Frequently Asked Questions (Issue 108)

A new section of Sand & Stone created for communicating to readers; questions being asked by members to the Secretariat.

Do we need to complete the valuer’s questionnaire?

Andrew Lumb from Nevett Ford Lawyers has provided a response for CMPA members about whether they need to complete the valuer’s questionnaire?

As part of the annual revaluation process, which will determine next year’s rate notices and land tax assessments, some members have been asked by valuers to complete questionnaires, which require provision of information about business revenue, expenses, extraction volumes, ex bin prices, remaining resource and other details.

This has caused concern and the question has been asked whether members are obliged to provide this information.

Under the Valuation of Land Act 1960 the Valuer-General and any valuer appointed by him has power, so far as is reasonably necessary for the purposes of a valuation, to:

(a) enter and inspect any premises and buildings;
(b) put verbally or in writing any relevant questions to the owner or the person in occupation of the premises; and
(c) inspect any books, documents and papers.

There is a penalty for any person, whether owner or occupier, who fails or refuses to supply information. The penalty is currently an amount not exceeding $335.00, but there seems to be nothing which limits the valuer to a single request.

The question is whether the information requested is reasonably necessary for the purposes of the valuation. The Valuer-General’s specialist guidelines for quarries includes a suggested list of information items which the valuer may require in the case of quarries and these include the annual rate of extraction, average exbin charge, revenue and expenses, remaining resource quantity and other items. These information items have relevance to valuation methodologies suggested in the guidelines, which for the purpose of determining capital improved value, include capitalisation of earnings.

The items of information required to be provided in the questionnaires we have seen are roughly similar to a number of items in the Valuer-General’s suggested information request, and it is therefore difficult to say that the information requested is not reasonably necessary for the purposes of the valuation. If the information is reasonably necessary for the purposes of the valuation, the valuer has power under the Valuation of Land Act as mentioned above, to require the information to be provided.

The commercial sensitivity of the information requested is the obvious issue for members who have received the same or similar questionnaires. Valuation on the basis of comparable sales is the methodology used in valuing most types of property, and it is unusual that valuation of a property is based on the earnings performance of the business actually operating on the site. Weighing up what is involved in relation to the commercial sensitivity issue, is likely to be an individual matter for each extractive business.

A further very significant issue is the manner in which the valuation methodology is applied by the valuer to the information provided in response to the questionnaire. There has already been some controversy about this, and each extractive operator, and each landowner if the site is leased, needs to look very carefully at the site value and capital improved value in the next rate notice.

To ask a question that could be shared amongst all members in the association please contact the CMPA:
Phone: 03 5781 6055
Fax: 03 5782 2021
Email: enquiries@cmavic.asn.au

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