Rating of Māori freehold land

Change

Before July 2021

Now

Wholly unused land

Owners legally obliged to pay rates.

Historic rate arrears on unused Māori land will automatically be removed and no further rates charged on wholly unused land blocks.

Arrears

Council could not write off rates considered to be unrecoverable.

Council must write off outstanding rates on any Māori freehold land considered unrecoverable, including debt inherited from deceased owners.

Individual

homeowners

Low-income homeowners on a multi-home Māori land block could not access a rates rebate.

Upon request, Council can rate individual houses on Māori land as a separate rating unit.

The individual homeowner is then responsible for rates on that rating unit and can access the Rates Rebate Scheme.

Development of Māori Freehold

Land

There were inconsistent approaches across Local Authorities to remit or postpone rates on unused land.

Māori landowners can apply for a rates remission while their land is under development. If the application is successful it will provide some rates relief for Māori landowners while they bring their land into greater use.

Ngā Whenua Rāhui kawenata land

Local authorities could collect rates on land protected for conservation purposes under Ngā Whenua Rāhui.

All Ngā Whenua Rāhui land is non-rateable and rate arrears written off.

Multiple land blocks

Multiple land blocks from the same parent were rated individually.

Māori landowners can apply to have multiple landblocks from the same parent block treated as a single rating unit (this will reduce the number of uniform annual general charges applied).