HIGHER RATES

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2345, 30 December 1914, Page 8

HIGHER RATES

UNIMPROVED RATING V. TOWN PLANNING

CONFLICT. OF PRINCIPLES

OPINIONS OF AN ARCHITECT

Mr. John S. Swan, the well-known ar- ■: chitect, states that' there will bo many i matters requiring tho urgent considera- . tion of the Valuation Commission when • it'resumes its sittings', in Wellington • after, the holidays. Chatting to a Dqiunion reporter on tho subject of property-; rate's, methods of valuation, mid town-planning, Mr. Swan, who urgently desires to see "Wellington, .both prosperous and beautiful,' gave expression ..to views --which will doubtless lind an ■ echo in. many quarters in Wellington. Mr. Swan firmly believes 'that the rating on ' the 1 unimproved value has reached such a pitch in vVel'inijton thiit . it' not ,only forces ■ /', the. ronts up to stifling point,- but.it is actually'creating conditions Which-should be avoided; Ho gave'a concrete illustration of what he meant. A client of nis withed to venture on a building .scheme, and desired Mr. Swan to purchase several o"d wooden cottages, and re-erect substantial dwellings. The lnjoslor, who was' a reasonable man, stipulated that the properties should return llia\ 6 pel cent, on the money invested. Air. Swan went carefully into the matter, and in doing so found the cost of land and building so high that to return-a bare 6 per cent; he would have to place two. semi-detached dwellings on a 33ft.' section. Neither he nor his client wished to do anything of the kind, but such v were the conditions, ; largely the creation, of rating on the alleged unimproved value that such an expedient had to be resorted, to. One had only to look round in Wellington to find that that sort of thing was taking place ait over, the city. In another oase a person purchased a. property some years ago on- which' stood two houses. Ho removed one of them, and on the site planned a beautiful, garden. But his values bad increased to such an this year they had gone up with a jolt— that; he found that he was,, being forced to build oil ■ his, garden.. Yet all tlie while tho Mayor and councillors talked of .the benefits of town-planniiig and city ' Mr. Swan said that the man who_ was able to keep, a lawn and garden in decent repair was doing his share towards keeping the city beautiful. In Wellington that had riot only 'been not 'recognised, but such men had been penalised for doing so— that is to say, a man with a agrden has his .property rated as though it were oovered with'buildings, and was given tho best of all incentives to crowd his land, and so create tho congestion that was always being denounced. . .■ ' Values Falsely Forced, Mr. Swan does not hold that the sale of a block of land at a. certainprice sets_ the price for that locality, although in the main that is n'er _ in which valuations were arrived at in-Wellington. When a valuation is being disputed in the Assessment Court, Mr. Jas. Ames (Government and City Valuer), or Mr. T.'P. Martin says that they can quote a sale, and as often as not /that is taken, : if not as conclusive evidence of value, as a good, guide to it, whether it bo so or not. , A wealthy bank might desire a certain block l of land, and tho owner learning : the bank's intentions at once bumps up the price; The bank can afford to pay the enhanced value, and does so, and that was quoted as the value and the reflected value on all the properties round about. Similarly in residential areas 1 fashion- might create a popular street or terrace, and those desirous of residing in 't'hat thoroughfare are induced to pay £8 or £10 a foot more than the land is really worth. At the next valuation up goes the price of land in that locality,' Up go the rates, away go 1 the gardens, and along oomes that deplorable congestion that already scares the fairest and newest of Wellington's suburbs. It could hardly -be otherwise,' added Mr. Swan, with'the rating on the unimproved value as at present arrived at.

The System Wrong. , The system of valuing was open to criticism. Mr. Swan recalled that during the recent sitting of the Assessment Court, the City Valuer, had admitted that ho had neither the time nor tho knowledge to make a careful estimate of the value of a building, and also stated that he had access to the City Council records, where he could obtain the "permit price" as a basis of - valuation. 'In giving evidence in tho Court he (Mr. Swan) had'quoted two instances where he himself had ob-. tained building permits, one for £400 and the other for £2000. In the former instance the value of improvements had been set down as' £750, and in the other case at £3000—£1000 more than the building: had cost to erect— and the two valuations had been reduced to his (Mr. Swan's valuations of £400 and £2200). Even if the "permit prices" were obtained as a basis by the valuers, he' knew by long experience that it could not be a reliable basis. _In some oasos the exact contract price was not stated, and in others the co.st of the building was invariably less or more than the contract price; He called to mind one case where the contract price was' £9000, and the finished prico found the amount reduced to £8000; and, reversing the order, he knew of a case whore the contract price in the permit was given as £8000, and the finished price was nearly £11,000. He know of one instance where the improvements on a city block were set down as £12,950, and, on his (Mr. Swan's) suggestion, were reduced, without going to Court'to £8325. Thore were seventeen buildings in the block, and the reductions agreed to without argument ranged from 25 to 74 per cent. In another case the value was set down, at £3000, as against Mr. Swan's estimate of £2000—no argument,. In yet another case, where the improvements were worth at loast £1700, they were valued at £1015. As a Ratepayer. As a ratepayer and one generally interested in the city's welfare, Mr. Swan urged that serious attention should bo given to this question by the City Council, and all citizens who have the welfare of Wellington at heart. Thero was no reason on earth why an. owner of a proporty should be obliged to employ exports and legal assistance to liavo a defect remedied when the mistake was obviously made by Government valueni. In,matters of this kind there should bo no room for errors, yet one case hud been placed before the Court where' a corner section waß valued at £25 per foot (unimproved), the next section of similar dopth was valued at £37, and a better section on the opposite side of tho streot valued at £27 10s'.. per foot. It was discovered that one, valuer was responsible for tho £25 valuation, and another for tho others—ono was conservative, the other liberal. Tho system of rating ,on tho unimproved valuo worked out all right ill business districts, but it was a highly absurd system for purely residential areas. Many a man was prepared to spend from £150 to £500 a year on tho upkeep of a large garden— : it was ho.rd],v fair that ho should be taxed' on the •block as though it were a, slum area. As the result of the recent Government valuations tho City Council, was, ho believed, collecting this financial year about £8000 inoro than it has ever collected before —this in a year when rates should bo lessoned to enable people to spend money in ways more helpful to i tho nation.