NEW South Wales' Valuer General's Office has botched hundreds of land valuations and should be abolished, a parliamentary committee alleges.
In a report tabled by the Joint Standing Committee of the Office of the Valuer General today, chair Matt Kean said the state's property valuation system needed a "paradigm shift" after the committee uncovered extreme volatility in property valuations, which had seen some properties double in value over 12 months.
The committee also found large variations in the value of similar properties located on the same street.
The Valuer General's Office provides 2.6 million land valuations in NSW each year. The valuations are used to levy taxes, rates and duties by the state government.
"Comprehensive reform is needed in the governance of the system and the way the Valuer General and his delegates interact with landholders and that is what has been recommended by the committee,'' Mr Kean said.
"It is essential that households and business are able to predict their tax liabilities so that they can budget and plan.''
Public confidence in the system had been undermined by the Valuer General's failure to give property owners a fair hearing when deciding the value of their asset, according to the report, which that the errors in land valuations in NSW over the past decade were in the order of millions of dollars.
Mr Kean said it was extremely disappointing that action has not been taken over the past 10 years to improve the workings of the Valuer General's office, particularly in the areas of transparency and the provision of a fair hearing.
The committee recommended that the state government establish a valuation commission headed by a chief valuation commissioner. The commissioner would be required to provide public guidelines for the valuation of land, including land tax and council rate valuations.
NSW Finance Minister Greg Pearce has previously told The Australian that he was unhappy with the way the Valuer General's Office was working.
"I would like to see an improvement in the integrity of valuations, a reduction in the volatility of land values and improved communications between all stakeholders," Mr Pearce said.
The Valuer Generally is appointed on a seven-year term.
Read the full article in The Australianhere.
