In terms of the Local Government: Municipal Property Rates Act, Act 6 of 2004 (The Act), a valuation roll takes effect from the start of the financial year following completion of the public inspection period and remains valid for that financial year, or for one or more subsequent financial years as the municipality may decide, but in total not for more than four financial years.

This means that a municipality must produce a GV Roll at least once every four years. Metropolitan Municipalities generally produces a valuation roll once every three years to minimize the impact of value changes on owners.

A GV Roll is a document containing the municipal valuations of all the properties within the municipal boundaries.

All the properties are valued at market value as at the date of valuation to ensure fairness.

The municipal valuer is responsible for the production of the roll and he or she is assisted by professional valuers, statistical analysts, data collectors and support staff.

Property Rates are calculated using the municipal valuation assigned to the property. All properties on the GV Roll are valued at market value as at the date of valuation, which ensures that rates are levied on a fair and equitable basis.

The Computer-assisted Mass Appraisal system (CAMA) is a computer aided analytical procedure used by trained professional valuers to value large number of properties on a mass scale, being a more affordable, faster and fair but acceptable approach. 

Properties are earmarked for a physical inspection only when the information available on the valuations database for the property is doubtful or where changes have taken place.

The municipality will load the GV on their website. Have it available at their accounting department or else advertise where the GV can be viewed.

The Act changed the way in which sectional title properties are rated: registered sectional title sections (such as flats, apartments or offices) are valued and rated individually. Formerly, the municipality would serve one rates bill on the Body Corporate or Sectional Title Scheme, which would then recover the costs through levies. Body Corporate or Sectional Title Scheme managers still require owners to pay levies, but these no longer include municipal rates

All property owners are afforded an opportunity to object if they disagree with their municipal valuations. These objections must be submitted during the official objection period. Unfortunately, objections will not be accepted after the close of the official objection period. UNIQUECO PROPERTY VALUERS offers to take over this responsibility on behalf of the property owner/objector at an affordable charge. Contact our RATES GENIE.

Objections must be lodged on the prescribed objection form during the prescribed period. UNIQUECO PROPERTY VALUERS offers to take over this responsibility on behalf of the property owner/objector at an affordable charge. Contact our RATES GENIE.

If you are unable to find your property on the Valuation Roll, then your property may not have been valued for one of the following reasons:

• The property is not yet registered in the deeds office
• The property was erroneously omitted

In both these instances your property will be included for valuation in a Supplementary Valuation Roll.

The address of the property is not used for the purposes of identifying properties for valuation purposes. The legal description (how the property is recorded in the Deeds Office), usually the erf number, is used to accurately determine the location of a property.

An official acknowledgement notice will be issued for every objection received during the official objection period. Only the official acknowledgement notice will be recognised by the valuation office, and should be used in future when querying an objection. (This is a valuable document and must be kept as it may be required as proof of the objection in the future.)

The objection will be issued to a valuer/administrative officer depending on the type of objection that was submitted. The municipal valuer will assess the objection and provide a decision, which will be submitted to the Revenue Department so the account can be adjusted. The objection decision may result in a decrease or increase to the original valuation. You will be notified in writing of this decision.

You are entitled to appeal against the objection decision of the municipal valuer if you believe you have good grounds on which to base such an appeal. The appeal will be heard by an independent appeal board. Information on how to lodge an appeal will be included in the objection decision notice to be posted.

The rates accounts based on the GV values will be posted as from 1 July of each financial year.

Property rates are calculated using the valuations of properties as they appear on the valuation roll. Property rates based on the GV valuations will be billed from 1 July each year financial year. The rate in the rand is announced each year in the Rates Policy subject to annual municipal budgets and available at the applicable municipality or their website.

While your objection is unresolved, the Municipality will allow you to pay rates based on your previous valuation. The valuation office will ensure that until your objection has been resolved, you do not receive letters of demand for the unpaid amount. Once your objection has been resolved, any amount owing will be debited or credited to your account. Please be aware that should the value not be reduced, or if it is increased, the arrears will be due and payable immediately – interest will be payable on amounts in arrears. If you are in financial difficulty you must approach the Revenue department at one of the walk-in centers to make a payment arrangement. If you are a pensioner or are indigent you need to apply for a rebate.

The current valuation roll for the City must be updated at least once a year. This update can only be done via a Supplementary Valuation Roll (SVR). Only a subset of the properties in the municipality is valued in a SVR.

The biggest change due to the amendments to the Act relate to the frequency with which municipalities must produce Supplementary Valuations (SVs). Whereas before, SVs had to be produced at least once a year, the amendments require that an SV is produced as soon as a property has undergone a change. A change is defined as:

• when properties are incorrectly omitted from the valuation roll
• when properties are included into the municipality after the last general valuation
• when properties are subdivided or consolidated
• when properties undergo a substantial increase or decrease in market value (e.g. as result of a building plan, demolition, etc.)
• when properties were valued substantially incorrectly in the last general valuation
• when properties must be revalued for any other exceptional reason
• when the categories of the properties are changed

In terms of the amended legislation, a municipality must:

• ensure that all properties that have undergone changes are valued immedi- ately
• send a notice to the owner regarding the new value, immediately after the property is valued
• advise the Revenue Department of the new value so that the rates accounts can be updated
• afford the owner a 30-day opportunity to request for a review if they dis- agree with the new value
• inform the owner of the valuer’s decision regarding the review request
• publish all the valuation changes on a SV roll at least once a year
• send a notice to the owner to advise them of their right to object to any value appearing on the SV roll
• advise the owner of the objection decision, and their right to appeal if they disagree with the objection decision