Auckland homeowners frustrated at rates uncertainty

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Updated: 7:00am – Auckland homeowners grappling with increased land values are worried they’ll be caught out by a massive rates hike, and some a puzzled at how the increases have been calculated.

In the council’s three-yearly property revaluations, released yesterday, homes across Auckland are valued on average 46 percent higher than in 2014.

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Juliet Hawkeswood owns a family villa in Ponsonby and a bach in Piha.

She expected her city’s home valuation to jump, but what took her by surprise was that her bach nearly doubled in value from $675,000 to more than $1 million.

The improvements component contributed more than $200,000 to the value.

Ms Hawkeswood said improvements to the home were minor, and she couldn’t work out how the property was valued.

“We haven’t done anything like that amount of improvement to the actual house.”

If the rates on the bach rose she was was fortunate enough to be able to afford it, she said, but said others in the area could suffer.

“There are quite a lot of young families out there and people who are self-employed – it would be much harder for them,” she said.

Ms Hawkeswood understands that the council needs to generate revenue.

But she is frustrated that she will have to wait until July next year to know how much she’ll need pay.

“I think they could do better on their communication,” she said.

Basic advice on how the property’s valuation had been calculate, so the owner didn’t have to spend time querying it, would be helpful, she said.

Anthony Parsonage’s home at Dairy Flat has had a 75 percent valuation increase on his lifestyle block.

The 75 percent increase in valuation indicated higher rates, but the council had not justified in his area, he said.

“The service we’re having is the same as the service we’ve had six months ago,” he said.

“You wonder why the rates go up because we don’t get any waste-water, no buses.”

But head of rates at Auckland Council, Debbie Acott, said higher rates didn’t necessarily mean more services.

“They’re basically a property tax,” she said.

“They wouldn’t get any extra services.

“In the central city where you may see more services there are also more people putting rates into the pool so there’s more money collected in those areas anyway.”

There was confusion over how parts of the valuations were tallied, she said.

The council valuations are not necessarily market prices.

-RNZ

Featured image: Higher rates don’t necessarily mean more services, Auckland Council says. Photo: RNZ

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