More than two years after they were first due, the district’s rating valuations are now expected to be available next month.

Completed by Quotable Value (QV) on behalf of Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC), ratings valuations provide an updated rating value for the property which is used by the council in setting rates for the next three years.

Quotable Value (QV) told the Wānaka App this week that a range of factors had delayed the completion of the ratings, including complexities arising from the Covid-19 pandemic, changing regulatory requirements, and the district’s fast-moving residential property market.

Initially due in 2020, the ratings were first delayed until September 2021, but in an audit the Office of the Valuer General (the government body that oversees all rating valuations) determined that QV should take more time to work on them, which pushed the completion date out to April.

“This additional time will help to ensure greater accuracy of the district’s rating valuations,” QV national revaluation manager Tim Gibson said.

“We are confident that we will be in a position to be able to post out new rating valuations to local property owners next month.”

The new values will be based on the most likely selling price if the property had sold on September 1, 2021, and they will be used to inform rates for the upcoming 2022/2023 rating year.

Rating valuations are used to ensure the share of rates are distributed fairly across property owners in the district. 

QV said they are not intended to be used as market valuations.

If owners do not agree with their new rating valuation once it is finalised, they will still have a right to object. 

These details will be posted alongside the new rating values next month.  

PHOTO: Supplied