|
Implementation of the Municipal Property Rates Act
The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) has begun the process of valuing properties within its borders, in accordance with the
 Municipal Property Rates Act (MPRA) no 6 of 2004 637.88 Kb.
What is the MPRA?
The act obligates all local municipalities to
value and rate immovable properties, i.e. land and buildings, within
their jurisdiction. Implementation of the act is compulsory from 1
July 2009.
The MPRA:
- Seeks to provide local government with access to a sufficient and buoyant source of revenue;
- Ensures long-term sustainability;
- Enhances the developmental agenda of the municipality;
- Addresses the imbalances caused by unfair past policies;
- Provides for a fairer and more equitable valuation of properties in accordance to their respective true market values.
What are municipal property rates?Municipal property rates are
the financial liabilities that owners/ratepayers of immovable property
have to pay to a municipality. It is based on the value of the
immovable property.
What is property rates revenue used for?Municipalities need a
reliable source of income in order to provide basic services and
perform their functions. Revenue from property rates is used to fund
services that benefit the community as a whole. These services include:
- Installing and maintaining streets, roads, sidewalks, lighting, and storm drainage facilities;
- Building and operating clinics, parks, recreational facilities and cemeteries;
- Funding municipal administration and general costs of governance;
- Fire fighting, environmental protection and disaster management.
What to expect during the data collection phaseThere are approximately 630 000 properties in Ekurhuleni.
Property owners are requested to please co-operate when the appointed
valuers/data collectors visit their property. The information gathered
from these visits will be verified to ensure that the EMM arrives at a
fair and equitable valuation of your property.
The law requires municipalities to appoint a municipal valuer and to
compile a valuation roll with the services of professional valuers
(registered in terms of the Property Valuers Profession Act, 2000).
Data collectors, appointed by the valuers, will assist in data
collection in order for market related valuations to be determined.
How do property owners/ ratepayers assist?Property
owners/ratepayers are asked to kindly assist the valuers/data
collectors in completing a Property Record form, which provides
information on the property and its owner.
Data collectors will go from door-to-door to collect the information
and in the event of the owner not being at home a call back form will
be left for completion.
How to identify data collectors Data Collectors 1.85 Mb will have:
- A black, blue and white cap with the Metro’s logo and ‘data collector’ printed on the front and ‘eValuations’ on the back;
- A
blue bib, bearing the municipality’s logo and ‘general evaluation’ on
the front, and ‘data collector’ and ‘eValuations’ on the back;
- A blue bag bearing the Metro’s logo and the wording ‘data collector’ and ‘eValuations’ printed on the front ;and
- A
laminated letter of designation from the municipality, a specially
designed identity card printed with the data collector’s name, ID
number and designation, signed by the City Manager, Patrick Flusk.
Data collectors will NOT be able to:
- Answer any queries regarding the rates and payment of rates
(These must be directed to the municipality's finance offices. Only
after the valuation roll is received in February 2009 will any Finance
staff member be able to answer queries in relation to the amount
payable).
- Collect any form of payment, either in cash, or otherwise.
- Influence the eventual valuation of the property
What happens after the data collection phase?
- All data collected/verified during the data collection phase will be captured and analysed;
- Through
a process of research and market analysis, valuers will assess and
verify the value of each property, based on market value (the price
that would be achieved between willing buyer and willing seller);
- Having completed and verified the valuations, a Valuation Roll will be certified and handed to the City Manager;
- The
publication of the Valuation Roll will be advertised for a period of
time during which the public may submit objections to the
municipality, in the prescribed format;
- Following this stage, objections will be administered and dealt with by the municipal valuer;
- Thereafter, the Valuations Roll will be finalised and the new rates applied.
The valuer does not determine the property rates tariff, the Metro does. Therefore, the valuer will not be in a position to determine what the tariff will be nor will he be able to answer any query in relation to the monthly property rates.
A call centre was established to assist ratepayers during office hours with data collection related queries. It can be reached at 011-524-0135
If you are unable to open the files, please visit http://www.adobe.com/ to download the latest version of Acrobat Reader.
If you have any queries regarding the General Evaluation, please contact
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
|
