Property owners get new valuations
THE Valuation Office, the State property valuation organisation, has begun the process of posting approximately 30,000 Valuation Certificates to commercial and industrial ratepayers in Carlow, Kildare, Kilkenny, Leitrim, Longford, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo, South Dublin, and Westmeath.
This is an important milestone in the revaluation of all non-domestic property in Ireland which is currently underway through a programme known as the National Revaluation Programme.
Provision for a revaluation of all non-domestic property in Ireland was made under the Valuation Act 2001 as amended by the Valuation (Amendment) Act 2015. Neither residential property nor agricultural lands are rateable and consequently are not affected by the revaluation.
The valuation of each rateable property in the above counties has been arrived at by reference to relevant local market information and trading data at the specified valuation date of 30 th October, 2015, collected and analysed by the Valuation Office.
A spokesperson said a revaluation is necessary to bring more equity and transparency into the local authority rating system and to ensure that all ratepayers pay a fair share of the commercial rates to be raised.
“Following revaluation, there is a much closer and more uniform relationship between modern rental values of property and their commercial rates liability. The revaluation will result in a redistribution of the commercial rates liability between ratepayers depending on the relative shift in the rental values of their properties in relation to each other.
“A revaluation is a revenue neutral exercise for local authorities. While an individual occupier’s rates liability may increase or decrease, the revaluation will not increase the overall commercial rates income of any of the County Councils. The commercial rates income of each local authority is capped in the year following a revaluation.” The Valuation Certificates posted to ratepayers on 7 th September will state the valuation that will be entered onto the new Valuation List for the relevant Local Authority which will be published on 15 th September 2017. The valuations will be used to calculate the rates charged in 2018 and subsequent years. It is important to note that the valuation entered on the Valuation Certificate is not a bill for rates but is a statement of the valuation on which rates will be levied from 1st January 2018.
If a ratepayer accepts that the valuation set out in the Valuation Certificate is correct, they do not need to do anything further. If a ratepayer is dissatisfied he or she can appeal to the independent Valuation Tribunal on or before 12 th October 2017.
The valuation is a key element in establishing the rates liability but is not the amount of rates actually payable. While the Valuation Office determines the valuation, each local authority determines, levies and collects the actual rates payable.
The Valuation Office website, www.valoff. ie, sets out detailed information about the revaluation. The Office also has a dedicated Customer Support team to deal with revaluation queries by emailing reval2017@valoff. ie, or by telephoning Lo- Call 1890 531 431 or 01 8171033 between 9:30 am and 5:30 pm from Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays. New Valuation Lists for each of the counties will be published on Friday 15 th September. People can go to www. valoff.ie and view the valuations of all of the properties that were revalued in each of the local authority areas.