City appears to be exploiting property owners in poorer areas

ARE THE poor taxed at a higher rate for property than the rich in Cape Town?

The letter of the director of valuations at the City of Cape Town on August 28 is missing the point of my letter, “City’s property valuer ‘incompetent’”, (Cape Argus, August 26).

Let me further highlight the absurdity in the appraisal of my property by the City.

First, nowhere in my letter did I refer to the incorrect street addresses since it has no significance in the value of the property, despite its existence pointing to further sloppiness by the valuer and the absence of quality control by the City.

Second, unlike the director, I prefer to use concrete facts when dealing with a matter. The director’s reference to the qualification and professional aspect of its valuers have no relevance to my matter. It seems that the director’s head was burrowed in the sand while the looting of resources at state-owned enterprises (SOEs) by highly qualified individuals occurred throughout South Africa, despite being audited.

Hence, I will waste no further energy by harping on standards and the qualifications of the valuers.

According to the report “Residential Property Indices” published in May at https:// lightstoneproperty.co.za/news/ Residential_Property_Indices_ May_2020.pdf, “National house price inflation was recorded at 2.4% as at the end of April.

This figure has been slowly declining after it peaked at 6.3% at the end of 2014, mainly due to reduced growth in the luxury and high-value segment.”

Although the director states that “changes in market conditions after the valuation date … are therefore irrelevant within a particular GV cycle”, the valuer contravened the same principle when appraising my property. Sales in 2019 – which were all after the valuation date – were used to appraise my property.

For the General Valuation Roll for 2018, the City appraised properties within its borders based on an increase of 28% for three years – from 2015 to 2018.

This translates to an annual increase in the value of properties of 8.576% a year.

While trying to confirm that properties in the various areas were all increased by 28%, I stumbled across an entire street in Newlands where property values were only increased on average by 11% over three years.

The latter translates to an annual increase of 3.5% compared to my property – bordered by “ganginfested” Hanover Park – whose value increased by approximately 33.9% (=33.886%) which is almost nine times more than the increased rate of the houses in Newlands.

Is it a matter of the DA-controlled City exploiting the property owners in the poorer areas, while bending over backward to provide financial relief to the rich in the leafy suburbs? You be the judge.