Cape Town valuator Peter Meakin, who was asked to help a committee looking at anomalies in the valuation process, told The Herald: “The Knysna valuation roll is unfair and therefore unconstitutional and should not have been certified.”

The committee, which is unhappy with the new property valuations, was set up in the wake of a number of letters in local newspapers in the Eden district.

Meakin said “clearly terrible mistakes” had been made.

He took a list of 194 properties sold in Knysna within three months of the valuation date, taking sales figures from the Cape Town deeds office.

“Of these 194, 75 per cent are undervalued and 25% are overvalued. I have taken only a small section, but the most critical section because sales have occurred within three months either side of the valuation date,” he said.

The new valuations are supposed to reflect the current market value of properties.

Meakin said that the International Association of Assessing Officers, the standards of which South Africa subscribes to, stipulates that 12% is acceptable leeway on either side. He said the average undervaluation from his 194-property survey was 67% and the average overvaluation was 33%.

“I get the feeling a lot of these properties have never been inspected,” he said.

According to current legislation, the new system must be implemented in all municipalities by July 1, 2009.

In the Knysna municipal area, people wishing to object to the new valuations of their properties had only until this Friday to object, but this deadline has now been extended by two weeks.

Knysna councillor Richard Dawson said: “This means that objections will be looked at, but people will still need to pay the new rates from July 2008 and changes implemented will be payable from July 2009.”

Knysna municipal finance director Grant Easton asked ratepayers to challenge the new values if they were unhappy with them. Out of the 18000 properties that had been valued, he said, only 290 objections had been received so far.

When asked to comment on the figures provided by Meakin, Easton said: “Meakin is a very respected gentleman in his trade. The first one of Meakin‘s figures that I looked at was wrong and I didn‘t look any further.

“His figures have been handed over to our valuers.” Easton also said that 194 properties was a sample size of just over 1%.

Dawson, who expressed his unhappiness with the new valuations compiled by DDP, a Pretoria-based company, said: “Of most concern is the effect on pensioners and those on a fixed income.”

The ripple effect would, he said, be devastating, as home owners would have to cut costs in other areas, with a resultant loss of employment for domestic workers and gardeners.

Property owners in the industrial area were also hard hit by rate increases, which could have a negative impact on employment.