is to redistribute commercial rates liabilities among ratepayers based on up-to-date values. Following revaluation, there will be a much closer relationship between rental value and commercial rates liability. Even though property values have fallen generally, some ratepayers will gain while others will lose from the process of redistribution but, overall, there will be a fairer distribution of the rates burden. In general, however, the relative gains to ratepayers have exceeded the losses in the revaluations carried out to date.

The revaluation programme which has been completed in three County Council areas in Dublin began in November 2005 in the South Dublin County Council area and has since been rolled out to the areas covered by Fingal and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Councils. The revaluation of South Dublin was completed in December 2007, Fingal was completed in 2009 and Dún Laoghaire- Rathdown was completed in 2010.

After publication of the valuations, the Act provides for an appeal to the Commissioner of Valuation and following the Commissioner’s decision on this appeal, the ratepayer has the further option of making an appeal to the independent Valuation Tribunal. There is also a further appeal on a point of law to the High and Supreme Courts.

As requested, the number of revaluations completed and the number of appeals to the Commissioner of Valuation arising from those revaluations is indicated in the following table. All appeals to the Commissioner arising from the revaluation have to be lodged within 40 days of publication of the new valuation list.

Local Authority - Area

Number of Revaluations

Number of Appeals to Commissioner of Valuation

South Dublin County

6,304

725

Fingal County

5,676

819

DunLaoghaire- Rathdown County

5,165

1,148

The revaluation programme for the Dublin City Council area is currently underway and is expected to be completed by 31st December, 2013. Additionally, the revaluation of properties in all the local authority areas of Waterford and Limerick will be completed in 2013 and 2014 respectively.

The Valuation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, 2012 which had its second stage reading in Seanad Éireann on 11th October, 2012 and is currently awaiting Committee stage, provides for a number of initiatives

to accelerate the overall revaluation programme, such as the piloting of a self-assessment scheme of valuation in one local authority area, which if it proves successful could be extended to other areas. There is also provision in the Bill to allow for the piloting of the assessment of valuations by contract valuers under an external delivery scheme. The Bill also contains provisions to streamline the overall process of revaluation and the appeal mechanisms available to ratepayers subsequent to the revaluation.

Top
Share