By Claire Corrigan
Experts in the field of valuations and valuation certificates gave and informations talk at the Annebrook House Hotel in Mullingar on Monday evening.
Frank O’ Connor and Ray Finlay spoke to concerned business people who were hit with staggeringly high rates last month.
Addressing the attendees Frank O’ Connor, who has worked for the Valuation Office for thirty years and is a member of the society of chartered surveyors in Ireland answered questions for an hour on the valuations which were based on the estimate rental value on 30 October 2015 under the Valuation Act 2001.
“90 per cent of the properties in the Westmeath are either shops, offices or industrial and there are two grounds of appeal. If the area is contested, the plan with measurements is needed and it has to be sent in to the Valuation Office with the representation. If the price per square metre is contested, rental evidence is needed to back up that claim. In other words if the Valuation Officer puts a valuation of €15,000 on your property and you say it’s only worth €10,000, you need to ask for the rent for adjoining properties or the Government property register to back up your claim.”
He said that specialised properties comprised about 10 per cent of the properties and were listed as pubs, hotels, petrol stations, quarries and wind farms etc.
“Pubs hotels and petrol stations are valued on the turnover and were asked for those figures a year ago. If anyone hasn’t supplied the three year turnover figures, they will have make an estimate, which can be lower or higher than the actual figures.”
He added that it is an offence not to supply the information to the office when requested and there is a possible fine of €300 a day if taken to court. “If you’re a pub and didn’t fill out the figures and you noticed your rates were very high, you can you send in the turnover figures at that point. If you send them in before 21 February you’ll be OK.”
He said that if a business owner fails to do so their next course of appeal is the Valuation Tribunal where the appeal will rely on their original estimate.
Mr. O’ Connor said that ‘zoning’ only applies to the ground floor of retail premises excluding petrol station shops.
“It is a tool to analysis and compare the rent for shops with similar frontages and different depths. The valuation office decide on zoning price per square metre for each street on a town based on available rental evidence. In a street that is not doing well, they can undervalue in order to minimise appeals.”
“In terms of checking whether the bill has increased or decreased, or if you have a few properties, you will need to know the valuation office property number so dig out previous year rates.”
He said that for premises on a street or small town which is not doing well, the Valuation office tend to value them below the actual rental value to minimise appeals.
He also stated that even though the valuation date is 30 October 2015, it’s not the exact rent that any particular occupier is paying.
“They take an average of rent for a street or industrial estate.”
Jim Bourke of Mullingar Autos asked why the petrol stations and pubs were valued in a different way the retail shops.
“If it is a standard property (shop, office or industrial premises), you can appeal on the grounds that the square footage may not be correct or that you feel price per sq ft applied to arrive at the rental value is incorrect. For other premises it depends on a few factors. There is a scheme of valuation which has been agreed with the valuation office but I can’t generalise. Every property is different and there are different factors that could lead to a reduction or increase. The turnover in a pub is the most important thing in terms of renting it out,” Mr. O’ Connor replied.
The owner of Lough Ennell Caravan and Camping park, Eamonn O’ Malley said his rates, which went up by 600 per cent, were the same as those of a caravan park in Wexford. “I have a camping site and have been rated on the same basis as person down in Waterford which is high tourist area and has a much higher turnover of people down there whereas the midlands is unable to attract the numbers of tourists they get on the coast. Surely that that can’t be right? I would have thought there would be a different properties of the same type in different areas.”
Chairperson of Mullingar Town Team Angela Maher said that a number of people who visited the Valuation Officers at County Buildings last week said they had been told to expect a considerable reduction. “If it turns out that figures were calculated incorrectly and a lot of these figures drop does that mean the ARV will go up?”
He responded that it will marginally increase the ARV. “A revaluation doesn’t mean any more money for the council it’s a redistribution of the rates bills according to which types of properties have achieved the highest rental worth over the 30 years ago since the last revaluation in 1988. Normally retail premises get hit hardest and industrial premises are hit softest.”
Ms Maher said there are a number of premises in Mullingar that have two or three stories and are being used for storage. He replied that people with properties such as these should take a photo of the room and send it to the Valuation Office. “If it’s used as storage they should be valuing it as storage.”
He told attendees that representation can be submitted manually.
“You can print a form but would need to give yourself four or five days to make sure it gets in on time. The final cert will be issued in September and you can lodge an appeal to the Valuation Tribunal if unhappy which will cost a fee.
“It becomes more difficult to get a reduction because most of the valuations have been agreed or accepted so you are fighting an uphill battle.” Mr. O’Connor warned.
