The City of Johannesburg will give property owners more time to inspect and object to valuations of their homes and properties.  The city announced that the period for the inspection and objection period for its General Valuation Roll (GVR) 2023 has been extended from 31 March to 5 May 2023.

Due to numerous customers that have not received their section 49 notices, according to the City of Joburg, the decision was made to extend the inspection and objection period. The extension will afford all the residents enough time to object against any entry of their property should they wish to do so.

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) previously warned ratepayers in Joburg to check that their property valuations are reasonable to not overpay on property rates. The city has established new values for around 940,000 properties, and owners of these properties are set to be charged rates based on the updated valuations from July 2023.

OUTA reported that some owners have already found that their properties have been overvalued – some by as much as 70% – leading to massive jumps in rates and taxes.

The city determines the values of your property on a market-related “willing seller to willing buyer” value as of 1 July 2022. The rates are charged at a rate-in-the-rand based on the valuations. According to OUTA, property owners should pay close attention to the municipal value vs. the actual value of their property. If there are discrepancies between these two values and the property owner fails to object to the difference hereof, it could affect not only your rates and taxes but also the future sales value.

Property research group Lightstone have advised that it is up to each individual homeowner or property owner to identify and object to any discrepancies, not the municipality.

OUTA provided the following steps to look into your property valuation:

1. Compare the new value with the current value on your latest City of Joburg invoice.

2. If the new value has significantly increased, you can object to it to potentially reduce the proposed monthly rates amount.

3. You don’t need to do anything if you think the new value is fair. If you would like to object, continue with the process.

4. Determine the value of your property and compare with other homeowners.

5. Lodge a complaint with the City of Joburg here.