Michael McNamara (Clare, Labour)
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83. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the average length of time taken by the Valuation Office to issue a valuation certificate; if that time period has increased during the 31st Dáil; if this represents a satisfactory level of public service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8508/15]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The Commissioner of Valuation is independent in the exercise of his duties under the Valuation Act, 2001 and the carrying out of valuations for rating purposes is his sole prerogative. The Act does not accord me as Minister any function in this regard. 

There are two provisions in the legislation governing the assessment of valuations which result in the issue of valuation certificates, i.e. revaluation and revision. They are dealt with under Parts 5 and 6 of the Valuation Act 2001 respectively. There has been no change in the legislative provisions during this Dáil.

Revision of valuation is the mechanism used to maintain local authority valuations 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. By contrast, in a revaluation the entire commercial valuation list for a local authority is brought up-to-date by reference to a specific valuation date. The entire list is published on one date (usually 31 December) and it comes into effect for rating purposes on 1 January the following year. 

The revaluation of a rating authority area is commenced by the making of a Valuation Order by the Commissioner of Valuation which among other things specifies the publication date of the new valuation list. It is for the Commissioner to set the publication date which would take account of factors such as the number of items to be valued. The Act states that the publication date shall not be more than three years after the date the valuation order is made. In practice the gap between the date the valuation order was signed and the publication date is between 24 and 33 months. Prior to 2011 the gap was between 26 and 33 months. Since 2011 the gap between the order date and the publication date has been between 24 and 33 months. As can be seen from the figures below nearly 2/3 of the properties revalued have been completed on valuation orders signed in 2011 or later with 1/3 of properties revalued on valuation orders signed between 2005 and 2011. 

To-date, revaluations of all local authorities in Dublin, Waterford and Limerick have been completed comprising approximately 49,500 properties, representing approx. 57% of the national rateable valuation base in monetary value terms or 33% in numerical terms. In addition, 13 public utilities representing some of the largest ratepayers in the State have been valued on a national basis.

Since 2011, as part of the national revaluation programme the Valuation Office has issued in excess of 32,000 proposed valuation certificates and 31,482 final valuation certificates, all within the required timelines. The latter are broken down as follows:

Dublin City 20,845

Waterford City & County 3,917

Limerick City & County 6,720

Valuations of commercial properties at revision are determined under Part 6 of the Valuation Act 2001, by reference to the net annual values of comparable properties on the same valuation list. The Act provides for applications for revision to be made to the Commissioner by an occupier, a rating authority, an interest holder in a rateable property or the occupier of another rateable property in that same rating authority area. On receipt of a revision application the Commissioner appoints a revision officer to deal with the application and the Act requires that officer to deal with that application within 6 months of his/her appointment.

Revision applications are received on an ongoing basis throughout the year and, in so far as reasonably practicable, the statutory timelines provided for in the Valuation Act 2001 are adhered to. While there are always some arrears of revision casework, these are not significant. The vast majority of applications are lodged by local authorities with whom the Valuation Office maintains close liaison, to ensure that revision applications are dealt with as expeditiously as possible and to agreed timelines having regard to the local authority budgetary year. Revision applications relating to new properties and those received from the public are disposed of expeditiously; the Valuation Office aims to deal with the majority of ratepayer revision applications within 3 months of receipt of the application.

During 2014, 3,467 revision applications were received, 4,204 revision applications were dealt with which resulted in 1,804 new records being created and 6,024 valuation certificates being issued in total.