Officials ready for Durban valuation appeals

The long-awaited Durban property valuation appeal boards have finally been established, and property owners who disagree with their valuations can begin taking them on appeal in about one month.

Local Government MEC Nomusa Dube announced yesterday that appeals boards had been set up in 11 municipalities, including eThekwini, after lengthy delays largely owing to the selection process of members.

Boards are made up of valuers, property experts and legal professionals.

She said that while the 2004 Municipal Property Rates Act had introduced mechanisms for valuing properties, the implementations of the act had been marred by controversies at many municipalities because of a high number of ratepayers believing that their properties had been overvalued.

"This pitted the municipalities against ratepayers, as municipalities had to cut off the supply of services to those who boycotted paying the rates. This also resulted in a number of protests by residents against the municipalities," she said.

Department spokesman Lennox Mabaso said the boards would soon undergo workshops and would be "fully operational" in about a month, when they would begin accepting and reviewing appeals.

However, he warned that appellants would not be able to object based solely on what they believed their correct property valuations should be.

"They are going to have to bring some form of evidence to justify why they think their valuations are incorrect," he said.

In eThekwini, the board will be chaired by attorney Thembelihle Pretty Ndlovu, who holds a masters' degree in law, specialising in constitutional and human rights litigation. She also has experience in land rights litigation.

The other board members are attorney, conveyancer and registered estate agent Yugan Govender; attorney and conveyancer Matthew Francis; Sarika Kalpee, a candidate property valuer with experience in town and regional planning; and Wade Spenceley, a professional valuer.

Dube said the shortage of valuers in the province had also contributed to the delay in appointing board members. She said the candidates had been appointed for four-year terms and could be reappointed.

"They are going to be working under a lot of pressure. They have a lot of ground to cover," said Dube.

Lilian Develing, of the Combined Ratepayers Association, expressed relief at the establishment of the boards.

"The act came into existence in 2004, and it is now 2010. There are people in Durban who put in their appeals more than 18 months ago. Many of them have been paying their rates based on their higher property evaluation, and there has been no respite in sight.

"I just wonder how long it will take for them to get through all the appeals," she said.

In the absence of the provincial appeals board, the eThekwini municipality started processing objections last year and, in many cases, reduced the property values of appellants. Some, however, were still not satisfied and would have their cases reviewed by the provincial board.

The municipality's head of real estate, Keith Matthias, said that while about 5 500 appeals had initially been lodged, the number was constantly changing. "We have been going through all the objections and there is a sixth supplementary valuation roll out at the moment... so the numbers will start changing daily," he said.

The closing date for objections to the sixth supplementary roll is at the end of the month.

The Mercury

Posted at 09:06AM Feb 08, 2010 by Editor in Residential  |  Comments[1]