Property owners to inspect third valuation roll

EThekwini Municipality has released its third General Valuation Roll and encourages all property owners to inspect the roll and lodge an objection if necessary.

The roll is open for inspection and objection until 31 March. A general valuation is required to be undertaken at least once every four years in terms of the Municipal Property Rates Act. Previous rolls were released in 2008 and 2012.

The General Valuation Roll contains over half a million property entries, the majority of which fall within the Residential Rating Category. The remaining categories include commercial properties, houses and sectional title units and vacant land.

The third General Valuation (GV2017) will come into effect from 1 July to 30 June 2021.

Deputy City Manager of the Finance Cluster, Krish Kumar, explained the importance of inspecting the roll.

“Property owners are encouraged to inspect the roll to determine whether the valuation ascribed is a correct reflection of the property. The property owner may lodge an objection if he or she feels that the valuation is either too high or too low.”

Inspections of property were undertaken where considered necessary in order to verify information already on hand or where such information was considered incomplete.

The municipality has access to a vast database of property information including building plans, Deeds Office data, geographic information systems, aerial photography, information obtained from previous inspections as well as data from property sales in each area. This information is regularly maintained and inspections are routinely carried out where alterations, authorised and unauthorised, are made to properties.

The 2017 General Valuation Roll is available on www.durban.gov.za, at all Sizakala Centres and at the Real Estate Unit which is situated at 75 Dr John Langalibalele Dube (Winder) Street, Durban. Objection forms can be downloaded from the same website and queries can be directed to val.roll@durban.gov.za .