In total, council is owed $583,740.53 from unpaid rates, the sale of these properties will recover these debts and anything made on top of this from the sale will go to the property owner.
Under section 713 of the NSW Local Government Act 1993, local councils are able to sell land where rates or charges have been unpaid.
Councils can sell vacant land if rates have not been paid for one year, and all other land if unpaid for more than five years.
“It’s not that you miss a rate payment and off your land goes,” Murray River Council director of corporate services Stephen Fernando said.
“It’s people who have not been paying their dues for quite a while.”
Generally, this is a last resort for local councils that have exhausted all other avenues to recover debts.
“While councils can take legal action to recover unpaid rates, including the sale of property, this is generally only undertaken when all alternative debt recovery options have been exhausted,” a spokesperson for the Office of Local Government said.
“We engage in a whole series of actions, like sending them reminders, following up with them,” Mr Fernando said.
The majority of lots in question are vacant land, with only a few houses potentially up for sale.
Deep Creek Marina in Moama has multiple lots for sale on Murray Rivers Edge in various stages of development, from completely vacant to built for lease.
“Obviously, that’s somewhat of an unusual development,” Mr Fernando said.
“I’m guessing ... those owners borrowed to get into that, and now they’re no longer interested or no longer capable of making those payments.
“So, potentially it might be we have to deal with the mortgages and people who are holding the mortgage over the land.”
A handful of listed property owners are deceased, some as far back as the 1980s and one in the 1960s. The NSW Land Registry Services found these lots and asked for council to rate them, going by the last person who owned them.
Council is aware that this is the case, but as there is no current-listed owner or inheritor to pay the rates, they will need to sell the property.
“If the owners are deceased and that (estate) process has not happened, then there’s no owner, we can’t even come into a payment arrangement or something because we can only do that with the owner of the property,” Mr Fernando said.
“We just don’t have an option.”
Council believes one property it has the authority to sell is occupied. It is looking into the specifics of this case.
The land sale process was last undertaken by Murray River Council before the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Since gazetting the announcement on Friday, April 12, as well as advertising in publications such as the Riv, some property owners have approached council and are in negotiations.
Council and the Office of Local Government have encouraged rate payers in financial difficulty to reach out so that they can explore payment options.
“(There is a) hardship policy, which allows for ratepayers to come to an arrangement with council to pay in monthly instalments, or weekly instalments,” Mr Fernando said.
“Anyone experiencing difficulty paying their rates is encouraged to contact their council to discuss their situation and may be able to engage in the council’s financial hardship process,” the Office of Local Government spokesperson said.
“The Office of Local Government’s debt management and hardship guidelines outline best practice approaches for councils to manage ratepayer debt and respond to genuine hardship.
“All NSW councils are required to take the guidelines into account when developing and implementing local debt management and hardship policies and procedures.”
The auctions will be at Moama Bowling Club on Saturday, July 13 from 1pm.
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