Which Valuation Report Do I Need?
There are a dozen kinds of valuation report and they are not interchangeable. Answer three questions and see which one your case actually needs.
Want the exact figure? Send us what you have worked out and we will tell you exactly what an official valuation report involves.
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Why one report does not cover everything
People assume a valuation is a valuation. It is not. Different readers want different things, and a report built for one of them is routinely rejected by another.
A bank wants a market value and a forced sale value, in its own format, because it is asking what it could recover if it had to sell your property quickly.
The Income Tax Department wants a defensible cost figure, often as at a date in the past, with evidence from that period.
An insurer wants the cost of rebuilding the structure and does not care about the land at all, which is why insurance figures look low to owners.
A court wants methodology it can test and a valuer who can stand behind it.
The date is as important as the number
A valuation is always as at a date. Get the date wrong and the number is useless even if the work is perfect.
Selling a property bought before April 2001 needs a 1 April 2001 value. Settling an estate needs the value on the date of death. A divorce may need the value at the date of separation. Schedule AL wants historic cost, not current value.
Establishing a past value is ordinary professional work when it is built from the notified rates and recorded transactions of that period. It is only difficult if somebody tries to do it from memory.
What makes a report actually accepted
The credentials of the valuer, stated plainly, with a registration number that can be checked. An actual inspection rather than a desk exercise. Comparable evidence identified by property and date. Workings shown, so the reader can follow how the figure was reached. A signature and a date.
Reports get rejected for boring reasons far more often than for wrong numbers. This guide covers the usual causes.
If you are still unsure
Call us and describe the situation in your own words. Two minutes on the phone usually settles which report you need, what date it has to be as at, and which papers to dig out first. There is no charge for that conversation and no obligation attached to it.
Questions people ask us
- Can one valuation report be used for several purposes?
Sometimes, but not usually. A bank wants market and forced sale value in its own format, an insurer wants rebuilding cost, and the tax department often wants a value as at a past date. Ordering the right one first is cheaper than reordering.
- What date should my property be valued at?
Whichever date the purpose requires. A sale of pre 2001 property needs 1 April 2001. An estate needs the date of death. A divorce may need the date of separation. Schedule AL wants cost, not current value.
- Can a property be valued as at a date in the past?
Yes. Retrospective valuation is standard work, built from the notified rates and recorded transactions of that period rather than from today. That evidence is exactly what makes it defensible.
- What makes a report get rejected?
Usually the boring things. An unregistered valuer, no inspection, no comparable evidence, missing workings, or the wrong date. The number itself is rarely the reason.
Checked by Parish Rao, Chartered Engineer and Government Approved Valuer (Registration number CAT-I/443/117/2000-01).
Page last checked on 7 October 2026.