A. Section 37 (1) (f) of the Sectional Titles Act, 95 of 1986, dealing with the duties of Bodies Corporate states that they are "to insure the building or buildings and to keep it or them insured to the replacement value thereof against fire and such other risks as may be prescribed".
This means that it is an offence not to insure the building/s as the act was specifically designed to prevent any person or group of persons from taking a unilateral decision regarding the insurance of the property thereby ensuring that each owner's interest in a complex is adequately insured against possible loss or damage. It is therefore mandatory that the sum insured of the building/s should be reviewed at every AGM and it is recommended that only a professional assessment, backed by professional indemnity cover - such as offered by mirfin - should be considered for this purpose.

A. The market value of a building is determined by the desire of the person who wants to own the building and does not reflect the replacement cost. In the event of total destruction of a building, it must be rebuilt from scratch and for this purpose one would have to insure it for the actual cost of the building materials together with design, labour and other costs.

A. Free electronic valuations may be used by some players on the property market to attract clients. However, electronic valuations are neither able to consider the individual assets of a building nor can they judge the surrounding factors and influences. Electronic valuations reflect only the brick and mortar value of a realty, based on attributes taken from a computer data base and they are unable to provide any of the benefits given by a professional valuation. mirfin offers professional valuations at an unbeatably low and feasible rate. Remember: nothing in life comes for free, and where it does indeed appear to be the case, look out for the catch!

A. A property priced on the strength of a mirfin valuation will attract notably less buyer resistance, if at all. This means that the time span between marketing and obtaining a signed "offer to purchase" will be reduced considerably. Properties which are over-priced will take a long time to sell, if at all. It has been proven time and again that properties which remain unsold for a long period of time will eventually become stigmatised in the sense that potential buyers might become suspicious of the property, which may well result in a sale below market value.

A. With a mirfin valuation in hand, you, the seller, will have the peace of mind to grant a sole mandate to your preferred estate agent and strengthen your negotiating leverage with the estate agent. It puts you in charge! A mirfin valuation is an affordable and very feasible instrument to put your estate agent to the test by asking him/her to support their sales promises with a certified valuation.

A. A certified mirfin valuation can not be contested by insurance carriers as it is also a verified reflection of the replacement value of a property. Therefore the risk of under- or over-insurance is wholly eliminated.

A. Go to order and calculate your own quotation. The fees quoted, are regardless of the location of the property anywhere within the Republic of South Africa. Should you require a valuation not provided for on the calculation menu, please contact us.

A. Yes, all mirfin valuations are market-related and guaranteed to attract a home loan from at least one - if not all - of the major lending institutions.

A. Usually three months, otherwise subject to the volatility of the market.

A. After your payment has been verified, one of our valuers will contact you within one working day thereafter and make an appointment to visit your property. Once our valuer has done a physical inspection or survey, the data is transmitted to the processing centre, where a valuation report is compiled. The valuation report will be sent to your email address as a PDF file attachment, together with your tax invoice (also in PDF format).

A. This will depend on the size of the project but in general, the valuation report will be forwarded to you by email within four to ten working days after the physical inspection.

A. The outcome of the valuation of your property will be transmitted to you electronically, together with your invoice, by email (as a PDF file).

A. Yes, your tax invoice will be transmitted to you electronically, together with the valuation report, by email (as a PDF file) or by facsimile.

A. Yes, as it will constitute an expense in your tax return.

A. mirfin is totally independent. We are not contracted to or affiliated to any financial institution and therefore mirfin is totally impartial.

A. There are a number of instances by which means mirfin valuations can be verified:

• acceptance of the valuation amount by a lending institution
• all valuations are performed by accredited professional valuers
• all valuations are covered by Professional Indemnity Insurance

A. Pretoria.

A. The applicant normally bears the cost of a valuation, however, some agents, brokers or insurers may offer to absorb the fee or share it with the applicant.

A. Yes, we have a strict privacy policy. We guarantee that no information pertaining to our clients and their valuations shall be divulged by mirfin to any third party or authority beyond our clients and, of course, the valuers.

A. No. Besides offering valuations of residential property, we also offer our services to corporate clients.

A. An "evaluation" is generally understood to be an estimate of the value of a property by a non-professional person. Such an estimate may be based upon information about recent property sales in an area which may be obtained from subjective experience or from an electronic database. Some individuals or companies may offer this as a free service with the aim of luring clients into signing up for other services. This practise, however, does not conform to the code of conduct as laid down by the Estate Agency Affairs Board. A lending institution will not accept an "evaluation" at face value for the purpose of granting a loan. Some lenders may, however, honour the opinion of a long established and experienced agent as a guideline but would still reserve the right to conduct their own valuation. Ultimately, an evaluation is not necessarily as accurate as a professional valuation.

A valuation, on the other hand, is a scientific assessment performed by a registered professional valuer, taking all the risk factors into account which would make such a valuation acceptable for lending purposes. If, however, the valuer has not specifically been appointed by a particular lending institution, the lender would still reserve the right to have an audit valuation done by their own appointed valuer. Normally, the lending institutions prefer mirfin's professional valuations owing to the fact that they are conducted with attention to the necessary detail, apart from the fact that our valuations also are covered by Professional Indemnity Insurance. Evaluations are not covered by Professional Indemnity Insurance, nor do they take into account any risk factors.