Abandoned properties go on the market
The rates haven’t been paid for years and the owners can’t be found, so abandoned properties in a fast-growing Waikato spot are on the market.
Waikato District Council’s selling five Pōkeno properties and one in Te Uku, and will use the proceeds to cover unpaid rates.
Another five properties were initially listed, the council said, but they now have payment plans in place.
Land is considered abandoned by Waikato District Council after all attempts to contact the owner fail, after which the council can sell the land under the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002.
Four of the Waikato District sections for sale - including the two most valuable - are in the same street.
They’re side-by-side on Bluff Rd, on the edge of Pōkeno. Another Pōkeno property is on McGill Rd, and the sixth property is on Wrights Rd in Te Uku.
Proceeds of sales go towards unpaid rates on the property, and any surplus will go to the public trustee, who then holds the funds for anyone who has a claim on them.
The largest and most valuable sections are 140B and 186 Bluff Rd. These are both 4047m², valued at $331,000 each. The cheapest piece of land is the Te Uku property, valued at $3500. Land is sometimes left abandoned after the owner dies and there are no contactable beneficiaries, Waikato District Council’s chief financial officer Alison Diaz said.
“In the case of rates on bare land, if we can’t contact the landowner and the rates have not been paid for three years or more, council will then consider whether or not to proceed with the abandoned land process through the court,” Diaz said.
“All attempts are made to get in touch with the owner first, including trying to trace them through publicly available records. If this has been unsuccessful, we issue a public notice that we intend to have the land declared abandoned.”
If the owner were to come forward, the council would stop proceedings and set up a payment plan for the unpaid rates. In the past five years, this process has been carried out with seven properties.
Other Waikato councils are undergoing similar processes, with fewer properties.
Thames-Coromandel District Council is working on one abandoned land matter, while Matamata-Piako District Council has three.
A spokesperson for Matamata-Piako District Council said that while discussions were being had about the three properties, no formal action had been taken yet.
When unused land is owned by the Crown, the process is slightly different.
Land Information New Zealand first determines whether the land is needed for any other public works, whether the land should be given back to the person the Crown purchased it from, and then offers rights of first refusal to Māori under a Treaty settlement before putting the land on the market.