Fewer complaints about rising home valuations as sharp increase levels off

People will file fewer objections against their home valuations this year, the homeowners’ association VEH and the property tax supervisor Valuation Chamber expect. Last year, municipalities handled around 675,000 objections when WOZ values rose 17 percent. This year, they’re only increasing by 2.8 percent, NOS reports.

WOZ is the Dutch acronym used for the Real Estate Valuation Act. Every year, municipalities adjust the property values based on home prices in January the year before. In 2023, the WOZ value rose by a massive 17 percent, on average, because home prices skyrocketed in 2022. The WOZ value is used to calculate various taxes, including property tax.

This year, the average WOZ increase is much lower at 2.8 percent. “Then you experience such a WOZ different than with a significant increase,” Ruud Kathmann of the Valuation Chamber told NOS.

VEH expects far fewer objections this year for that reason. “Last year, people were very shocked by that 17 percent. A lower percentage feels better,” Hans Andre de la Porte of the homeowners’ interest group said.

New rules also make it much less lucrative for objection agencies to file an objection on behalf of homeowners. Until last year, objection agencies received many hundreds of euros in expense reimbursements directly from the municipality if they won a procedure. Now, those fees have been reduced by 75 percent, and the municipality pays them to the citizens. Objection agencies must arrange for their clients to pay them.

The government introduced the rules because municipalities were spending more and more money on these agencies. “My impression is that objection agencies, therefore, advertise significantly less,” Kathmann said. That will also result in fewer objections, he thinks.