Little reprieve for homeowners who did not object

Date: 29 July 2018 By: Jo Robinson

Isabel and Tony José were completely unaware that the municipal value of their property in the Loerie Park complex in Mimosa Street, Louis Trichardt, had been tripled, until they read an article in the Zoutpansberger and requested their latest rates account.

“Nobody has come around or contacted us to revalue the property, even though the article stated that the valuers said that they had visited every property that they valued,” said Isabel. “We hadn’t been receiving our bills, so I went to the municipality for a printout and discovered that we were much more than R10 000 in arrears because the property’s value has been adjusted so much upwards that we weren’t paying enough monthly to cover it. From a value of a little more than R700 000 five years ago to R2 100 000 now. Unbelievable.”

In June this year, the valuers for the 2018 until 2023 municipal valuation roll, Geospatial Valuation Technologies, based in Port Elizabeth, stated that physically visiting every property that they valued was not required and that other methods might be used in some cases. Mr Clyde Lawrence of Geospacial later informed the Zoutpansberger on 6 July that this matter is now under judicial consideration and is therefore prohibited from public discussion elsewhere. He suggested that residents with objections lodge appeals.

“As you can see,” continued Isabel, “the houses in this complex are very similar, and yet neighbours have had their property here valued at R1 050 000, which is exactly half of my latest valuation. What I’d like to know is how they come by these figures without ever looking at the houses. What can we do now?”

According to local attorney and member of the South African Institute of Valuers Dr Suwil Rudolph, very little can be done now, even though the Josés were unaware of the closing date to appeal the valuation. “Unfortunately,” he said, “at this point the current valuation stands and the current rates are payable. Even if they had objected within the timeframe given, the law says that the onus is on you to prove the market value of your property. In the meantime, they may report the valuer for unprofessional conduct and fill in the relevant forms to try and appeal to get the roll overturned.”

Rudolph stresses that homeowners must get their properties professionally valued and advises them to follow standard procedures of objection rather than to guess at the values of their homes by comparing them to the values given to other similar properties in your vicinity.

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Jo Robinson

Jo joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in 2018 pursuing a career in journalism after many years of writing fiction and non-fiction for other sectors.

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