Property rates are based on the rateable value of the property. The Portuguese property valuation roll was considerably out of date with the result that recent purchasers of property were paying property rates based on the transaction value where neighbours, with a similar or better property, could be paying a fraction of the value.

Revaluation of Properties by Tax Authorities

The tax authorities have instituted a process to have all the properties in Portugal revalued to ensure a fairer basis for the financing of the local authorities. However, as most of these processes are automated, a large number of errors have crept into the valuations.
In order to expedite this process, the authorities have also used a large number of temporary staff resulting in further errors in the valuations. In our experience more than 50% of the client property valuations had errors. In one particular case we have been able to reduce the property rates by 66%. This saving will be ongoing for future years.