Concern over property tax estimates

FEARS are growing that many local homeowners will overpay the new Local Property Tax by hundreds of euro due to receiving estimated valuations from Revenue that far exceed what their home is worth.

Revenue has stated that their estimate is not a demand. But concerned Northsiders are worried that locals, especially the elderly, may still pay the amount on their return out of fear of the taxman.

Keith Brunton, from Ballygall, lives in a property he believes is worth less than e250,000 but received a return from Revenue valuing his home at between e450,000 and e500,000.

His neighbour, who lives in a similar property, had an estimate of between e200,000 and e250,000, but Mr Brunton says there’s little difference between the two homes.

“I’m aware that it’s a mistake, but this is a mature area and there’s a lot of older people in the community who may be receiving similar valuations and who might not know that,

? he said.

“A lot of them will think they have to pay it, end of story, and they’ll just write a cheque and won’t have any comeback on it.

“I’d hope that families of older people will take note of this and look into it for them and help them out with their form.

“But if it’s somebody living on their own, they mightn’t have any family to help them and they’ll just pay it.

“It would be interesting to see how many of these ridiculous valuations have been sent out. There was no need for them to put any value on the returns. It’s a self assessment form. If it’s self valuation, it’s self valuation.

?

Other residents at an apartment complex in Finglas have also received returns with what appears to be serious overvaluations. One owner received an estimated value of over e500,000, more than double that of their neighbours.

Another owner in the same development got two assessments for the same property, with two different valuations.

Dublin North West TD Roisin Shortall (Lab) said she’d been contacted by many local homeowners who were alarmed and confused after receiving their returns.

“In some cases neighbours living side by side in very similar homes have received two different bills,

? she told Northside People.

“In others, the estimate greatly exceeds previous valuations carried out by professional valuers. And in many cases residents simply don’t have enough information to work out how much their home might actually be worth.

?

Deputy Shortall described the guidance offered by Revenue on how to value homes as

“completely inadequate

?.

“Firstly, it is only available online so people who don’t use the internet can’t access it,

? she said.

“Secondly, according to the Revenue estimates, residents living on the same road can be in two different valuation bands. On one section of Griffith Avenue, for example, one side of the road is in Band 4 and the other is in Band 6.

“Indeed in many areas across Santry and Glasnevin North, on roads such as Willow Park Road, Grove Road, Beneavin Drive, Sycamore Road, Oakwood Park, Shanliss Road and Shanliss Avenue, one side of the road is in a higher valuation band than the other, when in truth the actual house values are broadly the same.

?

Deputy Shortall also pointed to inconsistencies between valuation bands in the guidelines and prices actually achieved and recorded on the Property Price Register.

“On Glasnevin Avenue, for instance, the last three properties sold were in Band 4, yet most of the road has been placed in Band 5 according to the online guidance,

? she said.

“The problem faced by homeowners is that the estimate provided by Revenue is not reliable; the online guidance provided by Revenue is not reliable; and the only reliable source of property prices, the Property Price Register, is lacking key information.

?

The Labour TD is advising residents not to simply accept Revenue’s estimate but to try and arrive at a

“sensible and honest

? assessment themselves by talking to neighbours and relying, where possible, on the Property Price Register.

“Above all, residents should not rely on locally advertised asking prices as these are often higher than the actual selling price,

? she said.

“It’s bad enough that the Government would impose an unfair property tax but it really rubs it in when they make it almost impossible to comply with.

?

Economics student Sean Tyrrell, who is planning to run as an Independent candidate in next year’s local elections, is holding an information meeting on the Local Property Tax at The Den on St Helena’s Road in Finglas next Wednesday at 7pm.