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Local Government (Rating) Act 2002

Assessment, payment, and recovery of rates and remission, postponement, and write-off of rates - Remission, postponement, and write-off - Postponement of requirement to pay rates

88: Postponement fee may be added to postponed rates

You could also call this:

"You might have to pay an extra fee if you delay paying your rates."

Illustration for Local Government (Rating) Act 2002

If you get a postponement on paying your rates, the local authority can add a postponement fee to the amount you owe. This fee is for the time between when the rates were due and when you pay them. The local authority can only charge a fee that covers their own costs for letting you postpone paying your rates.

The postponement fee is like part of your rates, and it gets treated the same way as your rates. The local authority decides whether to add a postponement fee based on their own postponement policy. They make sure the fee does not exceed what it costs them to let you postpone paying your rates.

When you finally pay your postponed rates, the postponement fee gets paid too, as it is part of your rates.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM132762.

Topics:
Government and voting > Local councilsHousing and property > Land use
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87: Postponement of requirement to pay rates, or

"Putting off paying rates on your property for now"

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89: Recording postponed rates, or

"What happens when the council puts off collecting rates from you"

Part 3Assessment, payment, and recovery of rates and remission, postponement, and write-off of rates
Remission, postponement, and write-off: Postponement of requirement to pay rates

88Postponement fee may be added to postponed rates

  1. A local authority may, in accordance with its postponement policy, add a postponement fee to the postponed rates for the period between the due date and the date that they are paid.

  2. A postponement fee must not exceed the administrative and financial costs to the local authority of the postponement.

  3. A postponement fee must be treated, for all purposes, as part of the rates on a rating unit.