Council set to auction ‘God’s land’

Mole Creek home under the hammer

A MOLE Creek home will be auctioned by Meander Valley Council to recover rates not paid by owners who say they’re exempt because the land belongs to God.

About $4000 in overdue rates is owed on the house.

It is part of an ongoing dispute between Meander Valley Council and owners Rembertus and Fanny Beerepoot, who stopped paying rates for three properties in 2010.

In a letter written to the council earlier this year, the pair suggested the matter should be taken up with God.

“We believe that our heavenly father is sovereign and that he reigns today, thus we worship him and him alone so that his will is established on the Earth,” the Beerepoots wrote.

“You are asking us to bow down to a false God which is something we cannot do.”

All three properties were under threat of sale at the hands of council, until a mystery saviour paid the rates on two of them in June.

But Meander Valley Mayor Craig Perkins said negotiations with the Beerepoots, who own Melita Honey Farm, were at a stalemate over the Mole Creek home. “We’ve exhausted all options,” he said.

“It seems to be a principle thing about paying rates on this property.”

The house will go under the hammer today at Westbury Town Hall.

Mr Perkins said the money from the sale would reimburse the council for unpaid rates, legal fees and costs associated with the house’s sale.

The remaining money will go to the Beerepoots.

“We don’t want to see them out of pocket but hopefully we can get market value for it,” Mr Perkins said.

Mr Perkins has previously described the family as “genuine people with genuine beliefs”.

But he said they needed to understand the consequences of their actions.

“All of us contribute to the services and infrastructure that as a community we use and benefit from,” he said.

Local Government Association of Tasmania chief executive Katrena Stephenson recently said it was not uncommon for properties to be sold off to recoup unpaid rates in Tasmania but the reason given for this particular exemption was unusual.

“The claim that the land which their properties stand is God’s land is a first for Tasmania, I understand,” Dr Stephenson said.