Our client decided not to instruct Chartered Surveyors but used local estate agents instead. Having visited the property, the valuation seemed reasonable. The owner had done very little to the house in the near 40 years of ownership so that valuation was submitted for probate. After probate was granted, we were surprised to be contacted by Valuation Office Agency disputing the value submitted and suggesting a valuation of £100,000 more. This was a substantial increase on the figures the local estate agents had advised.
We knew the property was in a poor state of repair and although was billed as a four-bedroom house it had been built as a three bed and the main bedroom subsequently split in half to make two small bedrooms. The valuation obtained had seemed reasonable so we questioned how the Valuation Office Agency had obtained their larger valuation. Their answer was they had undertaken a google search on “Rightmove”. However, “Rightmove” had shown no properties having been sold in that road in the last few years. Further enquiries revealed that the Valuation Office Agency had taken a selection of properties in different areas of the town and scaled up using an online house price index. Not knowing the town, the Valuation Office Agency had made the surprising assumption that all properties of a similar number of bedrooms in the town had the same value. This caused us to undertake further research.
As the deceased had been local and knowing the property, we became aware that the house two doors away had been sold around the time of the deceased passing. A quick review of the Land Registry revealed that near identical house had sold for over £150,000 LESS than the Valuation Office Agency’s new figure. Upon highlighting this to the Valuation Office Agency, together with arguments as to why the two areas were different the original valuation was quickly accepted. Our client decided not to push for a sum lower than probate value.
As a footnote while looking through the lady’s documents in her house, the family had found the completion statement of the purchase in 1985. When we computed the actual price paid increased by the house price index to the date of death, the value produced was almost exactly the estate agent’s valuation as used on the original application! What is surprising was the simplistic approach used to dispute the valuation. The Revenue are sometimes not as technical as we think they are.
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