From 1 July 2024, we will treat properties that are not Māori freehold Land as contiguous only if they meet all three criteria described in the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002 (LGRA) section 20:
- Owned by the same person or persons.
- Used jointly as a single unit.
- Adjacent to or separated only by a road, railway, drain, water race, river, or stream.
The remission means that the property owner pays one set of uniform charges and any targeted rates based on a fixed dollar charge per rating unit, that would normally be charged to those separate properties. This excludes River Scheme rates.
For Māori freehold land, different legislation determines whether properties may be treated as one rating unit. Local Government (Rating) Act 2002 section 20A, provides that:
- A person using two or more rating units of Māori freehold land can apply to Council to have two or more of the rating units to be treated as a single property.
- The property must be used jointly as a single unit by the same person.
- The rating units were derived from, or likely to have been derived from, the same original block of Māori Freehold Land.
The remission may be different from the one applied by your local council and us previously. On this basis we will phase in this change over two rating years. In the first year, (2024/25) we'll apply a 50% rate of the uniform and targeted rates that will apply to this property, and in the second year, (2025/26) full uniform and targeted rates will be applied.
For more information on how the contiguous land rates remission works, contact our rates team on 0800 267 728 or apply using the forms found on the website.