Office of the Valuer-General

Role | Service Provider | Statutory Revaluation Schedule | Valuation Process

Role

The Office of the Valuer-General is responsible for:

• providing statutory valuations as required under the Valuation of Land Act;
• providing expert advice to Government with regard to land and property valuation;
• ensuring a range of valuation services is available to support Government operations;
• providing leadership to the valuation industry and profession; and
• maintaining valuation records and information that can be used to generate statistics for Territory and Commonwealth purposes.

Service Provider

The NT Government has used the services of the Australian Valuation Office (AVO) to provide the Office of the Valuer-General and all valuation services since self-government in 1978.

A new 3-year agreement with the AVO commenced on 1 July 2009.

Land Information manages the Agreement and funds the Office and all statutory valuation services. 

Commercial and asset valuation services (eg  to provide sale prices of land, current value of assets) are carried out for NT Government agencies on a “user pays” basis.

Northern Territory Government Agencies only - How to obtain a valuation

Statutory Revaluation Schedule

All land in rateable areas, such as local governments, is revalued on a triennial basis.  The new values are used by most local government authorities to calculate rates.  Between revaluations, all new parcels of land resulting from subdivision are also valued as the titles are issued.  All valuations and revaluations are adjusted back to a specific triennial reference date, which is 1 July in the year the revaluation is carried out.  The new values are then available to apply to rates and charges from 1 July in the following year.

The revaluation schedule for coming years is:

 

2009-10	Alice Springs, Litchfield Shire and all Pastoral properties will be valued as at 1 July 2009.  A new Valuation Roll for the Darwin Waterfront will also be established separately from the Darwin City Council area.
2010-11	Katherine and the Shires of Barkly (including Tennant Creek), Coomalie, East Arnhem, West Arnhem (including Jabiru), Tiwi, Central Desert, Roper Gulf, MacDonnell, Victoria Daly and Wagait will be valued as at 1 July 2010.
2011-12	Darwin, Palmerston and the Darwin Rates Area will be valued as at 1 July 2011.

The Valuation Process

Each year the AVO is commissioned by the Department of Lands and Planning to complete the required revaluation / new valuation program.

Once the AVO has completed the program for any specific area a report and recommendation regarding the valuations is submitted to the Valuer-General for consideration.

The Valuer-General may seek amendments or further work prior to approving the valuations, which in effect become a new Valuation Roll.  At this stage, Valuation Notices are sent to all land holders advising them of the new valuations and that they may object to the Office of the Valuer-General within 30 days

Any objections received are initially processed by the Office of the Valuer-General, which will attempt to resolve the issues raised by land holders.  The Valuer-General will subsequently advise land holders of the outcome

If any land holders disagrees with the decision of the Valuer-General concerning the new valuation of their property, a further objection may be submitted to the Valuation Board of Review, a separate appeal body operating under the Valuation of Land Act.