The first major Government assessment of the home rental market in the last ten years is currently underway.

At present Government survey forms are being sent to householders throughout the Island and the resulting data collected will provide the first real view of the rental situation since 1989.

The rent return survey forms are sent out by the Land Valuation Department, and their collected statistics are eventually passed on to the Finance Ministry, to help with Land Tax calculations.

But residents need not fear of a tax rise in this year. Finance Minister Grant Gibbons confirmed that there would be no tax changes in this financial year.

Officials are expecting the resulting data, which will be published by July 1999, to provide an illuminating picture of the rents paid and the amount of property rented on Bermuda.

Land valuation officer Chris Farrow said the information would be very interesting.

"It will be an illuminating exercise about what is going on,'' he said. "It is much talked about but there has been very little evidence, it will be good to see what is going on.'' The form states that there will be a new Valuation List from July 1999, and the additional information is required for the work.

It requires details about current and previous rents, provision for increases, services included and whether agents were used.

Cris Valdes-Dapena, senior partner at The Property Group Ltd., said it was possible that the additional information would allow the Annual Rental Values to be brought in line with actual rental values.

The Land Tax is based upon the ARV but she said it didn't follow that any re-assessment would lead to tax increases.

"The Government can amend Land Tax rates up or down. It is concievable that rates could go down.'' Neil Couper, rental manager of Bermuda Realty, said he understood it to be the Government trying to establish a full picture of the rental market across the Island. "They are trying to get sense of the whole market, what levels really are,'' he said.

He said he believed there was no more to it than that, and he encouraged people to supply all the information demanded.

"There is such a large Bermudian ownership of property, that should they change the taxation, it would have to be balanced,'' he said.