[Samantha Akers]

Hi everyone

I am just wondering what process other councils have undertaken to determine their vacant sub-classifications? Inspections, mapping? And have other councils determined this sub-classification without the need for an application by the ratepayer?

And just wanting other councils thoughts on the following:
As per Section 57(4) – Quote ‘The effective date for the sub-classification cannot be in a previous financial year (despite any other provision of this Act)
Does this mean that a vacant sub-classification can not be carried over to the next rating/financial year? Does this mean a review needs to be undertaken each year for these sub-classifications or an application made annually for this to remain?

I would hope that an annual review or application was not required as this would cause a lot of un-necessary work for us councils… Although I do understand that as per Sec 58(1) we do need to undertake a review at least once every 4 years…

Let me know your thoughts

Sam

[Simone Fisher]

Hi Sam, we sub-classified vacant land when we did our initial classifications (where possible). We have a domestic waste availability charge for vacant residential land so I used this to identify vacant residential land within our town centres. For rural residential assessments with no access to domestic waste we used a combination of Near Maps & DA information. For business land we looked at if a property was coded for a Stormwater Management Charge & if they weren’t we checked mapping.

We did have a number of properties where it was impossible to see from mapping if there were structures built due to tree canopies. The geography of these properties (water catchment, access through National Park, etc.) also made them difficult to inspect so we classified them as non-vacant & will rely on an application from the owner for vacant sub-classification.

I believe section 57(4) means that if an application for sub-classification is received it cannot be backdated beyond 1 July in the rating year that it has been received & not that sub-classification must be applied for annually.

For review of sub-classification (for residential assessments) we have added a procedure to our waste adjustments. When a new waste service is delivered we add a waste charge & remove the availability charge so this will now also trigger an adjustment to the FESL classification from the start of the next quarter.

For business properties we will be reviewing approved DA’s monthly & also do a larger check using mapping annually for any that are missed (fortunately we don’t have many vacant business properties).

Hope this has been of help.
Regards,
Simone

[Kylie Ryan]

Hi Simone & Sam
We took the same approach as Simone, and sub-classified as many as we could based on service charges (connected to water/sewer, or have domestic waste services). We have also used mapping, DA/CC/Occ Certificate records, and even local knowledge to assist in the determination. Those that we were unable to discern we classified non-vacant and rely on the ratepayer to request review.

I hope you don’t mind me asking another question about this topic though – I have received a request for a review from a ratepayer who has a property with only a very small (7sqm) shed with some tools in it. It is a hobby farm that has cattle on it but he lives approx 45minutes drive away, so leaves some things there. He has requested that the sub-classification be ‘vacant’. The regulations state that the land not be used for ‘storage or treatment of goods, materials or any other item’, but this is a very small structure – and we wouldn’t have even known it was there if he hadn’t noted it on his request for review. I’m not sure if it would be called ‘derelict’ (I guess only being a tin shed possible?) but it is ‘not being used and could not be used for a residential, industrial or commercial purpose’… Thoughts?

Thanks,
Kylie

[Tracey Walker]

Hi All,
We used our DWM vacant land charge to identify our residential vacant land and have put in place a process similar to Simone’s as we prorata from date of registration now for rates and waste, we adjust from the sub-classification and charge from the next quarter. As for business we used the stormwater coding where there was no stormwater we did a desktop audit such as DA/CC/OCC, GIS, and Google and where we could not ascertain whether it was vacant or not we classified as non vacant and will wait for the ratepayer to request a review.

We also have a monthly compliance reports that already pick up on most of this coding so that will be reviewed as well.

Kylie in relation to your question if there is a structure that can be used for “storage or treatment of goods” than it needs to be non vacant, regardless of the size is my understanding.

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