The Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg, Cllr Herman Mashaba, visited two property owners on Monday, 12 March 2018, to present Section 78 Notices regarding their revised property valuations.
The City has already identified 8 000 residential and business property owners who will start receiving similar revised notices for properties that appear to be overvalued during the course of this week.
This follows engagements between the City and an Independent Municipal Valuer, which have revealed that 8 000 property owners have had their properties overvalued.
The 8 000 valuations, which have been identified as problematic, have experienced considerable increases, most of which are over 100%.
The notices make provision for a 30-day period during which property owners can provide relevant information to be taken into further account during the review process. These properties will be placed on the Supplementary Valuation Roll.
In cases such as this, the City must assume the burden to address the problematic valuations before the implementation date on 1 July 2018. This differs from the conventional objections process, which places the burden on accountholders to object to the valuation and motivate for its adjustment.
An elated Bronson Joseph, who had one of his properties in Bramley revised down from R43 million to R7.4 million, thanked the City for the speedy turnaround. “The original valuation almost gave me a heart attack. I am happy. I can live with the revised version,” said Joseph.
The directors of a Rosebank-based property company also welcomed the revision, with one of their properties in Bellevue having its valuation reduced from R14 million to R1.8 million.
“I have personally apologised to the two property owners. Instead of waiting for the deadline to objections to the General Valuation, the City has undertaken to speedily resolve the instances where properties have been overvalued or undervalued,” said Mayor Mashaba.
To date, the City has received 4 000 objections to the valuation roll. Through engagements between the City and the Independent Valuer, the municipality will begin handing over these objections to the Municipal Valuer without waiting for the 6 April 2018 deadline set for the submission of objections.
This will result in the City beginning work on these objections immediately, and being able to issue revised valuations to property owners without delay.
“The focus of our efforts is in ensuring that our residents find the valuation processes to be more responsive and efficient than it has been in the past. Already, our online information resources have greatly improved residents’ access to assistance and information.
“I am happy to also report that more resources have been deployed at the City of Joburg’s walk-in centres to deal with the increase of residents' seeking assistance with their objections. When we took office, we committed to a set of non-negotiable values, which included being a caring and responsive government. I wish to thank all residents for their patience and commit the City to working tirelessly to achieve what is a fair outcome,” said Mayor Mashaba.
