Rating valuations delay for Waikato district
Updated rating valuations for Waikato district are now planned to be sent to property owners next month.
Revaluations of every property in the district were due to be finalised in May. However, the Office of the Valuer General (OVG), the government body that oversees all rating valuations, has agreed that Quotable Value (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.
This is due to a range of factors that have impacted on the work of QV, New Zealand’s largest valuation and property services company, including changing regulatory requirements and the up-and-down movement of the property market these past three years adding to its complexity. For Waikato district there has been significant growth since the last rating valuation three years ago which also brings challenges determining value levels in a changing market.
QV Operations Manager James Wilson said this additional time will help to ensure greater accuracy of the 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 still need to thoroughly review a number of values within the district,” he said.
“We are now taking the extra time required to do that before submitting it for independent audit. Due to OVG workloads, that will not be until late this 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 October 2023, and will be used to help inform rates for the next rating year. They are solely used for the purpose of determining the equitable share of rates are distributed fairly across property owners in the district and are not intended to be used as market valuations.
As per the usual process, if owners do not agree with their new rating valuation once it has been notified, they will have an opportunity to lodge an objection with QV. The information regarding this process will be sent along with the new valuations later this year.
