Check your property’s new value
With various glaring discrepancies regarding the value of properties in the city having been found in the draft valuation roll, property owners would do well to ensure that their properties have been evaluated correctly, both by category and by monetary value.
POLOKWANE – With various glaring discrepancies regarding the value of properties in the city having been found in the draft valuation roll, property owners would do well to ensure that their properties have been evaluated correctly, both by category and by monetary value.
Several property developers who spoke to Review over the past few weeks say many properties have not been categorised correctly. The implications of this will be that property owners will not pay the correct rates amounts in terms of the evaluation of their properties.
The latest draft valuation roll is available for inspection and objections can still be lodged until June 23.
Dawid Maree, chairperson of the local government committee of the Limpopo Transvaal Agricultural Union said the union had recently had a long meeting with Polokwane mayor, Freddy Greaver, regarding the draft rates policy and the valuation roll, during which serious problems with the valuations were highlighted.
Tom Shearer, owner of Protea Hotel Ranch Resort, told Review that he would be bankrupted because of the valuation roll.
He said he had had discussions with the municipality over a period of two years, resulting in his property being categorised as a “resort” some 18 months ago. Shearer said the property was now back to being classified as “business”.
He said the whole 700ha property fell under this category and he did not see how he would be able to continue doing business if this decision was upheld. He added that he was definitely going to oppose the property’s valuation.
Another discrepancy that emerged was that all property owners had not yet received notices from the municipality, in terms of Section 49 of the Act, which states the category and new valuation of the owner’s registered property.
Municipal spokesperson, Malesela Maubane, said notices were sent. He said the same information contained in these notices could be obtained from the municipality or accessed on the municipal website on their link https://polokwane.evaluations.co.za/publicwebsite/Search/Default.aspx
He further said according to section 78 of the Act, a supplementary roll rectifying valuation discrepancies should be published, should any objections be found to be valid.
