The City of Johannesburg is working hard to review all the rates objections lodged by property owners. Earlier this year, the City made its 2018 General Valuation Roll (GV2018) available to the public for a period of 45 days, from 20 February to 6 April. During this period, all property owners and interested parties were invited to inspect and, where necessary, object to property details as contained in the new Valuation Roll.
The City received a total of 50 595 objections during the inspection and objection period. The GV2018 is for the period 1 July to 30 June 2022.
The City’s Municipal Valuer has started issuing the outcome of the objections to the property owners. To date, the following Municipal Valuer’s Decisions (MVDs) have been issued – 7 879 property valuations remain unchanged, 1 216 properties have a lower market value, 3 properties have a higher market value, and 70 properties had a category change only. The total number of objections loaded thus far is 9 268.
According to the MMC for Finance, councillor Funzela Ngobeni, “The outstanding objections are currently being considered by the Municipal Valuer in terms of section 51 of the Municipal Property Rates Act 6 of 2004, as amended, in order to respond to all objectors and owners timeously.”All property owners who have received their section 53 notices are requested to start making payments on that value. Where adjustments are required, these will reflect in the subsequent months.
The City however, wishes to advise all objectors to attempt to pay the amount billed for rates and taxes according to the new valuation, in case their objections fail. In the case where the objection is successful, the account will be adjusted and credited.
Ngobeni stated that the number of objections received determines how long the reviewing process lasts, in light of a number of factors. “Each and every objection is an intense one-on-one process. The Municipal Valuer has to review each objection in this process; use can be made of building plans, oblique imagery (a 3D aerial photography system), actual site visits and evidence provided by the objector.”The nature of the process is lengthy, and we must thank Joburgers for their patience.
We aim to finalise all outcome letters by the end of February 2019. Property owners who are still unhappy about the results have recourse through the Valuations Appeal process,” added Ngobeni.
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