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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 - Recovery from persons other than owner

62A: Person actually using certain abandoned general land liable for rates

You could also call this:

"You must pay rates on abandoned Māori land if you use it and the owner can't be found."

If you are using land that was once Māori land, you might have to pay rates on it. This land is general land that ceased to be Māori land under Part 1 of the Maori Affairs Amendment Act 1967. The people who own this land are the same people who owned it before it stopped being Māori land, or their descendants.

You will have to pay rates if the owner of the land has not paid rates for three years or more, and the owner is unknown, cannot be found, has died with no representative, or has said they want to abandon the land. If you are using this land, you are liable for the rates from the date you started using it.

If you are only using part of the land, you might still have to pay rates for the whole area, unless you can prove otherwise. The local authority will send the rates bill to you, the person using the land. This rule overrides some other rules, including sections 44 and 46.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS483982.

Topics:
Māori affairs > Māori landGovernment 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: Recovery from persons other than owner

62APerson actually using certain abandoned general land liable for rates

  1. This section applies to land if—

  2. the land is general land that ceased to be Māori land under Part 1 of the Maori Affairs Amendment Act 1967; and
    1. the land is beneficially owned by the persons, or by the descendants of the persons, who beneficially owned the land immediately before the land ceased to be Māori land; and
      1. rates have not been paid to the local authority by the owner of the land for 3 years or more; and
        1. the owner of the land—
          1. is unknown; or
            1. cannot be found after due inquiry and has no known agent in New Zealand; or
              1. is deceased and has no personal representative; or
                1. has given notice to the local authority that they intend to abandon or have abandoned the land.

                2. A person actually using land to which this section applies is liable for rates on the land in respect of the period commencing on or after the date they started using the land.

                3. A person actually using only part of a rating unit of land to which this section applies during a financial year must be treated as having used the whole of the rating unit for the whole of the financial year unless the person establishes otherwise.

                4. The rates assessment and rates invoice must be delivered to the person actually using the land to which this section applies.

                5. This section overrides sections 44 and 46.

                Notes
                • Section 62A: inserted, on , by section 33 of the Local Government (Rating of Whenua Māori) Amendment Act 2021 (2021 No 12).