Rates Relief

Rates Relief

Council has adopted three new policies as part of our Economic Recovery Action Plan, to assist eligible residential, rural and commercial property owners.

An overview of the three new policies is provided below with links to the individual policies. For full details and application forms click here 

Rates Postponement Natural Calamities Policy: 

To provide rating relief to commercial property owners who need additional time to pay their rates due to financial hardship caused by a declared event. Postponed rates will be postponed until a date specified by the Council or the death of the ratepayer or the ratepayers ceases to be the owner of the property or ceases to use the property as their primary residence.

• Are you a ratepayer who runs a business/farm from the property?
• Can demonstrate that you have been financially impacted due to the event and now face financial hardship?

Details of the full policy is available here.

Rates Postponement for Financial Hardship Policy: 

To provide rating relief to property owners who need additional time to pay their rates due to their financial circumstances. You must first approach your bank or financial advisor for either a mortgage, reverse mortgage, or annuity. If your application was declined, please provide a copy of the letter that outlines the reasons why. Applicants must provide evidence of having received budget advice from an approved budget advisory service. Even if rates are postponed, as a rule, the ratepayer will be required to pay the first $1000 of the annual rates assessment by setting up regular Direct Debit payments.

Details of the full policy is available here.

In addition to the above policies ratepayers may be entitled to a Rates Rebate. If you are receiving NZ Superannuation, WINZ benefits or have a combined income within a certain threshold, then you may be entitled to a Rates Rebate of up to $750! For more details click here.

If you need support with paying your rates, please reach out to our Council Rates team on 06 857 7738 and they will do all they can to assist.