How to object to your municipal property valuation
The public inspection and objection period for registered property values in Cape Town will commence this week – on 21 February 2019. The GV2018 Roll will be available on the City’s website from 21 February 2019 and will also be displayed at 32 venues across the city.
What is the purpose of GV2018?
The purpose of the City of Cape Town’s 2018 General Valuation Roll (GV2018) is to determine the updated property levies which will take effect from 1 July 2019.
The City of Cape Town’s valuers assess the market value of all properties in a mass appraisal procedure to define your rates and taxes. Unfortunately, general valuations are based almost entirely on statistical averages and don’t always reflect the true value of specific properties.
Ratepayers will be afforded the opportunity to inspect the valuation roll and object to the municipal valuation if they feel it is over-inflated. The GV2018 Roll will be available on the City’s website from 21 February 2019 and will also be displayed at 32 venues across the city.
If you believe the municipal valuer has over-valued your property, you should contest this; if justified, the valuer will be amended. If an objection is not lodged during the advertised objection period there is little prospect of having the municipal valuation amended, barring special circumstances.
To lodge an objection, the City requires that due process is followed. Note the difference deadlines for in-person objectives compared to online objections below:
In-person objections will be accepted at 32 venues across the city from 21 February until 29 March 2018.
Online objections may be submitted electronically via the e-Services portal or via email from 21 February until 30 April 2019. To objection, you need to download the prescribed objection form which you will need to complete and submit to: valuationsobjection@capetown.gov.za.
Properties that do not appear on GV2018 will be valued on the Supplementary Valuation Roll (SVR) which is published every July.
Objections dos and don’ts
The onus is on the objecting ratepayer to provide a substantiated motivation as to why they believe the motivation is incorrect.
The City will not consider objections that are completed in bad faith; frivolous, late or incomplete objections, or objections submitted on anything else but the official form. Multiple objections on a single objection form will also not be accepted.
Upon receiving each objection, the City will issue an official acknowledgement notice as long as it as it was received during the official objection period. This document is very important and serves as proof of your objection.
If you don’t agree with the City’s decision following your property valuation objection you have made, you can appeal.
Get a professional valuation to support your objection
A professional valuation will provide excellent support for your motivation as to why your valuation is incorrect. This is critical for owners of income-generating properties where a number of further factors need to be considered.
Only a seasoned professional valuer is equipped with the required knowledge and experience to capably argue the municipal valuer’s assessment in case the City has over- or underrated your property.
Get a well-motivated valuation to support your objection from seasoned professionals.
