Rates are essential income to keep the district running - they help meet the cost of all the services and facilities provided by the District Council. The Capital Value of every rateable property is assessed every three years by Council's Valuers (currently Quotable Value) – this provides an up-to-date rating value that determines the level of General Rates you will pay. Targeted rates (such as water, refuse, and wastewater) are added if you receive these services to your property.

Rates are billed in four instalments during the rating year (which begins on 1 July and ends on 30 June). You will receive the invoice for each rates instalment early in the month that the instalment is due.

To avoid penalties, you must pay each instalment in full by the due date (or the next business day if the due date falls on a weekend or public holiday):

• 25 August (first instalment)
• 25 November (second instalment)
• 25 February (third instalment)
• 25 May (fourth instalment).

Penalties and Penalty Waivers

Any instalment that is not fully paid by the due date will incur a 10% penalty on the outstanding amount. If you've incurred a penalty, but meet any of the following conditions, you can apply for a penalty waiver:

• Council has not issued a rates assessment and/or invoice as required under the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002; or
• It can be substantiated that a ratepayer has been disadvantaged in the delivery of a rates assessment and/or invoice.  Substantiation shall consist of some form of tangible evidence such as undelivered mail being returned to Council; or
• the ratepayer pays the rates through electronic banking and makes an error in the transaction, or
• The ratepayer:
  • provides a written explanation why payment could not be made by the due date; and
  • the explanation is considered reasonable; and
  • the ratepayer has not received a rates remission within the last three years; and
  • the ratepayer has not incurred more than three penalties within the last three years, and
  • there are no overdue rates outstanding (excluding the penalty remission application)
  No further application under this section of the policy will be considered within the next three years, except on extraordinary grounds; or
• A formalised and approved rate payment arrangement has been complied with.  Only those penalty charges incurred since commencement of the arrangement will be considered for remission, or
• Where those who wish to pay their rates for the year in full within one month from the date the first instalment penalty charge notice was issued.

Property Settlement

If you sell your house you need to make an arrangement for your rates with your solicitor

Property Settlement Request from Solicitor (online form)

Rating Information Privacy Statement

Personal Information used on Rates related documents is based on the details supplied by the change of ownership process.

It is sourced from information an owner uses as  their “proof of identity” when the lawyer or conveyancer completes the registration of the new owner (ratepayer) in the Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) portal.

Under the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002, these details are also supplied to Council, and used to create or update a name record within our names database (NAR).

This is then linked to the relevant property or properties. This information is used to

• Provide a ratepayer with Rating based documents
• Contact an affected Ratepayer, where Council may be undertaking works, consents, applications, permits, contracts, notifications etc. that affect property or a specific area where the property is located in the district.
• Link any issues a ratepayer may have that are property related within our Customer Request system (CRM)
• Link to any other business a ratepayer may have with council,g.  an animal owner, consent affected party, submitter and voter

Any ratepayer can request their information be updated at any time, but under the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002 the ratepayer name information must match what is on the relevant Record of Title.

So if a ratepayer has had a name change and this information has not been updated on the LINZ database then unfortunately Council must keep that name as it is on the relevant  Record of Title until it has been updated. Please seek legal advice to clarify what the options are to update a name on a title.

Any ratepayer personal information is only supplied where there is a legal requirement to do so, and is covered by the MPDC Privacy Policy.