Ask Phoebe: Don't rely on council property valuations when buying insurance

Both the Capital Value (CV) and the Land Value (LV) are based on sales of comparable properties and the Value of Improvements (VI) is merely a calculation of the CV minus the LV. Photo / NZME.

Q: Can you explain the formula for how the council values houses? I'm a bit puzzled as to why my two-storey house, insured for $400,000, has a valuation of $70,000. Is it some kind of depreciation formula? Nick Iversen

Auckland Council uses an international best-practice mass-appraisal technique. This includes a combination of field inspections as well as an analysis of sales data and taking into account changes to property since the last revaluation. There is a desktop component of the revaluation process as this is needed to balance the cost of inspecting over half a million properties individually every three years.

Both the Capital Value (CV) and the Land Value (LV) are based on sales of comparable properties and the Value of Improvements (VI) is merely a calculation of the CV minus the LV. In areas when the LV has risen at a faster rate than the CV the VIs may even decrease as a result of this equation. The VIs should not be used for insurance purposes but rather, property owners should seek an independent valuation. More information should be available from their insurer.

Q: Has Auckland Council changed its policy on hiring community halls? A community group I belong to has recently had a rent increase of 650 per cent. I hear other community groups have also had significant increases and some can no longer afford to meet in their local community centre. Clive Smith, Howick.

Fees were reviewed because of the wide variations in room pricing for similar spaces, both within local board areas and across Auckland.

Hire fees for comparable venues of similar quality, size and condition have now been aligned to create an approach that is fair and transparent.

In many cases the greatest subsidy is now targeted to not-for-profits groups who create community benefit. All others, including commercial operators, will continue to benefit from subsidised standard rates.

Under legacy arrangements and previous relationships some groups were being charged fees that were less than the advertised rate. Because of this, people who were being undercharged now face larger increases compared with those who were paying the advertised rates.

The council is currently exploring transitional options.

I would truly appreciate if you could verify if the 'slow down' cameras around shopping centres indicate accurate speeds per vehicle. My husband's car and mine both register approximately 7km/h less than indicated. Are these speed cameras accurate, or do they give a false reading? Aylene Edwards, Auckland.

Your speedometer is more likely to be correct, as those speed sensors are easily confused. The radar range on the sensors is about 50m, so it can happen that one vehicle can be shown a certain speed when in fact the radar is picking up the speed from another, slower, vehicle.

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