Denmark’s Auditor General to Investigate Controversial Property Valuation System

Denmark’s national audit office, Rigsrevisionen, will investigate why the country’s controversial property valuation system has suffered another delay. The office told broadcaster DR that the postponement was substantial enough to warrant an examination of its causes.

The investigation is expected to take about a year. Rigsrevisionen examines cases for politicians, while the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee reviews its reports and criticizes failures to follow the rules.

Homeowners had previously been promised normal property valuations from next year. In June, however, Parliament decided that owners would receive indexed valuations in 2027 and 2028. These assessments use average price developments in the relevant area, the same method used this year and last year.

Former Tax Minister Ane Halsboe-Jørgensen said in June that the Danish Property Assessment Agency could not complete the 2026 valuations during the current year as planned. “I am, of course, dissatisfied with that,” she said at the time.

Efforts to build a reliable valuation system have continued for years. In 2013, Rigsrevisionen concluded that the existing valuations were so inaccurate they breached the law. Authorities abandoned that system and began developing a replacement. Problems emerged again in late 2021, when the audit office found that the new system’s finances were out of control and that the Tax Ministry lacked an adequate overview of several aspects of the project. The Public Accounts Committee issued its strongest criticism, saying the ministry had failed to give Parliament an accurate picture of the project’s finances, progress, timetable and risks.

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I am, of course, dissatisfied with that.