Tax minister wants homeowners to have the right to a new property assessment

Homeowners dissatisfied with their property assessments could gain the right to ask an independent third party whether the valuations are accurate, Danish Tax Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt said Monday.

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I believe the time has come to use other and alternative measures to regain trust in the property assessment system.

The proposal responds to new errors found in the digital property assessment system. Engel-Schmidt said the time had come to use alternative measures to restore confidence in the system and strengthen legal protection for homeowners.

He suggested that a local estate agent with knowledge of the housing market could provide the so-called second opinion. The precise process has not been decided. Engel-Schmidt has so far only informed the political parties involved in the property-tax agreement, which must now agree on a workable model.

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It is about legal protection, and I believe that in the future people should be able to have a real person express an opinion on the assessment.

The minister said recent problems include assessments of condominiums and the valuation of commercial land in multi-storey buildings. He acknowledged that both newly identified errors and earlier problems had damaged trust in the system. The Danish Valuation Agency will investigate the issues in detail so the parties can seek solutions.

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I wish there were a simple way out of these problems. There isn't.