Malaysia door-to-door

Local governments these days try to rely on data that is easily gathered (and modeled) so as to derive the valuations on which to levy property taxes. Not so in Malaysia, where The Star newspaper reports the Johor Baru City Council (MBJB) will be conducting a property reevaluation, from premise to premise beginning May 2.

City mayor Datuk Naim Nasir said that the reevaluation was not to increase property tax but for the council to prepare for a new value list. He said the last valuation was done in 1995 which was more than 10 years ago. He explained that a reevaluation based on the new market value was important because bankers would refer to it when they value the price of a property. Naim said that 20 officers from the council would be going from premise to premise to conduct the evaluation. “They will visit each unit and this will take us about six to seven months to complete the entire area,” he said.