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Local Government (Rating) Act 2002

Assessment, payment, and recovery of rates and remission, postponement, and write-off of rates - Assessment, payment, and recovery - Legal proceedings to recover rates

63: Legal proceedings to recover rates

You could also call this:

"What happens if you don't pay your rates on time and a local authority takes you to court"

Illustration for Local Government (Rating) Act 2002

If you do not pay your rates on time, a local authority can take you to court to get the money. They can do this if you have not paid your rates for 4 months after they were due. You might also have to pay other unpaid rates for the same property if they became due not earlier than 1 month before the court case started. A court set up under the District Court Act 2016 can hear and decide cases about unpaid rates, no matter how much money is involved.

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This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM132722.

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Government and voting > Local councilsHousing and property > Land use
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Part 3Assessment, payment, and recovery of rates and remission, postponement, and write-off of rates
Assessment, payment, and recovery: Legal proceedings to recover rates

63Legal proceedings to recover rates

  1. A local authority may commence proceedings in a court of competent jurisdiction to recover as a debt rates unpaid for 4 months after the due date for payment.

  2. In any proceedings under subsection (1), the local authority may recover any other unpaid rates in respect of the same rating unit or separate rating area if the rates became due not earlier than 1 month before the proceedings were commenced.

  3. A court constituted under the District Court Act 2016 has jurisdiction to hear and determine proceedings under this Act for the recovery of rates, whatever the amount of the debt involved.

Notes
  • Section 63(2): amended, on , by section 34 of the Local Government (Rating of Whenua Māori) Amendment Act 2021 (2021 No 12).
  • Section 63(3): amended, on , by section 261 of the District Court Act 2016 (2016 No 49).