[John Towers]

Hi Kim

The lessee remains responsible for the debt. It is a personal debt rather than a debt against the land.

This would be in both cases.

JT

[John Towers]

To the best of my knowledge, yes.

[John Towers]

Hi Jenita,

Further to Todd’s post, no GST is payable on any waste charges raised by Council since the date of the ruling.

I am aware that some Councils have raised charges with GST included for the 2015/16 year however from 1/7/16 all charges both residential & business are GST free.

NSC did have GST included in our business waste charges which are raised quarterly & processed via AR however from 1/1/16 we are now charging the GST exclusive price.

JT

[John Towers]

Hi Emma,

I disagree with Tammie, I would rate them separately from 1/7/15.

I’ll let you make the decision.

Regards

JT

[John Towers]

And even more about it

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-10/nsw-government-to-announce-emergency-services-levy/7016076?section=nsw

[John Towers]

And yet more on the ‘shirkers’ ……..

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/ratepayers-to-pay-new-emergency-services-levy-but-insurance-costs-to-fall-20151209-gljzwe.html

I’d like to thank David Elliott for the shirkers comment which will come back to haunt all of us.

[John Towers]

Hi Maria,

I don’t understand how the Administrator can make that decision. Was it done in conjunction with Council? If the receivership happened in August 2015 I can understand that he won’t accept charges after that date but I would have thought that the Council would remain on the books as an unsecured creditor for charges prior to that date. I’d be asking why?

As the R&C’s are the responsibility of the lessee due to it being a Crown lease unfortunately if you aren’t paid, or are only paid part, you will need to have the amounts written off.

Good luck.

JT

[John Towers]

I have heard that WMD have quickly sent out letters to Councils requesting non ratability for various properties.

I have also heard that at least 1 of the Councils involved in the decision is considering their options following the decision.

If your Council is approached with a request then I suggest in the short term acknowledging it & not making a decision until such time as the time allowed for a further appeal has passed.

If I become aware of any further developments I will keep you informed.

JT

[John Towers]

I agree with Susan & Robert.

Further, Sec 555(1)(f)(i) deals with a playground that belongs to & is used in connection with a school.

I’m sure some much clever than me would pick that up & draw the analogy between that bit of the legislation & the church car park which is across the road.

You may want to talk to Liverpool as I seem to remember a similar situation there, when I was there 20+ years ago – Catholic Church in Casula possibly – although given the development around that area it’s probably been sold off for housing by now.

[John Towers]

I believe you would always want to set a reserve (transparency) & in most cases you would want that reserve to be a figure that is defensible in court if necessary. Obviously the best way of doing this is via the VG or a local valuer/real estate agent. Why? Because they are independent of the process. I don’t believe using the last LV supplied by the VG is a satisfactory reserve because as we all know LV’s bear no relationship to the market value in most cases.

If the land was a piece of land with little or no worth then the amount of outstanding rates may be a suitable number as a reserve.

I don’t fully agree with Tracey’s comment “that all you are trying to do is clear the debt”. Whilst that maybe the outcome intended you still have to achieve the best price for the property which is being sold. There have been several instances over the years (sorry don’t remember all the names etc) in which there has been court action over the sale price or reserve & the aggrieved owner considered it too low.

Just some things to consider in the process.

[John Towers]

I’m just wondering in what circumstances would you write rates off? I do understand regarding interest.

[John Towers]

Hi Amit,

Answers in order:

1) I don’t believe you would be able to collect rates which have previously been written off;

2) A ROW is noted on the title & is remains in force. Council would be selling teh land as is;

3) I believe you would need the owner to offer the land under S570, not just take it but if that is the case then yes Council could accept it. What does Council do with it then?

4) I’m not sure about this one, but if it’s an insert how can you be sure there is one in every paper unlike an ad? You would probably need to take legal advice on this.

JT

[John Towers]

Drew

Just a comment about future DA’s, many are not even approved by Council these days. We have a problem DWM development which was approved by the L&E Court after being rejected by Council. This has caused us similar issues.

Just something else that we need to be aware of, particularly the recent publicity given to infill development along rail corridors etc.

JT

[John Towers]

Drew,

I agree with Suzi although I would suggest that allowing residential buildings to install their own waste management system is fraught with danger going forward.

As a ratepayer I would be concerned that this type of charging regime would create a system of haves & have nots.

What is to stop an individual ratepayer entering into an agreement with a private supplier for collection, eg fortnightly, thereby saving themselves money? I’m not aware that there is any ‘allowance’ available with =in the LGA & from memory (although it is fading) the intention of the availability charge was only to cover vacant land. It was never intended to cover this type of situation.

JT

[John Towers]

Hi Megan,

NSC has had an agreement in place with Customer Service regarding the type of inquiries they take & what is forwarded to the Revenue section & this has existed for many years. (Similar to Ken but probably not as formal).

This involved a cheat sheet of Q&A’s being put together so that CS could answer general questions & seems to work well generally. Yes they do take pensioner applications & forward them to us, although if its a little outside the norm they will generally ask for assistance rather then having to go back to the pensioner for follow up.

The major break downs seem to revolve around new CS employees not being given proper training when they commence & I occasionally need to remind the manager of the agreement/protocols.

Good luck

[Author]

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