BIGGEST JOKE: Assessment debacle - KL owners now left wondering WHAT TO PAY!

With authorities at sixes and sevens over an increase to city taxes, property owners have been left to wonder if they should pay the new rates, old rates, or if they should even pay at all.

While the wrangling is unlikely to be resolved before the late-February deadline to pay the first round of assessments, existing laws allow owners to be penalised if they do not settle their payments by then.

The issue was further muddled over the weekend when Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Mansor told owners who have received the notices of revised property valuations to “discard” them and to await new announcements on January 1, but he did not elaborate if this meant the entire process was annulled.

The safe option, lawyers told The Malay Mail Online, was for aggrieved property owners to continue paying at the previous assessed value and rates while they wait for authorities to settle their disputes, if any, over the proposed amounts.

“I would assume they only need to pay the existing rate, and after new valuation, then you should only be requested to top up the amount without penalty,” said Yap Hui Lu, a lawyer of 16 years’ experience.

Yap earlier referred to Section 143 of the Local Government Act 1976, which stated that DBKL’s revised valuation list of properties must be confirmed on or before December 31 this year.

“But until a property owner’s objection to the increase to the valuation has been heard and decided, the increased valuation or new valuation objected to shall not be deemed to be in force, and the old rates shall continue to be payable,” she said, referring to the same clause.

Another lawyer, Kenneth Wong Poh Lim, said the new valuation list “would only be effective after it is gazetted”, adding that property owners were not obliged to pay the new rates before then.

“So as long as it is not gazetted or as long as the objections were not heard in respect of the new valuation list, the property owners only need to pay the old rates,” said the conveyance and corporate lawyer.

Wong similarly said the best course of action would be for dissatisfied property owners to object to the hike and pay the old rate first while waiting for the hearing to conclude.

Under Section 147 of the Local Government Act, property owners must pay the assessment sum twice yearly, once by end of February and again in August; failure to do so may subject them to a late payment penalty that the “local authority may fix from time to time”.

OUG residents filling up protest forms at an ad hoc meeting of OUG residents at SJK(C) Yoke Nam in Kuala Lumpur December 1, 2013.

But a third lawyer, Keppy Wong, said that while delinquent payment could attract a fine, its imposition was discretionary.

“Under the Act, if you are late, you can’t meet the deadline, the government may impose a penalty on the [property owner] but the local authority may also choose not to impose any penalty,” said Keppy, who is also a Ampang Jaya councillor.

Although the local authority would not be able to extend the deadline stated in the Act, it “can waive any penalties” for the late payment, Keppy said.

And if a property owner’s objection is fixed for hearing by DBKL after the end of February, then “they are entitled as of right to defer the payment,” he said.

Keppy went on to suggest that owners not pay their assessment, whether at the old sum or new, if they planned to dispute the revaluation. Instead, he said they should wait until their dispute hearing is concluded before they pay and save themselves the possible inconvenience of doing it twice.

For property owners who remained dissatisfied with the new value even after the hearing, Kenneth said they could still bring their dispute to the courts.

“If after hearing, DBKL still revises it to a rate the owner is not agreeable to, the owner’s next course of action would be to appeal to the High Court,” Kenneth said, saying that Section 145 of LGA provided for this.

But all three lawyers concurred on one point: Owners who failed to file their disputes to the new assessment sums with DBKL by the December 17 deadline will be liable for the new amount come January.

An OUG resident listens to speeches during an ad hoc meeting of OUG residents at SJK(C) Yoke Nam in Kuala Lumpur December 1, 2013.

And while he told owners to disregard the notices of the increase, Tengku Adnan also advised those unhappy with the new rates to formally register their dissatisfaction by December 17.

The minister previously clarified an earlier announcement by his deputy, saying that the city mayor and a special panel would have until March to hold the hearings on the assessment value hike.

Until the panel settles on a decision, ratepayers could defer their assessment payments, Tengku Adnan explained.

The proposed increase in assessment led to public outcry in recent weeks, after property owners received notices from the local authority informing them of hikes between 100 and 250 per cent to their land valuation that is used to determine assessments.

Officials from the Ministry and City Hall insist the hike was necessary to raise funds to cover the cost of improving services provided by the local authority, pointing out that this would be the first hike after 21 years. - Malay Mail