Owners in fight to lower value
WEALTHY Surfers Paradise apartment owners are bucking housing market trends in an attempt to lower their tax bills.
While property owners normally try to increase the value of their homes, the body corporate for luxury Nautilus building (right) on Garfield Terrace wants to drop the value of its beachfront building.
It claims the building is valued at $1 million more than it is worth, according to a recently published court judgment in which it lost an appeal to the Queensland Land Court against the government valuer-general.
No explanation was given in the judgment for why the body corporate wanted to lower the value of the property.
But the building’s body corporate chair told the Bulletin unit owners decided to fight the government in an attempt to lower their rates and tax bills.
Property valuations are carried out across the state for the purposes of rating and land tax.
The dispute over the value of the exclusive building made up of six apartments began in October 2016 when the government valued the property at $12.5 million. The body corporate objected to the figure. It was later amended to $11.5 million. But the body corporate claimed the property was still overvalued. It appealed the decision, contending the building was worth $10.5 million.
Engineer and body corporate chair Graeme McIlwain, who purchased an apartment in the building for $1,580,000 in 2004, appeared in court for the body corporate.
Mr McIlwain alleged the valuer-general failed to follow protocols set out in a publication by the Department of Natural Resources and Mines in relation to the Land Valuation Act.
In an affidavit, Mr McIlwain set out a detailed analysis of Gold Coast property values.
However, in his judgment Member Wayne Lindsay Cochrane dismissed the appeal.
“Placed at its highest, the evidence given under oath by Mr McIlwain is to be regarded as informed lay evidence; he not being a qualified valuer,” Mr Cochrane said.
“(He) is in fact a well-experienced engineer as was evidenced by the professional and didactic manner in which he did deliver his opinions.”
In defending the appeal, the government appeared to have played the role of a real estate spruiker. Valuers highlighted the property’s desirable features including a nearby park, ocean frontage, unrestricted high limits, ocean views and proximity to the light rail.
Yesterday, Mr McIlwain said they appealed the value to pay less tax. “The land taxes and rates is determined by the valuation, so effectively the higher they can push those values the more rates and land tax the government gets.”
Fresh valuations of a million Queensland properties released this week reveal values have jumped as high as 42.5 per cent. The Gold Coast local government area was not included in this year’s valuations.
THE LAND TAXES AND RATES IS DETERMINED BY THE VALUATION, SO EFFECTIVELY THE HIGHER THEY CAN PUSH THOSE VALUES THE MORE RATES AND LAND TAX THE GOVERNMENT GETS