The property values of all properties within the municipality are compiled every four years per the Municipal Property Rates Act No 6 of 2004.
However, Ward 106 councillor alderman Bruna Haipel revealed that numerous property owners were disgruntled after noticing a hike in the new market value.
This was publicised from registered mails sent to locals by the CoE, informing the community of the new valuation roll to be effective from July 1 till June 30, 2025.
However, the tariffs for property rates are reported to remain the same for the current financial year ending on June 30.
Alderman Bruna Haipel echoed sentiments shared by many Albertonians.
She said the increase in the new market value was irrational and that it was impossible for the value of properties to drastically increase during this lockdown.
“People have lost their jobs, they don’t have money and they wouldn’t want to buy houses during this time. I can guarantee that there is no way that the value of property sales have gone up anyway in Alberton or Ekurhuleni. I would like to know how they appointed contractors, and how much did they pay those contractors,” said Haipel.
Drastic impact
Haipel also slammed the communication process by the CoE when informing residents of this change.
“Residents just received letters that didn’t have additional information attached to them, while the letters stated there were attachments. There weren’t even objection forms attached. I can lay my head on the block that nobody went out to do these evaluations last year,” she said.
According to Haipel, this change means property owners will now have to pay more on rates once the new valuation roll has been implemented.
“This for instance means that if a person previously paid taxes based on R750 000 of market value, they will now have to pay rates based on R1.2-million of market value. This increment means people’s houses will now have to be sold at a higher price. At this stage, I don’t think this was a brilliant move, as people cannot afford to pay rates,” said Haipel.
She also said this will stir emotions as people are already at their wits’ end on poor service delivery issues.
CoE’s response
City’s spokesperson Zweli Dlamini assured that the process of compiling the valuation roll started in June 2019, where data of all properties and sales was collected.
“It was analysed through physical property inspections, aerial photography and computer-assisted mass appraisal systems. It took into account changes in technology and valuations systems and techniques,” he said.
With regards to tariffs of the 2021 and 2022 financial year, he said the new tariffs will be determined during the budget preparation process which is underway. He announced that the new tariffs will be made public for comments before they are finally approved by the Council.
Should locals wish to object, they can only physically hand in their objections to their nearest municipal offices where their accounts are held.
“Objections have been submitted physically ever since the implementation of the MPRA and that is as per legislation. The objector should sign the form, and the objection assistant should inspect the form and see that the objection form is correctly filled,” said Dlamini.
Where there are mistakes, the objection assistant should assist the objector to fill the objection form to avoid invalid forms from being submitted.
The general valuation roll is accessible within the Ekurhuleni website together with objection forms and the objection period will be until June 18.
