A MASSIVE effort is underway to revalue all properties in metropolitan Cape Town for a new valuation roll, which will be used as a basis for property rates from July 2010.
The City of Cape Town’s Valuation Office has embarked on a communication campaign to inform property owners about their role in ensuring that the process and values are fair, equitable and accepted by all stakeholders, says project manager Brett Martin.
A general valuation is done at least once every four years to ensure that the rates charged on residential and non-residential properties are fair and up-to-date.
It is necessary to redo valuations because property values change within neighbourhoods and in relation to other neighbourhoods over time. This revaluation will establish a fair and equitable rates base for the next three to four years.
“Our intention is to provide homeowners with as much information as possible so that they can input into the process to make it a success. Our aim is to come with a valuation roll that is ‘acceptable’ to all residents and property owners because the values are fair and equitable and reflect market conditions as at the date of valuation, which is 1 July 2009,” says Christopher Gavor, Director of the City’s Valuation Office.
Many staff members, including middle and senior management, are forfeiting their Christmas break to ensure that all properties are valued by the 31 January 2010 deadline.
There are over 780 000 properties to be valued and as in the two previous general valuations, the City has adopted a mass valuation methodology that is in line with accepted mass valuation practices.
This method is a systematic process of valuing many properties at a given date using statistical procedures based on property sales and market conditions around the date of valuation.
Property owners will only know what the rates will be when the ‘cent in the rand’ is announced well into next year. This will determine the amounts to be paid in rates. The City is working round the clock to have an indicative rate in the rand by the end of February 2010.
This will only be an indication of the rates as the City is required by law to follow a budgeting process by with the rate in the rand is determined. This process only concludes at the end of May 2010.
The valuation process is already well advanced. On Friday 4 December, the first 290 000 property values were loaded onto the City’s website and the majority of the values will be available by the middle of January next year. The final values will only be available when the roll is submitted to the City Manager at the end of January 2010.
The City’s website will also list the value of sales in each neighbourhood, helping property owners to gauge the fairness of their own values. These are new measures not available during the previous valuation, to reassure property owners that the process is far and reduce as many unwarranted objections as possible, says Martin.
In addition, statistical control measures will be used to make sure the results conform to international standards for mass appraisals, and valuers will analyse whether the values generated reflect market conditions as at the date of valuation.
An internationally recognized independent body will also audit the City’s compliance with international best practice and the law.
Rates constitute about 24% of the City’s income and pay for services including building and maintaining roads, parks, running clinics and libraries and fire, rescue and traffic services. By law, a general valuation must be finished five months before rates are levied on it.
“I truly believe we have done all we can, given the huge challenges, to ensure a fair, uniform and transparent general valuation,” Gavor said. “We have put in the hard slog, we have tested our systems, and we are confident that the end result will be received with due regard for the fairness of the process”.
The public inspection period, which commences on 21 February 2010, has been extended by one month to ensure that all property owners have an opportunity to review their valuations.Source: Cape Town
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