AT THE recent AGM of the Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute (IAVI) in Dublin, the institute’s new president Kersten Mehl hit out at delays in establishing the National Property Services Regulatory Authority (NPSRA) and urged the Government to take fewer holidays.
Limerick-based Mehl says that Ireland and the IAVI stand “at a crossroads” and insists the institute, unlike the country, “is not in a mess. It is strong and vibrant and, importantly, has valuable assets and no borrowings. The manner in which the IAVI has been run is almost the antithesis of the way Ireland Inc has been run in recent times.”
Mehl talked of the frustration of agents at the slow progress through the Oireachtas of the Property Services (Regulation) Bill to activate the NPSRA, which would monitor industry professionals and protect consumers. “It is ridiculous to think that I am the third successive IAVI president to highlight, in his inaugural speech, the fact that the NPSRA legislation is still before the Oireachtas. I have three words of advice for the Government to deal with the legislative backlog: take fewer holidays.”
He also said the IAVI national council supports the recommendation for the introduction of an annual residential property tax.
In other IAVI news, a residential property survey it conducted suggests levels of activity have picked up across the country in the last quarter. The majority of estate agents surveyed reported increases in instructions, enquiries, viewings and offers.
The net balance – the proportion of IAVI members reporting a rise in activity minus those reporting a fall – in “sales agreed” nationally was up 36 per cent compared to a drop of 5 per cent in the previous quarter.
In Dublin, the net balance of auctioneers reporting an increase in sales agreed in Dublin was up 47 per cent compared to a rise of only 15 per cent in the last quarter of 2009. Simon Ensor of the IAVI national council says activity levels in Dublin increasing in two consecutive quarters is encouraging, “albeit from low levels in 2009”.
