Objections take years to finalise

MEANTIME YOU PAY RATE YOU’RE CONTESTING Municipal rates, taxes have doubled in real terms since 2000 – SA Property Owners Association.

While Johannesburg property owners who believe they’ve been prejudiced by skyhigh municipal property valuations have been advised to submit objections and appeals, history shows it could take years to finalise such matters.

Until then, they must pay according to the disputed valuation, or face electricity disconnection.

Moneyweb found that 2 318 appeals relating to the 2008 general valuation roll and subsequent supplementary rolls haven’t yet been finalised.

Advocate Anthonie Viviers, 2008 valuations roll appeals board chair, is preparing a complaint to the public protector after MEC for cooperative governance and traditional affairs Paul Mashatile failed to extend the board’s term when it ended on October 31 last year, despite these appeals still being outstanding.

Mashatile appointed the board to deal with the appeals and reviews relating to the 2008 general valuation roll and 11 subsequent supplementary rolls.

In September 2017, Viviers wrote to Mashatile expressing concern that the results of many of the appeals and reviews the board had finalised hadn’t been captured on the city’s billing system. As such, rates bills were still based on the disputed valuations. The city had also failed to make some repayments to property owners whose valuations had been lowered, Viviers alleged.

Writing to Viviers in December 2017, Mashatile said he didn’t have the authority to extend the board’s term unless the City of Joburg requested it. The city’s position is that “the board has done its work in terms of reviews and appeals” and capturing its decisions is an administrative function for which the city is responsible.

Viviers wrote that the city received over 45 000 objections relating to the 2008 general valuation roll and supplementary rolls.

According to Rates Watch’s Ben Espach, the objections following the 2013 general valuation roll have largely been dealt with, but a large number of appeals are still outstanding. The council is currently dealing with objections relating to the fifth supplementary roll, published in March 2017, Espach says.

He says whenever a valuation is adjusted by more than 10% following an objection the adjustment must be reviewed by the appeals board. Following the 2013 general valuation roll there were 32 000 cases to be reviewed and of these 28 000 are still outstanding.

The SA Property Owners’ Association CEO Neil Gopal said: “Total operating costs for commercial properties averaged R50.80/ m² as at June 2017, of which 22% or R11.30/m² went to municipal rates and taxes,” adding that municipal rates and taxes have effectively doubled in real terms since 2000.

He said rates and taxes have been the second fastest-growing operating cost item for property owners and investors since 2007 with a 9.7% compound annual growth rate (inflation +3.6%). “Rising operating costs threaten the sustainability of net returns of commercial and industrial property investment.”

Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba said he was intervening and having 8 000 seemingly-overvalued properties reassessed.