Some may lose out in Christchurch deal

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 6:05p.m.

By Juanita Copeland

Christchurch home-owners who want to be paid out for their house and land have been nervously waiting to find out just how the value of their properties will be determined.

They now know they'll be paid out at the most current rateable value, or RV, and that was assessed back in 2007.

Rose Hopgood knows her Avonside property is a write off, she'll be paid out for her house, but is concerned her substantial garden shed won't be included in the rateable value of her house.

“Our house was written off in February and we have got a large workshop office garage building which just got its code of compliance the week before the September earthquake and it's not damaged,” she says.

Residents who accept the Government offer will get the amount the house and land was last valued at in 2007.

“We believe that the rateable value represents the best approximation of the value as it stood on the 3rd of September,” says Prime Minister John Key.

The Christchurch City Council was about to release new rateable values around the time of the September quake, but that work wasn't completed, leaving residents with a four year old valuation.

“If people have added extensions on and they've had to get a resource consent to do those sorts of things will be captured in the valuation of their property,” says Christchurch mayor Bob Parker.

Two thousand and seven is accepted as being the peak of the property boom, so those who bought several years before that will get much more that they paid for it.

Others in the red areas bought during the boom at well above the RV and will lose out under this deal.

“In 2007 it’s accepted that we were pretty much, at the peak of the market, when those values were released the market in 2010 was probably slightly back on those levels,” says QV Valuations’ Mark Dow.

The Government will also negotiate with homeowners who have done significant work to their properties not reflected in the RV. They say as a long as you have receipts for that new kitchen or bathroom they will look at paying out on those too.

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