Hastings District Council says it is simply not possible to re-evaluate all damaged homes in the district in such a short timeframe. Photo / NZME
Hastings District Council says it is simply not possible to re-evaluate all damaged homes in the district in such a short timeframe. Photo / NZME
Concerns are being raised about the potential for “unfair” extra costs placed on owners of cyclone-damaged properties in the Hastings district if a special application is granted to change laws on property valuations.
Councils check the value of all properties within their district every three years, and they then usethose new valuations to help guide how much they charge each property in rates.
Increases in the value of properties do not mean a council collects more rates revenue overall. However, it does determine how councils allocate everyone’s share of rates — meaning some properties will pay a higher share of rates and some will pay a lower share after new valuations kick in.
Hastings District Council was set to complete its revaluation process this year and release new valuations for properties by the end of June.
Cyclone Gabrielle has caused significant disruption to that process. Hastings District Council says it is simply not possible to re-evaluate all damaged homes in the district in such a short timeframe.
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According to council papers, 1119 buildings were yellow-stickered and 107 were red-stickered across Hawke’s Bay after the cyclone, the bulk of which were in Hastings district.
Silt coats a playground in Eskdale after the February cyclone. Photo / Warren Buckland
Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand (Linz) with support from Hastings District Council has now put forward a proposal to temporarily amend rating valuation legislation.
The proposal is seeking to have property values set as at August 2022.
For cyclone-hit properties, that means property valuations would be based on pre-cyclone valuations, and would probably not be revisited until the next valuation cycle in 2026.
The Rating Valuations Act 1998 requires valuations to reflect the physical state of properties at the time new values are released to the public (June 30 for Hastings District Council), which would be changed under the proposal.
“Without an amendment to the act, all properties that were damaged in the cyclone would need to be identified, inspected and accurately valued to reflect their physical condition before June 30, 2023,” a Hastings District Council statement reads.
“The council and its valuers have requested the order in council as it is not feasible to carry out this work nor is there any reliable market evidence for damaged properties on which to base valuation conclusions within that timeframe.”
A similar amendment to the law was made for affected councils following the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes that helped councils recover from the earthquakes.
However, Hawke’s Bay Property Investors Association president Sharon Cullwick said it was “pretty unfair” to give property owners an old valuation on their property, if they had been heavily impacted by the cyclone.
“What they could do, if they know there are certain areas [in the Hastings district] that weren’t affected, they could give them their proper valuations.”
But valuations of areas with known cyclone damage could be worked through step-by-step over the next three years, she said.
She said that would make more sense than giving a valuation for August 2022, which could potentially mean cyclone-impacted property owners paying extra rates.
Hastings District Council has offered short-term rates relief to cyclone-impacted property owners and the proposal stated they were now planning “medium-term relief policies”.
Central Hawke’s Bay and Wairoa district councils completed their revaluations last year and Napier City Council will complete its process in 2024 under their respective three-year cycles.
You can object to revaluations after they are released, but damage caused by Cyclone Gabrielle will not be considered grounds for objection.
