Rate Arrears

Council rate arrears need to be paid and if you don’t pay them you might need financial help to clear them. If you’ve missed council rates payments, they may be added to your home loan or mortgage. You can also incur penalties. Find out what this means when you have late council rate payments. You may be interested to know what happens if you don’t pay your property rates?
Financial help paying rates to council if they are late or in arrears

Did you miss a rates payment or have rate arrears?

It is dangerous to be in a situation where you have late payments of bills and rates to council. Usually, every few months, your local government body such as the Council will send you a rates bill. It is compulsory to pay the rates bill. They may send several letters. Or late rate payment notices, or a letter demanding payment. If you have a home loan or a mortgage, the Council may also contact the bank. This can be even worse if you have mortgage arrears already and you can’t pay your mortgage.  Your different creditors could also send you a letter of demand.

There are many different councils in New Zealand, including:

List of councils

New Zealand has many councils. Here are some, but not all of them:

  • Auckland Council
  • Bay of Plenty Regional Council
  • Canterbury Regional Council
  • Christchurch City Council
  • Dunedin City Council
  • Far North District Council
  • Hamilton City Council
  • Nelson City Council
  • New Plymouth District Council
  • Northland Regional Council
  • Otago Regional Council
  • Queenstown-Lakes District Council
  • Rotorua District Council
  • Taranaki Regional Council
  • Taupo District Council
  • Tauranga City Council
  • Thames-Coromandel District Council
  • Waikato Regional Council
  • Wellington Regional Council
  • Whangarei District Council

For a more extensive list of the council names you can visit the Local Councils website.

Your bank can add your rates bill to your mortgage

If the Council rates bill remains unpaid, or in arrears, there is a chance they may request the bank to add it to your mortgage. Essentially they are asking the bank to pay it on your behalf, then recover the costs from you. When this happens, the home loan is increased, because of the Council rates bill.

This is not good news, however. It can negatively impact your credit reputation, and cause the bank to send you a warning letter.

The bank may also charge a penalty or a fee for the administration of this.

It is not a great situation to be in if you have rate arrears or unpaid bills to council or other banks lenders. If you have problems paying bills, it’s important to seek help urgently.

Need financial help and assistance paying your rates?

Struggling to pay your council rates? An emergency refinance might help you clear your rates arrears and get back on track with your bills.

This genuine process can help New Zealanders like yourself get up to date with your bills and clear your council rates, and other debts you may have, such as credit cards, late payments, loans, expenses, and more.

You can also benefit from a debt consolidation, and this can be available even if you have had bad credit or problems paying the bills in the past.

Get financial help for paying rates bills

You can sometimes talk to organisations such as Work and Income to see if they can assist. There may also be other organisations who may be able to assist.

However if the situation is looking like it is going to get more challenging, you probably want to take action before the situation gets worse.

If you need to organise funds in a rush before the situation gets worse, you can consider talking to a financial adviser and making contact. It may be possible that you need to organise a solution before the situation gets worse, and your credit rating gets worse. You probably also want to avoid or prevent a mortgagee sale.