[Maria Devoti]

Hi All,

We have had a request from Oak Tree Retirement Village to provide pension rebate concessions for the residents who are pensioners within the retirement community on this basis they meet the requirements under S.575(1).

They have advised whilst Oak Tree Retirement Villages is listed as the registered proprietor of the land, the residents are contractually responsible for the payment of statutory charges, including council rates, as stipulated in their individual residence contracts.

There is only 1 property with multiple villas situated on the land, rated as Residential.

Can anyone provide feedback if they would be entitled to pension concession(s).

thanks Maria

[Robert Hay]

Hi Maria

I had this exact situation a few years ago.

Whilst the pensioners are required to contribute to rates and charges per the contract, they are not the owners of the property. Oak Tree Retirement Village is the owner and under section 560 of the Act they are liable for payment of Council rates.

The question to ask is if the rates were unpaid who would you take legal action against? It would be the owner as per section 560.

The other thing is to is Council is not bound by the contract as they are not a party to it.

Hope this helps

Robert

[Maria Devoti]

Thanks Robert

[Chad Blake]

Hi Maria

We recently received similar correspondence and denied per Robert’s line of thinking.

As a FYI, they were persistent – a) would not accept my answer and my Director had to re-iterate it and b) then tried to get out of waste charges.

Chad

[Trevor Holland]

Hi Maria

Came across this situation when I worked at Port Macquarie Hastings Council.

Found the residents were not eligible to claim rebates as they were not the registered owners of the property.

Agree with both Robert and Chad. Residents are not eligible for pension concession rebates/

Regards
Trevor

[Elizabeth Fenning]

Oak Tree Retirement is certainly doing the rounds. At Lake Mac, they contacted me about this topic.

I’ve also denied their application for a Pensioner rebate as Council relies on statutory liability rather than private contractual liability under section 560 and 575 of the Local Government Act, as such, individual concessions cannot be applied to residents within the village under the current tenure and ownership structure.

[David Grima]

Hi all,
We denied their application too.
They told us that other Councils were providing rebates but were unable to provide proof.
Dave

• This reply was modified 5 months, 4 weeks ago by David Grima.

[Donna Scott]

Oaktree are having a second crack at me. Originally replied As Oak Tree Retirement village is the register proprietor it is liable for all applicable rates and charges but still not happy with the response

[Robert Hay]

Hi Donna

Time for my favourite response:

Council’s position remains the same, and the decision stands.

Unless you can provide the forum anything new from your original post.

Robert

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