You have to pay, despite appeals

Objections to new evaluation must be lodged by April 6. TO PROVE HOUSE IS WORTH LESS

Many property owners will have been shocked by the steep increases in property values in the City of Johannesburg’s 2018 Valuation Roll published in February.

Many property owners will have been shocked by the steep increases in property values in the City of Johannesburg’s 2018 Valuation Roll published in February. In extreme cases, valuations have quadrupled and in many cases, seem to be up 40% to 50%.

Rates based on the new valuations will be charged from July 1 and must be paid, regardless of whether an owner appeals the new valuation. Inflationary annual rate increases will come into effect on this day, too, so it’s not a stretch to see rates increasing by at least 40%-50% in July.

In a newsletter to Ward 117 residents, councillor Tim Truluck notes that “property valuations have traditionally always been lower than the actual value”. So he suspects the city may have “overestimated” on this roll.

Truluck says that the “standard knee jerk reaction” is that the valuation is wrong and too high. “If it is within a couple of R100 000 of the approximate value, then it is a judgment call as to whether you object.”

His own house increased in value from R2.22 million to R3.438 million. “… I obtained a property valuation from an estate agent last June for R2.5 million. If my new valuation was around R2.5 million to R2.8 million, then I probably wouldn’t bother objecting. But it is way too high, so I will be objecting … If successful, it will save me +- R600/month …”

Truluck suggests obtaining an online valuation report for your property, to get an understanding of what the price range from recent sales is. There are numerous options here, such as Lightstone Property, Lexis PropIQ and some retail banks. These typically cost just under R100. Free reports for suburbs are also available.

These reports also show price increases over time and the number of sales in a suburb/area in a year. Truluck says the Parkhurst report shows that average prices have been stagnant since 2014 and the number of sales per year has been in decline since 2013.

“The increase in the annual average price from 2013 to 2018 is R723 000, or 29.2%. Given that my house hasn’t had a major renovation in that time, and given the municipal valuation of R2.22 million back in 2012-13 was a fair reflection of its value. A 29.2% increase should equate to a valuation of R2.87 million.”

Truluck will also use two formal/official valuations from estate agents to prove his property value is at the lower end of the range. Finally, he has examples from a recent Sunday Times property section to illustrate the difference between properties in Parkhurst in the R2.5 million-R2.9 million and R3 million-R3.5 million price ranges. Similar differences exist in all areas and price bands.

Objections to the new valuation must be lodged by April 6, and can be done online (https://coj2018. evaluations.co.za) or at the city’s revenue walk-in centres.

Tarrant works at immedia.