Ignore valuations at peril

JURISDICTIONS: WHAT TO DO IF YOUR HOME'S VALUATION IS TOO HIGH

- Antoinette Slabbert

KEY POINTS. Owners are advised to check their property category as misclassification, such as a residential property listed as commercial. That can significantly increase rates.

(Picture: AdobeStock)

More than 30 municipalities across the country have recently revised the valuations of properties within their jurisdictions, and if property owners ignore this it could prove costly for them.

This warning comes from Ben Espach, director of valuations at Rates Watch, a company that assists individuals and businesses with objections and appeals against valuations that are too high.

Municipalities that have issued new valuation rolls include:

► Cape Town;

► eThekwini (Durban);

► Mangaung (Bloemfontein);

► Emalahleni (Witbank);

► Emfuleni (Vanderbijlpark);

► Saldanha Bay;

► Metsimaholo (Sasolburg); and

► Kannaland (Ladysmith).

In most cases, the deadline for lodging objections falls in April.

Espach emphasises that the new valuations form the basis for calculating property rates for the next few years, and once the deadline has passed, it becomes difficult to have an inflated valuation revised.

In Cape Town, other charges such as sanitation for households have also been determined based on property value since June last year, and the metro council wants to extend this to commercial properties.