Cape Town property rates to be announced in May

Cape Town property owners will have to wait until May to know for certain whether a 10 percent to 15 percent increase in property values will push up their rates.

City director of valuations Chris Gavor said property prices had increased significantly since the last valuation had been done in 2006, but it was still too soon to say what this would mean for ratepayers. The Atlantic Seaboard, which in many instances boasts house prices of more than R40 million, has seen the biggest spike in property values.

Gavor said the "cents in the rand" amount of the valuations would only be announced in May when the city had drafted its budget.

But an indicative value of how rates would be affected should be released by the end of February, so that property owners could plan ahead for the possible increases that would come into effect from July. Gavor said the 2009 valuation was "a more fair reflection" of property values than the assessment done three years earlier. This was because the city had individually reviewed more properties last year, allowing for a "fair" assessment. The city took more time to value the more than 78 000 properties it had to assess. Gavor said professional valuers were used for commercial inspections.

The General Valuation roll for the July 1, 2010, to June 30, 2014, period would be open for public inspections from February 22.

Cape Times

Posted at 10:03AM Feb 16, 2010 by Editor in Residential  |  Comments[2]