DURBAN - With the May 2 deadline fast approaching, ratepayers in the eThekwini region have just over a week left to check the municipality’s new valuation of their properties and to lodge objections where they feel aggrieved.
A councillor contacted by the Daily News said he had not received any complaints from people in his area about valuations - and admitted that he himself had not checked his own valuation, but added that the municipality generally did not get it wrong.
“I don’t think people have woken up to the fact that time is running out and they have less than two weeks to check how the municipality has
valued their properties,” he said.
The re-valuation - done every four years - will, among other factors, determine future property rates.
Professional property valuer Kevin Dunkley agreed with the councillor, saying: “I don’t think the city has made too many mistakes in evaluating residential properties.”
He said he was recently called to a block of flats where people complained about the valuation of their property, and he had to tell them that the municipality’s valuation of the property was indeed correct.
It was with specialised properties like commercial properties, shopping malls and industrial buildings where mistakes could creep in, he said.
He therefore advised his clients to make sure they double-checked the latest municipal valuation of their property.
People often became emotional over valuations and needed to understand they were done through the Municipal Property Rates Act, and not by people who had an axe to grind, said Dunkley.
The municipality was generally fair in its valuations, he said.
A strong case could be when someone bought a house, and an informal housing settlement later sprung up nearby.
This would affect the value of the property, because should the owner want to sell, the potential buyer would want to pay a substantially-reduced price.
Dunkley stressed that it should be understood that if a property valuation increased by 25%, it did not mean the rates would also increase by the same percentage, which was a common misconception.
According to the municipality’s website, the valuation of a property is based on a number of factors, including the market value - the price it would fetch if sold - and the location, size and condition of the building.
People who want to know the latest municipal valuation of their property can visit the municipality’s website and go to the online valuation roll.
When they lodge objections, they will have to fill out forms and give reasons. The forms can also be e-mailed to the municipality.
They can be downloaded from the municipality’s website.
Once an objection has been lodged, the municipality’s reviewer will consider the information given.
The municipality will then inform the resident of its decision.
If people are still not satisfied with the valuation, they can appeal and will have to appear before a Valuation Appeal Board to argue their case.
The board is appointed by the provincial government.
From an international perspective, while house prices across 150 cities worldwide increased by 6.6% on average last year, Durban registered negative growth of -5.1%, earning the city a ranking of 144 on the Global Residential Cities Index for the fourth quarter.
The index, released recently, showed that Cape Town - ranked at 92 - was the best performing city with 3.9% growth, and Johannesburg earned a ranking of 109 with a growth index of 2.3%.
According to the index, Chinese cities occupy the index’s top nine rankings for annual house price growth, but a marked change is expected next quarter.
Kate Everett-Allen of Knight and Frank, the company which compiled the index, said
overall it had increased in 2016, the highest rate in three
years.