The Valuation and Property Services Department’s overvaluation resulted in inflated premiums by the Selangor Land Office, say owners.
PETALING JAYA:
A group of property owners here want the Valuation and Property Services department (JPPH) to explain the “overvaluation” of their respective properties after the Land Office slapped them with inflated premiums.
Speaking for the group, Rajesh Mansukhlal, who owns some commercial lots here, approached Bukit Gasing assemblyman Rajiv Rishyakaran for help after having appealed to the Land Office several times without success.
He explained these premiums were one-time payments for property owners to convert their residential lots to limited commercial land, which would last until their respective leases expire.
Rajesh explained that Rajiv had advised him to get an independent valuation of the land before appealing to the Land Office, which he had then proceeded to do.
“I specifically told the independent valuer to value the land alone, not the buildings. Generally, valuation is done on both land and buildings.
“I also told him I had approval from MBPJ to run a business here, so he had to make sure the value should incorporate the potential commercial business,” Rajesh explained to FMT.
In the independent evaluation, it was noted that they had “disregarded the buildings on the land and valued the subject property as a parcel of limited commercial land.”
“This valuer has done his homework. His basis is the same as the JPPH. He had valued the property at RM3,276 per square meter against the RM4,500 figure in the JPPH’s valuation.
“There’s almost a 38% difference here. If it is a difference of a couple of hundred ringgit, fair enough, as different values may see things slightly differently.
“But this difference is more than a thousand ringgit,” Rajesh said.
Aside from Rajesh, there were three other property owners at Rajiv’s office to present their media cases.
According to Rajesh, 40 separate landowners have been given notices by the Land Office to pay the increased premium.
“Most of them have paid,” he explained.
“Most likely, it is because they have better things to do and have more money so they can let the matter be. But for us, we also have other commitments, and the premium imposed on us is not a small sum.”
According to Rajesh, JPPH has refused so far to divulge their methods and rationale of valuation.
“My challenge to them: show us the basis of your valuation. How did you derive it? At least (the independent valuer) has gotten his valuation done here.
“We want to know how you arrived at that value. You won’t even reveal that to the Land Office,” Rajesh added, saying that the Land Office had stonewalled his appeals with the excuse that the valuation was provided solely by JPPH.
According to the Land Office’s latest response, JPPH had noted his independent valuation but had decided to keep their valuation fixed.
“As the person who’s paying the premium, I’m questioning JPPH’s transparency. Justify where the RM4,500 came from,” Rajesh said.
