Local authorities will not need to refund over $32 million in rates after a Privy Council ruling, Local Government New Zealand chief executive Peter Winder said.
The Privy Council decision has allowed the Local Government NZ appeal against the way the Valuer-General had directed certain properties be treated for valuation purposes.
ThePrivy Council has ruled that occupation, not the existence of separate title, is the prime determinant of a separate property for rating purposes.
In other words, each flat or shop in a block is a separate property.
Most of the 74 city and district councils had been levying uniform annual charges on each flat or shop when some ratepayers had been claiming that only one such charge could be levied over the entire block.
In November, the Court of Appeal granted Local Government NZ the right to appeal to the British-based Privy Council against a September decision that found the councils had collected $32.5 million in uniform charges they should not have.
"We are very pleased that the Privy Council has put the whole matter to bed," Mr Winder said yesterday.
