Property valuations in Hoedspruit scrutinised

One Hoedspruit resident posted on the Hoedspruit Town Facebook page asking if it is allowed for a municipal valuer to take pictures inside her home. This caused a stir as residents felt like their privacy was invaded, and the exposure may cause a threat from unscrupulous people. “I believe that them being allowed to take photos is an invasion of my privacy. I understood that they should [only] view from the outside,” Joan Arnestad wrote.

She added that an opinion of an attorney who is also a qualified valuer in the Mopani district is that it is not normal for a municipal valuer to have to enter a house. “He said that valuations are normally done by driving past and consulting area maps. Photos are only used in the case where someone contests the valuation and lodges an objection to the appeal board.” The experienced valuer said that in all his years as a valuer, he has never heard of them needing to enter a property.

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Earlier this year the Herald reported on an Australian landowner in one of Hoedspruit’s luxurious wildlife estates, Leadwood Big Game Estate, who complained about the sharp increase in the valuation of his property affecting his rates and taxes. At the time John Pinheiro told the Herald he owns one hectare of land in the estate and that the Maruleng Local Municipality (MLM) had doubled his property evaluation from last year. “My property was valued at R1,5 million on my last rates bill. I have received a letter stating my property at Leadwood is now valued at R3,3 million.

“This is the most expensive vacant land in Leadwood as far as I am aware,” he told the Herald. Nanki Hoaeane of MLM told the Herald at the time that the municipality is busy compiling the towns’ valuation roll. “The roll is developed according to legislation at least once in every five years,” she said. In answer to residents’ complaints about photos taken inside properties, Hoaeane confirmed that pictures were taken by municipal valuers. “Pictures are one of the data the municipality uploads on the Ovvio system.” She said the municipality has encountered a number of challenges from the community in relation to property valuations.

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“Valuers are refused entry to allow the valuer to conduct an inspection then later object to the value of the property; misrepresentation of information claiming that their stands are vacant while there are existing structures; conducting business contrary to their land use,” are some of the issues the MLM have encountered, Hoaeane wrote. “Take note that like any public institution, for example, the Demarcation Board and other agencies, who go even further by taking aerial photographs of properties to conduct their official duties, the same are applied by the MLM.

“The POPI Act in this case must be read in conjunction with Section 41, 42, and 44 of the MPRA that outlines inspection on properties, access to information, and disclosure of information,” she said.