New Queenstown Lakes District rating valuations delayed until April
Updated rating valuations for the Queenstown Lakes District have been delayed by a few weeks and are now expected to be available in April.
This is due to a range of factors that have greatly impeded the work of Quotable Value (QV), New Zealand’s largest valuation and property services company — including complexities arising from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, changing regulatory requirements, and the district’s fast-moving residential property market.
As a result, a recent audit conducted by the Office of the Valuer General (OVG), the government body that oversees all rating valuations, determined that QV should take more time to work on the district’s updated rating valuations before they are set to be finalised and released to the district’s property owners in April.
QV National Revaluation Manager Tim Gibson said this additional time will help to ensure greater accuracy of the district’s rating valuations. “The OVG’s audit is an important part of the rating revaluation process that does take a great deal of time and effort. It has been delayed this time because we need to review a small pocket of values within the district,” he said.
“We will take the extra time required to do that now, before resubmitting it again for independent audit on 1 April. We are confident that we will be in a position to be able to post out new rating valuations to local property owners next month.”
The new values will be based on the most likely selling price if the property had sold on the valuation date, which was 1 September last year, and will be used to inform rates for the upcoming 2022/2023 rating year.
Rating valuations are solely used for the purpose of determining the equitable share of rates are distributed fairly across property owners in the district. They are not intended to be used as market valuations.
If owners do not agree with their new rating valuation once it is finalised, they will still have a right to object. These details will be posted alongside the new rating values next month.
