All Access. All in one subscription. From $2 per week
Subscribe now

All Access Weekly

From $2 per week
Pay just
$15.75
$2
per week ongoing
Subscribe now
BEST VALUE

All Access Annual

Pay just
$449
$49
per year ongoing
Subscribe now
Learn more
30
NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Premium
Home / New Zealand

Auckland Council rates crackdown: Man faces losing Howick home over rates debt

By Lane Nichols
Reporter & Deputy Head of News·NZ Herald·
21 Jul, 2020 05:27 AM6 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌

Subscriber benefit

The ability to gift paywall-free articles is a subscriber only benefit. See more offers by clicking the button below.

Already a subscriber?  Sign in here
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Auckland's biggest outstanding rates bill is a whopping $217,000.
Auckland's biggest outstanding rates bill is a whopping $217,000.

Auckland's biggest outstanding rates bill is a whopping $217,000.

Auckland Council has gone to court to force the sale of a Howick resident's home after his failure to pay thousands of dollars in outstanding rates.

But the man says he has been "wiped out" financially after an acrimonious relationship split and has no way of repaying the money from his weekly dole.

The former builder and self-styled jailhouse bush lawyer has also questioned the council's legal right to levy rates and is vowing to stay put if officials try to force him out.

"They're going to evict me from my own house? That's just ruthless. That's not fair."

Read More

  • Auckland Council approves 'emergency budget', passes a 3.5% rates rise and restores library cuts - NZ Herald
  • Auckland Council planning to sell $244m of assets to help fill a $750m hole - NZ Herald
  • Auckland Council brushes aside ratepayers' concerns and signals a big rates rise - NZ Herald
  • Auckland Council seeks permission to delay CV revaluation for year - NZ Herald
  • Auckland Council's budget hole blows out to $750 million - NZ Herald
  • Heather du Plessis-Allan: Rates should not be going up amid Covid-19 - NZ Herald
All Access. All in one subscription. From $2 per week
Subscribe now

All Access Weekly

From $2 per week
Pay just
$15.75
$2
per week ongoing
Subscribe now
BEST VALUE

All Access Annual

Pay just
$449
$49
per year ongoing
Subscribe now
Learn more
30
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

If the council is successful, the man - who estimates his rates bill is now about $25,000 - would become just the second super city homeowner to lose his property in a forced rating sale.

Start your day in the know

Get the latest headlines straight to your inbox.
Please email me competitions, offers and other updates. You can stop these at any time.
By signing up for this newsletter, you agree to NZME’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

But his bill pales in comparison to the city's biggest outstanding rates debt - more than $200,000 for a property in Freemans Bay.

DO YOU KNOW MORE? EMAIL US HERE

The court action, which commenced in 2017, comes as the council hikes rates to help address a $750 million revenue hit from Covid-19 and Auckland's water crisis.

The council has offered deferment for ratepayers struggling financially as a result of the pandemic.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

But there are fears that more ratepayers will default as job losses kick in when the Government's wage subsidy ends and mortgage holidays dry up later this year.

The Herald can reveal that errant ratepayers owe the council more than $35m in overdue rates, with dozen of homeowners facing court action to force them to comply with their financial obligations.

In total, 28,435 ratepayers are behind or refusing to pay. But the council is refusing to provide details about all but a handful of cases, citing ratepayer privacy and fears publication could "cause shame and further hardship".

Information obtained by the Herald under the Official Information Act show the biggest bill is a whopping $217,000 for a Freemans Bay mixed use property, followed by $188,000 for a Takapuna business, $179,000 for a Wade Head residential property and $161,000 for a Mangere home.

A Beachlands property owner recently paid a massive $204,000 rates bill, avoiding further enforcement action.

There are three active rates recovery cases before the courts.

Under the Local Government (Ratings) Act, councils can charge property owners rates to fund council services and infrastructure.

Failure to pay rates can see property owners taken to court and in extreme cases councils can apply for High Court charging orders to force ratepayers to comply, or ask the court to order the forced sale of homes.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The Herald has fought for months for information on the rates arrears cases. A judge finally granted access to the High Court files earlier this month but suppressed the defendants' identities.

The Howick matter involves a three-bedroom property valued by the council at just under $1m.

Auckland Council obtained a court charging order for $14,004.73 in July 2018 but the homeowner has failed to comply.

The council is refusing to say how much the man now owes, only that "the sum involved in this action is considerably higher".

It has now asked the High Court to order a rating sale to recoup the outstanding money.

The Herald visited the man's house yesterday, which was cluttered with cars, rubbish, bikes and guarded by a dog.

He confirmed he was aware of "rates owning" and had received letters from the council but not read them.

The man said he'd been "cleaned out" by his ex partner and also lost three neighbouring properties in recent years through mortgagee sales taken by banks.

He had been unable to work for several years due to ill health and losing his driver's licence through disqualification.

"I'm anti the system because of what the system has done to me.

"I can't see how I'm going to pay [the council] when the lawyers have taken all the money. There's nothing left."

The council confirmed three other sale applications had been resolved after ratepayers paid up "in full" or agreed to rates postponements.

Another 13 cases now qualify for court-ordered sales, though most are expected to settle.

Auckland's longest overdue rates debt dates from 2004 and now totals nearly $110,000.

Auckland Council's group treasurer John Bishop says about 100 cases have been referred to the courts. Photo / Supplied
Auckland Council's group treasurer John Bishop says about 100 cases have been referred to the courts. Photo / Supplied

Auckland Council's group treasurer John Bishop said ratepayers who failed to pay by instalment due dates received automated phone calls and two reminder letters requesting payment.

READ MORE:
• Māori land not included in court action over unpaid rates: Far North District Council
• Auckland Council to sell activist Penny Bright's house to reclaim unpaid rates
• Rotorua Lakes Council owed more than $5m in unpaid rates
• Law change to scrap rates arrears on Māori land

"In addition to these measures the credit control team sends manual emails and makes phone calls to customers whose rates are in arrears for hands-on collection. Rates unpaid at the end of each financial year (rate arrears) are referred to our in-house legal team for further recovery action."

Bishop confirmed about 850 rates collection matters were currently with the council's legal department. About 100 of these cases had been referred to the District Court, with only a handful being defended.

He confirmed the current forced sale process would be the first since Manurewa pensioner Charlotte Marsh lost her home in 2015 in a court-ordered sale after failing to pay more than $12,000 in rates and penalties.

She had refused to recognise the authority of Auckland Council and claimed to have paid her rates instead to the "rightful land owner" – an unregistered Māori authority.

Activist Penny Bright nearly lost her Kingsland house in 2018 after refusing to pay $34,000.

But a compromise was reached when Bright applied for a rates postponement application, resolving the debt and stopping the mandatory sale process.

She died a few months later.

Subscriber benefit

The ability to gift paywall-free articles is a subscriber only benefit. See more offers by clicking the button below.

Already a subscriber?  Sign in here
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from New Zealand

Christchurch

Police name young driver in fatal SH1 crash

Opinion
|Updated

NZ Herald comments: The stories open for discussion today

New Zealand

Watch: Member of public rams allegedly stolen vehicle in Gisborne


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Recommended for you

'Wild West': Thousands petition for Govt to halt contentious Gene Technology Bill
Politics

'Wild West': Thousands petition for Govt to halt contentious Gene Technology Bill

Government ditching open-plan classrooms
Politics

Government ditching open-plan classrooms

Five-year-old child victim in dog attack
Christchurch

Five-year-old child victim in dog attack

Kaikohe welcomes first Sikh officer in unity ceremony at marae
Northland Age

Kaikohe welcomes first Sikh officer in unity ceremony at marae

Nasa probe captures closest ever images of solar eruptions
World

Nasa probe captures closest ever images of solar eruptions

The Country: Luxon on coalition friction
The Country

The Country: Luxon on coalition friction



Latest from New Zealand

Police name young driver in fatal SH1 crash
Christchurch

Police name young driver in fatal SH1 crash

Tessa Elizabeth Macintosh Sheild died from her injuries early Tuesday morning.

16 Jul 03:08 AM
NZ Herald comments: The stories open for discussion today
Opinion
|Updated

NZ Herald comments: The stories open for discussion today

16 Jul 03:01 AM
Watch: Member of public rams allegedly stolen vehicle in Gisborne
New Zealand

Watch: Member of public rams allegedly stolen vehicle in Gisborne

16 Jul 03:00 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
All Access. All in one subscription. From $2 per week
Subscribe now

All Access Weekly

From $2 per week
Pay just
$15.75
$2
per week ongoing
Subscribe now
BEST VALUE

All Access Annual

Pay just
$449
$49
per year ongoing
Subscribe now
Learn more
30
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search