Mills v Chief Executive, Department of Natural Resources

In the Land Court of Brisbane, the case of Mills v Chief Executive, Department of Natural Resources was heard. The appellant, John James Mills, contested the valuation of his land as determined by the respondent, the Chief Executive of the Department of Natural Resources. Mills appealed against the unimproved value of his land, as determined under the Valuation of Land Act 1944, which was set at $35,000 as at 30 June 1993. Mills argued that the valuation was excessive, given that he believed the land's true market value to be $28,000.

The primary legal issue in this case was whether the valuation of the land was accurately determined and if the Chief Executive had acted upon a wrong principle or made a serious error of fact in making the valuation. The court had to consider the evidence presented by both parties, including the sales of comparable properties and the relativity of values applied to other rural residential properties in the area.

The court found that the Chief Executive had disregarded the sale of the subject land in April 1993, which was only two months prior to the date of valuation, as it was considered to be a forced sale and not indicative of the land’s true market value. However, the court was not convinced that the sale of the subject land was substantially lower than its market value. Additionally, the court found that the subject land was inferior to the neighbouring Lot 2, and should be valued accordingly. The court concluded that the appeal should be allowed and set the unimproved value of the subject land at $28,000.

The final order of the court was that the appeal is allowed, the valuation of the respondent is set aside, and the unimproved value of the subject land as at 30 June 1993 is determined at Twenty-eight Thousand Dollars ($28,000).