Rates Remission and Rates Postponement Policies

Properties that have been deemed uninhabitable (red stickered) as a result of Cyclone Gabrielle in February 2023 are being granted a rates remission. Usually, we ask homeowners to apply for this. But in the case of this cyclone, we are automatically granting a rates remission during the period people’s properties are officially marked as uninhabitable.

In addition, we are extending the payment date for the current rates payments for all ratepayers, because of the weather-related obstacles to delivering rates notices and the difficulty for people to find ways to make payments with power and road disruptions. The date from which a late-payment penalty will be applied for this instalment is being pushed out from 22 February 2023 to 15 March 2023.

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Our Rates Remission and Rates Postponement Policies are revised every time we develop a new Long Term Plan (every three years).

The policies include:

• rates penalties (overdue rates etc.)
• rates on unusable land
• rates on abandoned land
• rates on land held for conservation or preservation purposes
• rates on community, sporting and other non-profit organisations
• rating units containing two separately habitable units
• excess water consumption
• wastewater charges for schools
• rating units occupied/owned in common
• postponement of rates from extreme financial hardship
• postponement of rates for ratepayers aged 65 years and over
• remission of rates on Māori freehold land
• postponement of rates on Māori freehold land
• untreated metered water supply in the Thames Valley
• land subject to a zone change
• exclusion of campgrounds and other multi-unit facilities for area of service from solid waste collection
• miscellaneous purposes
• remission for residents of Licence to Occupy Retirement Villages.
• land affected by natural calamity or fire