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Appeal No. VA05/3/049
AN BINSE LUACHÁLA Nethercross Limited APPELLANT RE: Hotel, Land, Office(s), House at Lot No. 1/1, Roganstown,
Swords Lissenhall, Swords, County Dublin. B E F O R E JUDGMENT OF THE VALUATION TRIBUNAL By Notice of Appeal dated the 20th day of July, 2005 the appellant appealed against the determination of the Commissioner of Valuation in fixing a rateable valuation of €2,470.00 on the above described relevant property. The Grounds of Appeal are set out in a letter accompanying the Notice of Appeal, a copy of which letter is contained in Appendix 1 to this judgment. This appeal came before the Tribunal at an oral hearing on the 11th October, 2005 at the offices of the Tribunal, Ormond House, Ormond Quay Upper, Dublin 7. At the hearing the appellant was represented by Mr. Joseph Bardon, F.S.C.S., F.R.I.C.S of Bardon & Co., and the respondent by Mr. Damien Curran, M.R.I.C.S., A.S.C.S., B.Sc. (Surv.) a Team Leader in the Valuation Office. The property concerned is an extensive, mainly two-storey hotel, substantially purpose-built except for the original Roganstown House, which was gutted, rebuilt and refurbished. It is a 52-bedroom hotel, 20 of the bedrooms are on the ground floor and 32 on the first floor. It has a restaurant, residents' lounge, conference centre/function rooms and gymnasium as well as an 18-hole golf course. All of the bedrooms have en-suite facilities. There are additional facilities including leisure centre, reception areas, golf pro shop, changing rooms and swimming pool. The hotel is on 4 acres and the golf course is on 155 acres. The hotel is as yet ungraded but the applicants have written confirmation from Fáilte Ireland that it will have 4-star status. It is situated in the townland of Roganstown about 10km east of Ashbourne and about 5km west of Swords on a minor country road leading to Naul. It is in a rural area and about 3 miles from Dublin Airport. Mains water is supplied and connected to the property. Drainage is to a private treatment plant installed by the appellants. There is no council refuse collection service and no public transport services. The area of the hotel has been agreed at 5,731.76 sq. metres. Rateable Valuation The Appellant's Evidence They paid a contribution of €270,000 to Fingal County Council and spent €220,000 on road alignment. In addition they had to expend considerable money on installing a sewage treatment plant and drainage. There is no council refuse collection in the area and it costs them €3,200 a month for private collection. Mr. McGuinness said the road signage was appalling. The hotel was difficult to find because of this. They had to advertise and employ a salesman to sell their facilities and golf club to corporations etc. They had a good wedding trade and the golf course was going well with 200 members. They did a lot of golf outings, golf contributed almost 30% of their income, weddings about 30% and the rooms and restaurant the remainder. They had very nice gardens which contributed to the success of weddings etc. Their business from Dublin Airport (about 3 miles away) was poor but was about 6 or 7 persons a week and was on a come and collect basis. The hotel is held under lease from Mr. McLoughlin at a yearly rent of €500,000. The landlord owns the property and hotel. Mr. Bardon having taken the oath adopted his written précis and valuation which had previously been received by the Tribunal as being his evidence-in-chief. Mr. Curran objected to Mr. Bardon's evidence on the grounds that he had
two methods of estimating the rateable valuation and that they were contradictory.
Mr. Bardon stated that they were not contradictory and were permissible.
He said he approached his valuation on two grounds: The Tribunal noted Mr. Curran's objections and allowed Mr. Bardon to give his evidence. In relation to (a) above he mentioned that there were no hotels in the Fingal area which offered a full range of facilities such as leisure centre, swimming pool, gym and 18-hole golf course i.e. a golf and country club. The Deer Park Hotel in Howth and Portmarnock Golf Links Hotel offered limited facilities of a similar nature. He gave a list of several comparisons from within Fingal rating authority area and these are set out in Appendix 2 to this judgment. He further stated that Roganstown offered facilities which were more akin to those which were available at the Citywest Hotel, Saggart, the Slieve Russell Hotel, Ballyconnell, the Nuremore Hotel, Carrickmacross, etc. These are all outside the Fingal rating authority area. The 6 comparisons given by him are set out in Appendix 3 to this judgment. Mr. Bardon referred to the four comparisons given by Mr. Curran in his précis (set out in Appendix 4 to this judgment) and stated that these were not hotels that compared with Roganstown as they were in more favourable locations. They did not have the same facilities and catered to a different clientele. He said that Mr. Curran was comparing 4-star hotels only with 4-star hotels. In relation to comparisons outside the Fingal rating authority area, Mr. Bardon calculated Roganstown on an NAV of €244,514 @ 0.63% = RV €1,540.43 -Say €1,540, as detailed in his précis. In relation to comparisons within the Fingal rating authority area he calculated an NAV on Roganstown of €282,405 @ 0.63% = RV €1,779.15 - Say €1,780, again as detailed in his précis. Respondent's Evidence He stated that the Valuation Office compared hotels with hotels and 4-star hotels with 4-star hotels only. He further stated that he made allowances for location in considering his rateable valuation of €2,470. 3-star hotels were inferior to 4-star hotels and it would be unfair to compare them with 4-star hotels. In his précis his comparisons were all 4-star hotels. He said that No's 1, 2 and 3 were most comparable with Roganstown. The Crown Plaza, Santry is 2.8 miles from Dublin Airport beside Santry Stadium, has 204 bedrooms and is 4-star. It is situated on its own grounds. He stated that the Valuation Office made adjustments for size on occasions. No's 2 and 3 in his comparisons were the 4-star Great Southern Hotel, with 230 bedrooms and no leisure centre and the Posthouse Forte International Airport Hotel, also 4-star with 249 bedrooms and no leisure centre, both at Dublin Airport. No. 4 on his list is Turvey Hotel & Country Club situated close to the village of Donabate. It has 12 bedrooms and is ungraded but is considered to be the equivalent to 4-star. In cross-examination he agreed that comparisons No. 2 and 3 were airport hotels with large passing traffic and that a great deal of their business came from the airport and from passing traffic. The Crown Plaza was in a large residential area as well as a large industrial area with a shopping centre nearby. The other 2 hotels were airport hotels which got their clientele from people travelling through the airport or to and from the airport. No. 2 & 3 were close to the M3 motorway. Findings Having regard to the foregoing the Tribunal determines the rateable valuation of the property concerned at €2,239 calculated as set out below:- 5731.76 sq. metres @ €62 per sq. metre = NAV €355,369.12 And the Tribunal so determines.
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