Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Amendments Nos. 31 to 37, inclusive, are the remaining amendments to sections in Part 5A dealing with occupier-assisted valuation. Amendments Nos. 31 to 33, inclusive, propose to change section 26(d). Under what was proposed in the Bill, there was provision for the occupier, after having submitted an initial valuation, to be asked to submit an alternative valuation. The new proposal is more streamlined. Where an occupier of a property submits a valuation that is considered not to be accurate, or where he or she fails to submit a valuation, there is a provision to allow for a substitute valuation to be proposed by the valuation manager.

Amendment No. 34 is a new provision to allow an occupier to make representations where an alternative valuation is proposed by the valuation manager instead of the submitted valuation, thus bringing the occupier-assisted facility into line with the generality of provisions relating to the right to make representations already provided for in the 2001 Act.

As a consequence of the amendments to this part, a valuation list or part of a valuation list compiled using the occupier-assisted provisions will now be subject to the same appeal provisions applicable to a valuation list compiled by way of direct assessment by the valuation manager. Amendments Nos. 34 to 37 are a combination of renumbering, referencing, renumbered sections and a wording change to the final section on the submission of a known false valuation. This wording is extended to include recklessness in the submission of a valuation and brings the provision in line with an existing similar provision in the 2001 Act. That provision is in section 48(2)(b) of the 2001 Act.