Ms Carol O'Farrell:

No. That has now changed. Prior to the passing of the Valuation (Amendment) Act of 2015, persons essentially had three opportunities to contest a valuation. First, they could make representations to the Commissioner of Valuation once a proposed valuation certificate issued. If they were unhappy with the outcome of their representation, there was a right of appeal. It was called the first appeal to the Commissioner of Valuation and if the person was still aggrieved following that right of appeal, then they could appeal it to the Valuation Tribunal. Given that the pace of the revaluation programme had slowed down so much, the 2015 Act was passed and one of the key objectives was to accelerate that programme. New measures were introduced in the new legislation and one of those was to streamline the appeal process. Essentially, the right of appeal to the Commissioner of Valuation has been abolished. The time period for making representations has been extended to a period of 40 days. That is a much more robust process now with the Commissioner of Valuation.

If someone is still aggrieved, having made representations, the only right of appeal is directly to the Valuation Tribunal.