If you own an apartment in the city, you may need to pay a little more attention to the way your property tax is calculated. For, the common area that includes lifts and parking could be assessed at the rate for commercial buildings by the Greater Chennai Corporation.
Corporation officials said they have received a lot of complaints after the latest revision of rates. This is because whatever area is mentioned as non-residential in last year’s calculation is directly calculated as commercial from this year, an official said.
This can mean a two- or three-fold increase in property tax. For instance, Anna Nagar resident AYM Swamy found that he used to pay a property tax of Rs 1,368 for a six-month period for the flat he had taken on rent at VOC Nagar main road in Anna Nagar east.
“My flat area is 1,200 square feet in which only 920 sq feet is plinth/carpet area while the remaining 280 square feet is common area of parking place, lift, floor steps. This has been construed as commercial area and the rate accordingly revised by more than 300%,” Swamy said.
His property tax shot up from Rs 1,368 to Rs 5,335 for the half-year period. “I’m a retired person and this came as a jolt for me,” he said.
The common area is being used by everyone so charging me alone at commercial rates is not correct, he said. He has approached corporation officials with this complaint and they have promised to resolve the issue.
Residents have to ensure that they enter the details properly. They can also verify the tax assessed as it is clearly mentioned in the calculator,” a corporation official said.
In the first half of this financial year ended September 30, the corporation’s collection of property tax has been Rs 607.38 crore. The local body has collected Rs 201.59 crore as professional tax. During the same period last year, the corresponding collections were Rs 320.21 crore and Rs 171.4 crore respectively.
