VALUE OF IMPROVEMENTS

Greymouth Evening Star, 30 May 1946, Page 4

VALUE OF IMPROVEMENTS

LAND SALES WITNESSES DIFFER-. CASE BEFORE COMMITTEE Whether improvements to a property which were known to have cost £2lO should be added to a valuation based on 1942 values, which the Crown had placed o nthe property was debated by Crown witness and counsel for the vendor at a sitting of the Westland Land Sales Committee at Greymouth this morning. The application concerned the transfer of a residential property in Marsden road, Greymouth, from C. H. R. Fraser to T. W. Coppersmith at a consideration of £1475.

Mr. A. M. Jamieson, appearing for the vendor, stated that the. property had been sold to Fraser in March, 1945, for £1255, the committee having approved of that figure. Since then considerable improvements had been carried out and the value had increased accordingly.

Concrete Paths.

Mr. G. F. Shallcrass, valuer, detailed the improvements carried out during the past year. New concrete paths had cost £BO, new coal boxes and cupboards inside the house had cost over £34, a new fence had been erected (half of the cost of which was £l5l, porches had been glassed in for £4O, and other improvements, including the painting of the building (half-cost £3O), brought the total to £1449. Mr. I. P. McMillan, Crown Valuer, placed £l4O on the section, and valued the entire property at £llO5. Included in this figure was £3O, which he allowed for concrete paths. Mr. Jamieson pointed out that it had been-proved that £BO had been paid for the paths. Witness replied that that price would mean that the work had cost £1 a yard. That would be excessive, the usual cost being 7/6 a yard. In the present case the cost could have been less because of the width of the. paths. “The sum of £5O is an extraordinary . difference between values placed on a path,” commented the chairman. Continuing, witness said that he did not know that the adjoining section had been sold for £175. Mr. Jamieson: In view of the fact that £2lO was spent on improvements, don’t you think you should increase your valuation, which is based on 1942 costs? Witness replied in the negative. “Then you are unreasonable,” declared Mr. Jamieson, resuming his The committee reserved its decision, the chairman stating that there was a difference of £264 between the two valuations, while there was another anomaly in the two Crown .values.

Price Reduced. An application by W. F. Heinz (Mr. A. M. Jamieson) to transfer his property in Shakespeare street, Greymouth, to E. J. and A. E. Mayell, at a price of £l5OO, was also heard this morning. Mr. Jamieson said that alter discussion with the Crown valuer he was prepared to accept a reduction in price from £1425 to £l4OO and he asked that consent be given at that figure. The sale was approved at £l4OO, this price also being approved by the Crown.