Auckland Council Rating Valuations

Have you ever wondered about the reliability of valuations upon which your rates are based? In 15 years as a Real Estate consultant I always accepted valuations in blind faith and without question.
At the age of 69 I have never objected to a valuation until now. However, I will be looking at every future valuation punctiliously and insisting on accurate responses to my concerns raised. My involvement in this particular matter stems from 20 September 2011 when I was advised a portion of my road frontage in Te Atatu Rd was required for road widening. The following timeline was outlined:
Sep-Nov 2011 Affected Landowners and Community consulted on preliminary design
Feb 2012 Detailed design finalised
Mar-Aug 2012 Consenting
2012-13 Land Acquisitions
2013/14 Construction
Well it’s now 2016 and I’m told hopefully construction will be completed by February 2017.
The negotiation process for purchase of our land was not simple and I outlined the experience of TPOG (Te Atatu Property Owners Group) in a booklet I put out in Dec 2013. I have had numerous enquiries for a copy of this booklet so if you email me you can request a download copy for free.
gary.osborne@vodafone.co.nz
In my case I received 4 offers from ACPL (Auckland Council Property Limited), the negotiators for AT (Auckland Transport), the road wideners, for purchase by AC (Auckland Council). The offers were $20,000,$28,000,$45,000 following 3 valuations by ACPL’s valuers then $47,000 following a valuation from my own valuer. On 12 July 2013 I was offered $47,000 that I accepted. Some months, later (end of November) $47,000 was lodged in my lawyer’s Trust A/C.
In 2014 I received a Valuation Notice dated 10/11/14.
LV $400,000 CV $690,000 Land area 809m2
Then in 2015, just before Christmas on 10/12/15 I received a Valuation Notice dated 7/12/15 saying this notice superseded the previous one.
LV $400,000 CV $690,000 Land area 763m2
Hang on! This Land Valuation is identical to the previous one but there’s a chunk of land missing. How can that be? Well, it turns out there’s been a chapter of errors and delays – so many in fact, that I’ve decided to put out a booklet giving details in the hope that it may be found useful by property owners wishing to object to a rating valuation in future. In that booklet I will outline my experiences in detail.
To briefly examine my own current case, I objected to the new valuation on 2 January 2016 and received automatic confirmation saying I would be contacted via mail within five working days to advise when my objection would be completed.
Then on 9/1/16 I received a letter from Auckland Council dated 5/1/16 saying “there may be a delay in undertaking this review due to the significant number of properties involved in the Revaluation.”
Then on 13/1/16 Auckland Council advised me by email “QV have confirmed that there will be no delay in reviewing these assessments. They have indicated to Council this will be completed by 29 January 2016.” “There have been a total of two objections.”
In my case I have argued for the LV to be dropped by $47,000, the price paid for the piece purchased by AC. Naturally the higher my residual land value the more rates AC can extract from me.

Advertisement