Nairobi residents who object to the city's draft valuation roll have 28 days to submit complaints about higher land rates to City Hall.
The draft valuation roll proposes new rates be based on 0.1 per cent to 0.115 per cent of the current value of undeveloped land, setting the stage for costly levies.
The Draft Valuation Roll was presented to the assembly on May 20, making it available for residents with rateable property.
A valuation roll is a public legal document listing all property information of all rateable properties.
Acting county secretary Jairus Musumba said objections must reach the secretary's office before June 18.
The Valuation for Rating Act states any person aggrieved by inclusion or omission of rateable property from any draft valuation roll may lodge a complaint on a specified form after paying Sh500, which is not refundable.
City Hall has made the Draft Valuation Roll available online as well as the objection form through the shortcode *235#
The figure will be contained in the new property valuation roll determining land rates in the capital.
Currently, property owners pay land rates at 25 per cent of the unimproved site value based on the 1980 valuation roll, which City Hall says has caused it to lose on the appreciation of land.
City Hall began reviewing its 1982 valuation roll in October 2016 when the World Bank contracted Geomaps Africa to do the job alongside 11 of its valuers.
The Ann Kananu-led administration loses about Sh188 billion in uncollected land rates every financial year.
A report by the Commission on Revenue Allocation and the European Union says Sh75.6 billion is uncollected in Nairobi and another Sh112 billion is not mapped out in the geographical information system.
Currently Nairobi county has about 170,000 rateable properties. Rates are one of the top five own-source revenue earnings for the county government.
Nairobi lands and urban planning executive Charles Kerich said in February that property owners will definitely pay higher land rates. He said public participation will inform the final rates.
“Definitely the rates will have to go up but it cannot go too high," Kerich said. "It can only go high up to a point where Nairobi residents will be comfortable to pay."
(Edited by V. Graham)
