Written answers

Tuesday, 23 May 2017

Department of Justice and Equality

Commercial Rates Valuation Process

Photo of Seán FlemingSeán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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122. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality when the Valuation Office will carry out revaluations in respect of commercial rates in local authorities; if the amounts paid under the global valuation system are excluded from this exercise and dealt with separately; the procedure in this regard; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24291/17]

Photo of Frances FitzgeraldFrances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Commissioner of Valuation has responsibility under the Valuation Acts 2001 to 2015 to maintain a valuation list of all commercial properties in each Local Authority area, which is used to calculate the rates due from individual ratepayers. Section 9(10) of the Act provides the Commissioner is independent in the performance of his functions and decisions with regard to the selection of rating authority areas for revaluation is his sole prerogative. As Minister for Justice and Equality, I do not have any role in this regard.

Revaluation is a process where all rateable properties in a Local Authority area are valued periodically by reference to a single valuation date. Following the first revaluation, subsequent revaluations of each rating authority area are then carried out on a cyclical basis no sooner than five years and no later than ten years after the first revaluation (Section 25 of the Valuation Act 2001). The revaluation provisions in the Valuation Acts provide for revaluation of all rateable property within a rating authority area to reflect changes in value due to economic factors, differential movements in property values or other external factors such as changes in the business environment or infrastructural changes in the vicinity of a property. The purpose of revaluation is to bring more equity, fairness and transparency into the rating system and to distribute the commercial rates liability across businesses more equitably based on modern circumstances.

The national revaluation programme currently underway is the first general revaluation of all commercial property in the State since the middle of the 19th century. It is a very significant undertaking involving the valuation of some 150,000 commercial rateable properties. Completing the first revaluation and getting properties in every Local Authority area onto the 5-10 year cycle of revaluations provided for in the legislation represents a sea-change for the rateable valuation system. The present position is that all rateable properties in the Dublin, Waterford and Limerick local authority areas are now re-valued. In addition, 13 public utilities representing some of the largest ratepayers in the State have been revalued on a global basis. In total, this represents approximately 57% of the national rateable valuation base in monetary value terms or 33% in numerical terms.

Significant progress is being made and the programme has established a momentum which is now being built upon as the current phase of work known as “REVAL 2017” is well underway which covers the following nine counties - Longford, Leitrim, Roscommon, Westmeath, Kildare, Offaly, Sligo, Carlow and Kilkenny where a revaluation is being undertaken for the first time since the nineteenth century. A second revaluation of commercial properties in South Dublin County Council area is also underway. I understand that the Commissioner intends to commence revaluation of County Laois over the coming months using new “Occupier Assisted Valuation” principles provided for in the Valuation (Amendment) Act 2015. The Commissioner has also indicated that revaluation of a further seven Local Authorities (Cavan, Louth, Meath, Monaghan, Tipperary, Wexford and Wicklow) will commence later in 2017.

Proposed Valuation Certificates issued in January 2017 for counties Leitrim, Longford, Roscommon and Westmeath and in March 2017 for counties Kildare, Offaly and Sligo. Proposed Valuation Certificates for Carlow and Kilkenny issued this month. Additionally, proposed certificates of valuation issued to all ratepayers in South Dublin County Council area on 13 April 2017. While generally, most ratepayers are satisfied with the valuations proposed to be placed on their properties, there is an extensive system of redress available to ratepayers who are dissatisfied with the proposed valuations or with any particular on the certificate relating to their property. In this regard, a dissatisfied ratepayer can make representations to the Valuation Office within 40 days of the date of issue of the certificate. The Valuation Office will consider the representations and may or may not change the proposed valuation depending on the circumstances of each individual property. A certificate of final valuation will issue to each ratepayer in the above counties in September 2017 and the valuation shown on the certificate will be used as the basis for the assessment of rates by the local authority with effect from 1 January 2018. If a ratepayer is still dissatisfied with the valuation on the final certificate which they will receive next September, they will have a right to lodge a formal appeal with the Valuation Tribunal, an independent statutory body established for the purpose of hearing appeals against decisions of the Commissioner of Valuation.

The position in relation to the global valuation of public utility undertakings is that, as required under section 53(6) of the Valuation Act 2001 as amended by the Valuation (Amendment) Act 2015, the Commissioner carried out a valuation of two utilities in 2014, seven utilities in 2015 and two utilities in 2016. Global valuations are carried out on a rolling five-yearly cycle as provided for in the Acts. The initial round of global valuations was carried out in the period 2004 to 2006 following the passage of the 2001 Act. The second round of global valuations was carried out in the period 2009 to 2011 and the most recent round was commenced in 2014 and concluded in 2016.

It is important to note that the global valuations cover all the networks and systems of lines, cables, masts, posts, pylons, wires and other ancillary constructions which pertain to the use or development of the utility and which are necessary to get its products or service, whether in the areas of electricity, telecommunications, transport or gas to the consumer. The global valuation process relates solely to the network occupied by the particular public utility undertaking and used by it for its principal objects or purposes such as the supply of electricity or gas or the provision of telecommunications or public transport. Other properties such as retail units offices or industrial space occupied by the undertaking but not used by it for its principal objects or purposes are not included in the global valuation. Such other properties operated by the utility are valued in the same manner as properties occupied by other businesses.

The same right of appeal that exists for commercial ratepayers also has application in the case of public utilities that are dissatisfied with the valuation in the final valuation certificate. This right of appeal may be exercised by the utility, a rating authority and the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government to the Valuation Tribunal. There is a further right of appeal to the higher Courts on a point of law.

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