The revised assessment rates will take effect from January next year, and will not be delayed as reported yesterday, Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor is reported as saying.

Notices based on the new valuation, Tengku Adnan said, would be sent to ratepayers in January as required under the by-laws of the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL).

However, he clarified that ratepayers can wait until March to pay, pending the dialogue with property owners and further studies that could see another payment formula being drawn up.

“It is up to the people whether they want to pay the amount (based on the January bill) or wait until later,” he is quoted as saying by the online edition of The Star today.

This contradicts with what his deputy, Loga Bala Mohan, told the Dewan Rakyat yesterday: that the assessment hikes will be postponed until March to enable the dialogue with property owners.

Tengku Adnan also gave his assurance that there fines would not be imposed on ratepayers who pay by March.

NONE Under the assessment rate hike - the first in the city after 21 years - ratepayers will be paying more as a result of the higher valuation of their properties and this will amount to an increase of about 20 percent, or even up to 260 percent in some cases.

The percentage of assessment to be paid on the property will remains at six percent of the annual rentable value of the property.

The sudden announcement of the drastic hike in assessment has led to protests against it, including a massive protest in front of the DBKL headquarters that Pakatan Rakyat MPs in the federal capital have called for on Dec 16.