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The new General Valuation Roll for Knysna has been released. Please check your property values. In terms of the Municipal Property Rates Act (MPRA), the municipal valuation of a property should be the amount that a willing buyer would be prepared to offer a willing seller. That is the premise. No more no less. It is also a fundamental tenet of the Act that the rates should not increase astronomically between valuation rolls and to this end the legislature incorporated a provision for the Minister to cap the percentage increase of a property. This has not been done, but the intention of the legislature was to cushion the public from vast increases, by introducing supplementary valuation rolls to cater for changes during the currency of the valuation roll.

The team has been studying the roll and are of the opinion that this latest valuation roll has severe defects and is incorrect in many aspects. Representations are currently being made to the Acting Municipal Manager in this regard, to motivate delaying the implementation of the roll, so that it can be corrected. As it stands, the figures that the municipality will use to budget for the 2023/2024 financial year will be incorrect if this roll is relied upon, as not only will they not realise the projected income, but the ratepayers will also in many cases be prejudiced by inflated property values.

In the interim, and pending a decision from the AMM, we would encourage all property owners to check their valuations and if there is an issue to please lodge an objection. If you need help in lodging the objection, do not hesitate to call where our dedicated team will complete the objections and submit them with your approval, for the fees set out hereunder.

We shall keep you apprised of the response and reaction from the Municipality as should the roll need to be challenged, we shall be inviting interested parties to contact the attorneys concerned.