Hi Guys
The High Court case of Sydney City Council v Garbett Pty Ltd (http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/HCA/1995/2.html) seems to say that it doesn’t matter whether or not the person received the rates notice (look at para 12) as long as council has served it in accordance with the Act. There are also other cases to do with service by post that say once it has been sent it is served whether or not it was received.
At the end of the day it’s the ratepayers responsibility to keep the address current.
As far as good customer service, well that’s another thing. But take care if you want to start sending rates notices to an address that was not provided by the ratepayer. One day you may have to justify where the address came from and prove it’s a good address. Make sure your method of service is within section 710.
Lastly, we advised one of our councils to affix it to the land (which was vacant) in accordance with section 710(2)(e).
All the best
David
