Tuesday, 24 September, 2013

First post-quake property revaluation for Christchurch City Council

The Christchurch City Council is undertaking its first post-quake revaluation of more than 160,000 city properties.

The earthquakes delayed a city-wide revaluation scheduled for 2010 and the Government gave the Council permission to continue basing rates on 2007 property valuations.

This year’s revaluation method was adopted by Cabinet on the recommendation of Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) and will treat Christchurch properties as if any earthquake damage has been repaired.

It assumes insurance and EQC payments will return affected properties to their pre-quake state, and reflects the current practice of assigning insurance entitlements to buyers when properties are sold.

The Council has contracted independent valuer Quotable Value to carry out the reassessment of property values, and ratepayers will receive their new valuations in March, then have six weeks to lodge objections. The new valuations won’t have any effect on rates until 1 July 2014.

Christchurch City Council Acting General Manager Corporate Services, Diane Brandish, said extended use of the 2007 valuations was an emergency measure adopted after the earthquakes, and the Council had a statutory obligation to return to the practice of updating its property valuation database on a three yearly cycle.

“With considerable changes in property values across the city since 2007, valuations need to more accurately reflect current circumstances. The Rating Valuations Act says rating valuation systems must be equitable, and it would be unfair to continue apportioning rates using data that is now six years old.”

“It’s also important to note changes in valuations do not affect the total amount of rates collected, which is set in the Council’s Annual Plan. However the changes will have an effect on how the rates burden is distributed between property owners.

“Your rates bill is based on the value of your property in relation to the value of all properties city-wide. If your property value goes up by less than average, then your rates bill will go up by less than average, and may even fall. If your property value has risen by more than average, then your rates bill will go up by more than average.”

For more information about the revaluation, visit the Christchurch City Council website www.ccc.govt.nz

ENDS

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