Ivan v Valuer-General

Zoltan Ivan, the owner of a property at 368 Montague Road, West End, Brisbane, appealed the valuation of his land conducted by the Valuer-General. The subject land is 816 square metres and zoned for Character Residential and Demolition Control. The parties agreed that the highest and best use of the land was for a single unit dwelling house. The appellant contested the valuation of $900,000 and proposed a value of $774,000, arguing that it was out of line with other properties in the surrounding area. The Valuer-General defended the valuation, calling upon the evidence of a registered valuer, Mr BP Hart.

The legal issues in this case were whether the appellant had discharged the onus of proving that the valuation was incorrect and whether the valuer's method and evidence were appropriate. The court considered the principle of relativity, the method of direct comparison of sales with the subject land, and the requirement for the appellant to produce expert evidence to support his appeal.

The court found that the appellant had not discharged his onus of proving that the valuation was incorrect. The evidence of the expert valuer, Mr Hart, was accepted as it was not contradicted and no material error of fact or principle was demonstrated. The court upheld the method of direct comparison with sales of vacant or lightly improved land, as it was the best basis for assessment of unimproved value, in accordance with higher court decisions. The court dismissed the appeal and confirmed the valuation of $900,000 as appealed against.

The final orders were that the appeal is dismissed, and the valuation appealed against is confirmed.