Tuesday 21 June 2016

Rates revaluation gets underway

Rates Revaluation 2016 - CCC Web Tile 365x346px - PROOF 3

The general revaluation of all Christchurch property that takes place every three years is now underway.

Christchurch City Council has contracted independent valuation service provider QV to revalue more than 160,000 Christchurch properties and send letters with the new rateable valuation (RV) to owners in early December.

QV is following the standard rating revaluation legislation in Christchurch for the 2016 revaluation, which means unrepaired earthquake damage will be considered when a property is valued, says General Manager Finance and Commercial Peter Gudsell.

“If you have unrepaired damage that may affect your property’s market value, please register it with QV so your new rating valuation is fair and accurate.”

People can report damage by filling out a survey on QV’s website www.ratingvalues.co.nz.

QV National Revaluation Manager Gail Smits said they would like property owners to report unrepaired damage to buildings that would be significant enough to affect the property’s market value.

“Generally, there is no need to report minor damage such as cosmetic cracks to paintwork or deferred maintenance.

‘If you are in any doubt about the level of damage, please fill in the survey anyway and QV will review your information and decide if the unrepaired damage would be likely to affect your property’s market value.”

The early December mail out of the new RVs is followed by an objection period that closes on 31 January 2017. The new values will apply to rates from 1 July 2017.

By law, the Council must undertake a general revaluation of all properties every three years so rates are spread fairly across the city. Rating Values (sometimes called Capital Values) are used to work out each ratepayer’s portion of the city’s total rates.

Rating Values do not affect the total rates collected by the Council, which are set through the Council’s Annual Plan, but they do influence how much of this total is collected from each ratepayer.

Early indications suggest property values in Christchurch have risen by around 7 to 8 per cent in the three years since the last revaluation was done in 2013. Then, the average house price was around $450,000. Now it is around $490,000.

The suburbs showing the highest increase in values, based on the work done by QV to date, are Upper Riccarton, Sockburn, Lyttelton, Linwood, St Albans and the inner city.

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