Owners may bear costs of valuation

HOUSEHOLDERS MAY have to pay the costs of getting an accredited property professional to value their homes, in addition to paying a property tax based on that value.

The State’s valuation commissioner, Aidan Murray, yesterday said he had advised the Commission on Taxation on “options for drawing up a property tax and bringing it in, in the short term” in advance of the commission’s report earlier this year.

Mr Murray told the Dáil Public Accounts Committee that his office had considered forms of “household self-assessment” which could be certified by property professionals.

The Valuation Office, which is responsible for setting property valuations for commercial rates, says it does not have the staff to carry out residential valuations, and its current residential database is almost 30 years old.

Mr Murray said his office was working on the first revaluation in 150 years of the State’s 170,000 commercial properties.

The work would take 10 years, at a cost of €45 million, he said. This was a major improvement on initial estimates that it would cost up to €100 million and would take several decades.

However, the task of valuing residential properties would be even more extensive. Mr Murray said that some 1.8 million properties were listed on the current register. This included the 170,000 commercial premises, the remainder being made up of private houses and farmlands.

Responding to questions from committee chairman Bernard Allen, Mr Murray said his office had advised the Commission on Taxation before September on “options for drawing up a property tax and bringing it in in the short term”.

He said the work could not be carried out by the State Valuation Office at current staffing levels.