Work on Cape Town property rates appeals nears halfway mark

The City of Cape Town has dealt with about 17 000 out of the about 37 000 objections received during the 2009 general valuation process, and expects to have completed most by the end of the year.

Chris Gavor, the city's valuations director, said in a statement that the review of valuations did not require council staff to visit all the properties. They could use aerial photography as an aid in many cases.

"It is planned to provide all objectors with a written update early in October confirming the progress being made with dealing with objections," he said.

"Property owners will receive individual letters if their objections have not been resolved by that date."

Objections were being dealt with by geographical area, and not according to the dates they had been lodged.

Where an objection was not upheld, the owner could appeal to the Valuation Board, whose members were appointed by the provincial government and were independent of the city.

The board is expected to start sitting next month.

Gavor advised ratepayers that if their objection had not yet been finalised, they should not stop making rates payments.

The objection process had been streamlined through the upgrading of the software used for valuations, he added.

For more information, call 086 010 3089.

Cape Argus

Posted at 02:39PM Sep 10, 2010 by Editor in Cities and Towns  |  Comments[1]