DOCRRA is currently engaged with a number of sources to provide more information to our members and the community on the valuations process. One of our top priorities remains exploring what communication occurred between the valuer and KDM regarding properties whose valuation has gone up by more than 10% as well as the precise methodology that was used in valuations. As soon as more information becomes available it will be shared on our website.
Who Performed the Property Valuations?
With regard to the method of property valuation, what can be said is that this task was outsourced to BPG Mass Appraisals. The assistant municipal valuer from BPG Mass Appraisals was Mr. Finley Hamilton. Here is some information from their website:
”Between 2006 and 2014, the company has completed 27 General Valuation Rolls and 82 Supplementary Valuation Rolls in 22 Municipalities across South Africa, a total of more than 600,000 properties. In terms of client jurisdictions, this places us at the forefront of municipal rating valuations in South Africa…
BPG’s valuers, support staff and consultants have worked together on numerous projects in public sector environments. Our professional valuation staff are RICS and SAIV affiliated and we subscribe to the International Valuation Standards adopted by the SA Institute of Valuers.”
To view their website, please visit https://www.bpgm.co.za/the-company.html.
How does the re-evaluation affect my rates?
Another issue that has been concerning many ratepayers in the community is the increase in their valuations with regard to what they will be paying in rates. We want to reassure the community that your payable rates WILL NOT increase in the same proportion as your valuation. All though the valuation amount is used to calculate the rates, it is the budget that determines the fee you pay. Every year DOCRRA engages with KDM on the budget that is implemented on 1 July. Last year DOCRRA successfully negotiated to soften the blow to ratepayers and this year will be no different. Your feedback regarding your valuation is important to us and will inform how we represent ratepayers in forthcoming consultations. If you have not already completed our survey, please take 5 minutes to do so by following this link:
Additional Resources available to current DOCRRA Members
We are also excited to be able to offer some members-only resources for DOCRRA members who have paid memberships for our new financial year (Mar 2021 – Feb 2022). We have obtained a legal opinion as well as sourced a Lightstone subscription. Lightstone is a paid-subscription service that provides access to property valuation reports as well as other data. We are happy to provide reports for members but remind them that this is not a replacement for a professional valuation by an estate agent. The reports serve as a guide for members to determine whether their valuation is in line with market values and use that data to help determine whether they would like to object and/or seek a professional valuation.
We also have a copy of the Municipal Property Rates Act of 2004 which is available to everyone. To access the Act as well as members-only resources, please access our dedicated property valuations webpage:
https://docrra.co.za/property-re-evaluations/
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to us on admin@docrra.co.za.
To become a DOCRRA member please visit https://docrra.co.za/membership/#registration.