VA10.5.090 & 091 – Bank of Ireland

• Appeal Number: VA10.5.090 & 091
• Year: 2011
• Date: 28 February 2011
• Court: Valuation Tribunal
• Respondent: Commissioner of Valuation
• Appellant: Bank of Ireland

Appeal No. VA10/5/090 &

091

AN BINSE LUACHÁLA

VALUATION TRIBUNAL

AN tACHT LUACHÁLA, 2001

VALUATION ACT, 2001

Bank of Ireland APPELLANT

and

Commissioner of Valuation RESPONDENT

and

Dublin Airport Authority NOTICE PARTY

RE: Property No. 305324, Bank at Bank of Ireland Branch, Arrivals Departures Hall,

Terminal 1, Dublin Airport and Property No. 2164180, ATMs at Arrivals, Departures,

Multistorey Car Park, Dublin Airport, County Dublin.

B E F O R E

John O'Donnell - Senior Counsel Chairperson

Tony Taaffe - Solicitor Member

Fiona Gallagher - BL Member

JUDGMENT OF THE VALUATION TRIBUNAL

ISSUED ON THE 28TH DAY OF FEBRUARY, 2011

By Notices of Appeal dated the 1st day of September, 2010 the appellant's appealed against

the determination of the Commissioner of Valuation in fixing valuations of €1,759,000

(VA10/5/090) and €150,000 (VA10/5/091) respectively on the above described relevant

properties.

The Grounds of Appeal are set out in letters enclosed with the Notices of Appeal, copies of

which are attached at the Appendix to this judgment.

2

This appeal proceeded by way of an oral hearing, at the offices of the Valuation Tribunal,

Ormond House, Ormond Quay Upper, Dublin 7 on the 24th day of January 2011 and resumed

on the 7th day of February 2011. At the hearing, the appellant was represented by

Mr. Prionnsias O Maolcháin BL, instructed by Ms Lorraine Hayes, Group Property Solicitor,

Bank of Ireland. Mr. Aidan Reynolds of Savills gave expert evidence on behalf of the

appellant. Mr. Brian Kingston of Bank of Ireland also attended. Ms. Gráinne O’Neill, BL,

instructed by the Chief State Solicitor’s Office appeared on behalf of the respondent, the

Commissioner of Valuation. Mr. Pat Kyne, a Valuer in the Valuation Office gave expert

evidence on behalf of the respondent. The notice party, Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), was

represented by Mr. Owen Hickey, SC, instructed by Arthur Cox & Co. Solicitors. Mr. Martin

O’Donnell, O’Donnell Property Consultants gave expert evidence on behalf of the notice

party. Mr. Terry Devlin also of O’Donnell Property Consultants and Mr. John Brennan of

DAA also attended.

Background

The Appellant entered into a Licence Agreement with Dublin Airport Authority (“DAA”) in

2006 under which it agreed to provide banking facilities at Dublin Airport. The banking

facilities provided included a banking hall, a foreign exchange bureau and various ATMs

(which are hereinafter collectively referred to as “the subject premises”) throughout the

buildings. The Commissioner of Valuation issued a Valuation Certificate in respect of Dublin

Airport on the 31st of December 2009 which valuation was referable to the entire airport

terminal and was calculated by reference to a general valuation based on the Contractor’s

Method (i.e. depreciated replacement cost) referred to in Section 50 of the Valuation Act,

2001 (“the Act”).

The Issues

The issues required to be decided upon by the Tribunal:-

(i) Are the ATMs “relevant property” for the purposes of the 2001 Act?

(ii) If the answer to (i) is yes, have the subject properties already been included in the

general valuation of the airport?

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(iii) If the answer to (ii) is no, what is the correct methodology for valuing the subject

premises for the purposes of the Act?

The Appellant’s Case:

On behalf of the appellant, Mr. Aidan Reynolds, Valuer, gave evidence. He adopted his

précis (updated 17th January 2011). He referred to the Licence Agreement entered into

between the parties in 2006. The Bank had facilities in Departures, though it now has

facilities in Arrivals. The revaluation in the Fingal area was what gave rise to this appeal. As

he understood matters, all other concession licensees in the terminal were valued as part of

the terminal overall, on a depreciated replacement cost (DRC) basis (as provided for under

Section 50 of the Act).

Mr. Reynolds contended that the reason why the subject premises were now being valued

separately, and a separate Certificate was being issued in respect of those premises, was

because of an error on the part of DAA. This error occurred because DAA did not inform the

relevant Local Authority that Bank of Ireland was one of the concession licensees to be

included in the overall valuation of the terminal.

Mr. Reynolds contended that it was accepted by the Local Authority that the DAA was

occupier of the foreign exchange premises and the various ATMs. In relation to the ATMs,

he said that there was one ATM in the car park, two in Arrivals and two in Departures

making a total of five. In addition, he said that of the two in Arrivals, one of those ATMs is in

the Bank premises itself. ATMs are wall-mounted with the service area to the rear.

Mr. Reynolds referred to the Valuation Certificate issued in respect of the Airport for a sum

of in excess of €89million. However, the subject premises had been excluded from the

valuation. He referred to a Schedule of the revaluation of Dublin Airport which suggested a

rate per square metre on average throughout the Terminal of €5,650 per square metre when

calculated on a DRC/Section 50 basis.

Mr. Reynolds looked in more detail then at each of the individual subject premises:-

(i) The Banking Hall: