Rates rise after dwelling review
Denise Petrie’s granny flat is fully fenced and has its own driveway but until this year she did not have to pay separate rates on it.
That changed after the local council reviewed second dwellings on its rating database and as a result Petrie’s latest annual rates bill jumped about $1000, with the extra charges coming on top of an average district-wide increase of 6 per cent over the next two years.
Petrie has lived in her twobedroom Darfield cottage since 2006 and throughout that time has not paid extra rates for the granny flat at the back of her property, despite the Selwyn District Council knowing about it the whole time she has lived there, she said.
The flat has its own bathroom but the kitchen facilities are restricted to a sink – occupants need to supply their own hotplate, gas rings, benchtop oven or microwave as there is no wired-in stove or any other means of cooking provided.
It is on the same title as the main house, the electricity runs from the house board, the water is attached to the house supply and it shares the same septic tank as the house.
Family and friends do stay in the flat but Petrie said the $170 a week she gets for that, which covers rent and power but not food, goes straight on her mortgage.
Now that the flat is viewed as a separate dwelling, Petrie has been hit with two separate charges for services such as water supply, stormwater and refuse, while she has also been charged two recreation reserve and community centre rates.
It’s seen her rates bill jump from just over $2000 last year to about $3000.
Petrie was unprepared for the higher rates demand and questions why she is being charged more.
‘‘It’s not as if I’m using any more services than I was before.’’
Selwyn District Council Corporate Services manager Greg Bell said the council had conducted a review to confirm that second dwellings identified on its rating database were being rated correctly. He said it set certain rates based on the number of dwellings, rather than per rating unit, as the number of dwellings was a better measure of demand for services than rating units.
The council reviewed properties on a case by case basis, Bell said, and it had offered to meet Petrie to discuss her situation.
Councils around the country use a range of different approaches over rating second dwellings such as granny flats and in some places Petrie would have escaped the rates hike.
Christchurch City Council head of financial management Diane Brandish said under its rates rules a sleepout or granny flat would only be defined as a separate dwelling if it was self-contained. It would need its own kitchen facilities, including a wired-in stove – a separate bedroom and bathroom wing would not be sufficient.