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Appeal No. VA00/3/058 AN BINSE LUACHÁLA Westport Golf Club APPELLANT RE: Clubhouse and Land, Map Reference
Lot No. 10B, 26C, B E F O R E
By notice of appeal dated 11th day October, 2000 the appellants appealed against the determination of the Commissioner of Valuation in fixing rateable valuation of £145 on the above described hereditament. The grounds of appeal as set out in the Notice of Appeal are that "(1) The valuation is excessive and inequitable. (2) The valuation is bad in law." The appeal proceeded by way of an oral hearing, which took place on the 14th day of March 2001 at the Tribunal Offices, Ormond House, Ormond Quay, Dublin 7. The appellant was represented by Ms Sheelagh O Buachalla B.A. who is an Associate of the Society of Chartered Surveyors and is a Director of GVA Donal O Buachalla. The respondent was represented by Mr. Colman Forkin B. Sc. [surveying] M.R.I.C.S. A.S.C.S. M.I.A.V.I. who is a District Valuer with 20 years experience in the Valuation Office. The Property Description Ground floor comprises two offices, foyer, professional shop, ladies and gents locker rooms, store and plant room. The first floor consists of bar/dining area, kitchen,
toilets and veranda. Club House 863.7sq.m. (9,297sq.ft.) The property is in excellent condition and is located on an 18 hole golf course. All main services are connected to the property. Valuation History The 1998/04 revision request was to value any developments and this resulted in the RV increasing to £145 a figure which was left unchanged at first appeal stage. The decision of the Commissioner following first appeal submissions not to make any change to the RV of £145 on the clubhouse is now the subject of this Tribunal Appeal. Oral Hearing Mr O'Neill stated that Strandhill Golf Club which was Mr Forkin's first comparison was 1 ½ miles away from the subject golf course but he was unable to get information in relation to size of membership in respect of this club. He stated that he was in Belmullet the day before the hearing and that there was a circuit training course and a function in progress but that the subject golf club was not in a position to advertise to outside agencies unlike Belmullet. He said that he could not get information about membership size in Belmullet Golf Club. On cross-examination he stated that he believed that Westport
Clubhouse compared unfavourably with Rosses Point, Enniscrone or Belmullet.
He stated that the subject golf club did get visitors but their big event
would be an open week in August and they had lost one week through flooding
in August before. He said there were many different championships in golf
and that Westport had held low level championship meetings such as the
Irish Closed Championship which would be handicapped. He said he did not Ms Sheelagh O Buachalla on behalf of the appellant adopted
her précis having taken the oath. She stated that the clubhouse
was built in 1973 and in 1997 a corner of the clubhouse was extended and
the ground floor was reorganised. She said she believed the Enniscrone
clubhouse was better than the subject and that it was a links course rebuilt
in 1991. She said that this was her main comparison and that it was a
better links course. She said that Rosses Point was a far superior golf
course and people would With regard to the machinery shed which is part of the
subject premises, she stated that this was made of corrugated iron and
was a very basic structure covering quite a large area of almost five
and a half thousand sq. feet. She further said that Westport was not a
links course and that this had to be taken into account because of the
flooding. She gave four comparisons; Clubhouse 863.7sq.m @ £21.52 = £18,586 or
9261sq.ft @ £2 psf Respondent's Evidence He cited 4 comparisons, Under cross examination he said that he accepted that the championship course was not on the par with the one at Rosses Point. He said that he accepted Mr O'Neill's evidence in this regard as he himself was not an expert in this area. With regard to Strandhill Golf Club which was his comparison No 1, he did not accept the contention that because no appeal was made against the valuation it was less reliable as a comparison. Mr Forkin went on to say that he did not think that Enniscrone was any better than the subject premises and he did not find the fact that Enniscrone had three bars any way relevant. He said that Enniscrone had a smaller building and that he felt that £2.35p psf was a fair valuation. With regard to his comparison No 4 Belmullet Golf Club, he stated that this was a smaller clubhouse but that since it was not an industrial building, and that it's location had more bearing on its valuation of £2.20p psf than its size. Mr Forkin accepted that the fact that a course is not used would have a bearing but he said that it does not say that people will not use the clubhouse. He stated that similar places would have the same problem and he stated further that he would have taken this factor into consideration when arriving at his valuation. He clarified this further by stating that he did take it into consideration here. With regard to the shed he stated that it was a corrugated iron structure which was in a walled yard beside the clubhouse and that it was quite a good building and it was of better quality than the building at Rosses Point, which was his comparison No 2. Mr Forkin gave his valuation as follows: Bls a-h Clubhouse 863.72M2 @ £26.91 = £23,243 Estimated NAV £28,707 X .5% = £143.54 Say £145.00p
The Tribunal has considered the case for the appellant
as presented by Ms O Buachalla together with her comparisons. The Tribunal
has also noted the evidence of Mr Forkin as contained in his oral and
written submissions together with his comparisons contained in Appendix
2. The Tribunal particularly noted the oral evidence of Mr Paul O'Neill
the General Manager of the subject Golf Club and notes that the Westport
Golf Club has a problem with flooding, particularly in the winter months
but that this could occur on a year round basis. The Tribunal finds that
this would make the Westport Golf Club clubhouse less attractive to a
hypothetical tenant. The Tribunal further notes that it is common case
that the Golf Course of the subject premises is not a links Golf Course
unlike comparisons such as Belmullet, Strandhill and Rosses Point. The
course appears to be similar to Clubhouse 863.72sq.m @ £23.68psm (£2.20psf)
= £20,445 Enniscrone Golf Club RV£65 1992/FA V.O.Lot : On 1 a Bartragh Clubhouse 5,707sq.ft @ £2.25 530sq.m @ £24.21 Clubhouse built in 1973, was reconstructed in 1991, with
an extension to Rosses Point, Sligo RV£125 1991 FA V.O.Lot : 23.26ab Rosses Upper Clubhouse 9,462sq.ft @ £2.35 879sq.m @ £25.29 Championship Golf Course Mullingar Golf Club RV£100 VA94/2/019 Clubhouse 12,702sq.ft @ £1.57 1180sq.m @ £16.90 Refurbished Clubhouse with new extension Nuremore Hotel, Carrickmacross RV£1,200 1998 Revision Clubhouse 5,360sq.ft @ £2 New golf clubhouse built as facility attaching to golf
course & 4 Star
_________________________________________________________________________________________ Strandhill Golf Club RD Sligo ED Knocknaree RV £125.00 Revision 1998/02. Clubhouse redeveloped at a cost of £500,000. M2 £26,763 Est NAV say £25,000 X .5% = £125.00 RV £125.00 1991 First Appeal M2 £24,827 Est NAV say £25,000 X .5% = £125
ED Castleconor West RV £65.00 1992/02 First Appeal M2 Est NAV £13,000 X .5% = £65
M2 £14,244
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