By Jerry Margolius
Now having received your rates account you suddenly find that the rates or the valuation which is allocated to your property has increased. You either forgot to object or were unaware of the new valuation for your property.
According to Jerry Margolius of Jerry L Margolius & Associates, many property owners overlook this and then told by the City officials they are too late and must wait until the next General Valuation (GV). This is not all doom and gloom as many officials may be none the wiser.
In the City of Cape Town, the GV2022 valuation and roll is based on the values of property as at 1 July 2022. The closing date for objections for the Cape Town Valuation Roll 30 April 2023 and Joburg Municipality 5 May 2023. Many other municipality valuation rolls also closed during around this period.
Margolius says, owners can still request a review of their valuation if found to be totally incorrect. Whether it be business, commercial, residential, etc. your rights remain to having a Supplementary Valuation performed. Ideally this should be handled by a professional valuer. Property owners need to be aware of the multitude of Supplementary Valuation Rolls that are being published continually by the municipalities. As opposed to the General Valuations roll which is initially published by the municipality in terms of the Municipal Property Rates Act at the start of the valuation period, Supplementary Valuation Rolls are prepared regularly until the next general valuation and updated valuation rolls are prepared.
So what is a Supplementary Valuation?
Margolius explains that in terms of Section 78 of the MPRA, the following circumstance give rise to a supplementary valuation and updated being performed and the value reviewed whenever it is necessary as a result of any changes in the rateable property.
- incorrectly omitted from the valuation roll;
- included in a municipality after the last general valuation
- subdivided or consolidated after the last general valuation;
- of which the market value has substantially increased or decreased for any reason after the last general valuation
- substantially incorrectly valued during the last general valuation; or
- it that must be revalued for any other exceptional reason.
The mere increase in the rates payable or the inability to be able to pay the increased rates is not a grounds for a review. Most municipalities provide other forms of relief and you should check with them be it a discounted charge or other financial packages they have.
Should you have received a notice of supplementary valuation or suspect that changes to the property has taken place e.g. a recent purchase in a development, building alterations, property conversion to sectional title, expropriation of a portion of the property, demolition or simply forgetting to lodge an objection to an incorrect valuation or any other reason these instances can give rise to a Supplementary Valuation. Often owners in a new sectional title scheme will receive notice of the valuation equating to the purchase price or developers are sitting with unsold units. This does not necessarily mean the valuation is correct and is generally never queried. Developers holding stock should also be aware of these valuations.
Margolius says that you should check NOT ONLY YOUR VALUATION BUT THE CATEGORY AS WELL when valuation rolls are published and rates account received. A non-receipt of notice may not be a valid reason to plead ignorance of the fact that you did not know that your property was revalued.
It is very important that when submitting an application for a Supplementary Valuation, that the valuation is well motivated and that you seek the property guidance Registered Professional Valuers who are familiar with the legislation to assist you. Current objections that have been lodged can take months before a decision is made.
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