Miscellaneous purposes

Policy 24/113 Remission or Postponement of Rates and Penalties for Miscellaneous Purposes

Allows rates or penalties to be reduced or delayed in unusual situations not covered elsewhere, where charging full rates would clearly be unfair.

Objectives of the policy

This policy is to address inequity in rating in specific circumstances.

Council wishes to be able to postpone or remit rates and / or penalties on rates in circumstances that are not specifically covered by other policies in the Rates Postponement and Remission Policy, but where the Council considers it appropriate to do so.

Criteria and conditions

Council may postpone or remit rates and / or penalties on rates on a rating unit where it considers it just and equitable to do so, in its absolute discretion, because:

  • There are special circumstances in relation to the rating unit, or the incidence of the rates (or a particular rate) assessed for the rating unit, which mean that the unit's rates are disproportionate to those assessed for comparable rating units; or
  • The circumstances of the rating unit or the ratepayer are comparable to those where a postponement or remission may be granted under the Council's other rates postponement or remission schemes, but are not actually covered by any of those schemes; or
  • There are exceptional circumstances that the Council believes that it is equitable to postpone or remit the rates and / or penalties on rates.
  1. To be considered for rates remission or postponement under this policy, the ratepayer must apply for rates remission under this policy, provide information in the prescribed form on how the relevant criteria and conditions are satisfied and complete relevant statutory declarations as may be required by Council. If the ratepayer is deceased Council may apply for the remission on their behalf.
  2. Postponed rates will be registered as a Statutory Land Charge on the Record of Title.  
  3. Council will charge a postponement fee for the period between the due date and the date the rates are paid.  This fee is to cover Council's administrative and financial costs and may vary from year to year. This fee is payable when the costs are incurred.
  4. Any postponement is valid for the year in which the application was made.  
  5. Any postponed rates will be postponed until:
    1. the death of the ratepayer(s); or
    2. until the ratepayer(s) ceases to be the owner or occupier of the rating unit; or
    3. until a date specified by the council  
    4. as determined by the council in any particular case.
  6. Council has the final discretion to decide whether to grant a rates postponement or rates and / or penalties on rates remission under this policy.

Apply for a remission or postponement

You can apply several ways:

Online

Step 1.Gather supporting documents

You'll need to gather any documents that support your application, such as a letter outlining the reasons for seeking postponement.

Step 2.Complete application

Fill in our online form and upload any supporting documents:

Remission or Postponement of Rates and Penalties for Miscellaneous Purposes application

Step 3.Assess your application

We'll check your application is complete and contact you if we need more information.

Step 4.Notification and remission applied

We will let you know the result of your application.

If your application is approved, the remission will be applied to your rates.

Depending on how you pay your rates, your payment amounts may need to change. We will let you know if you need to make any changes when we contact you.

Online:  Pay your land rates

Phone: 09 430 4200

By email

Step 1.Gather supporting documents

You'll need to gather any documents that support your application, such as a letter outlining the reasons for seeking postponement.

Step 2.Complete application

Download the application, print and complete it by hand.

Remission or Postponement of Rates and Penalties for Miscellaneous Purposes application(PDF, 213KB)

Step 3.Email us

Email your completed application and any supporting documents to:

Email: mailroom@wdc.govt.nz

Step 4.Assess your application

We'll check your application is complete and contact you if we need more information.

Step 5.Notification and remission applied

We will let you know the result of your application.

If your application is approved, the remission will be applied to your rates.

Depending on how you pay your rates, your payment amounts may need to change. We will let you know if you need to make any changes when we contact you.

Online:  Pay your land rates

Phone: 09 430 4200

By post

Step 1.Gather supporting documents

You'll need to gather any documents that support your application, such as a letter outlining the reasons for seeking postponement.

Step 2.Complete application

Download the application, print and complete it by hand.

Remission or Postponement of Rates and Penalties for Miscellaneous Purposes application(PDF, 213KB)

Step 3.Post to us

Post your completed application and any supporting documents to:

Whangarei District Council
Private Bag 9023
Te Mai
Whangārei 0143

Step 4.Assess your application

We'll check your application is complete and contact you if we need more information.

Step 5.Notification and remission applied

We will let you know the result of your application.

If your application is approved, the remission will be applied to your rates.

Depending on how you pay your rates, your payment amounts may need to change. We will let you know if you need to make any changes when we contact you.

Online:  Pay your land rates

Phone: 09 430 4200

In person

Step 1.Gather supporting documents

You'll need to gather any documents that support your application, such as a letter outlining the reasons for seeking postponement.

Step 2.Complete application

Download the application, print and complete it by hand.

Remission or Postponement of Rates and Penalties for Miscellaneous Purposes application(PDF, 213KB)

Step 3.Bring into us

Bring your completed application and any supporting documents into one of our Customer Service Centres:

Te Iwitahi (civic centre)
 9 Rust Avenue, Whangārei
Hours: Monday to Friday – 8:00am to 4:30pm
Closed public holidays

Ruakākā service centre 
9 Takutai Place, Ruakākā
Hours: Monday to Friday – 8:30am to 4:00pm
Closed public holidays

Service centre at isite
92 Otaika Road, Raumanga
Hours: Monday to Friday – 9:00am to 12:00pm and 12:30pm to 4:30pm
Closed public holidays

Step 4.Assess your application

We'll check your application is complete and contact you if we need more information.

Step 5.Notification and remission applied

We will let you know the result of your application.

If your application is approved, the remission will be applied to your rates.

Depending on how you pay your rates, your payment amounts may need to change. We will let you know if you need to make any changes when we contact you.

Online:  Pay your land rates

Phone: 09 430 4200

Need help?

If you need help completing the form or need us to send the form to you, give us a call or use our online enquiry form.

Enquire online

Phone: 09 430 4200 

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