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A property covered in scrub and trees on Napier Hill which is years behind on rates and thought to be abandoned could be sold off to recover the debt.
Napier City Council has issued a Public Notice of Apparently Abandoned Land for the property at 112 ShakespeareRd.
Rates have not been paid for the past three years and the ratepayer (owner) has been uncontactable.
There is no home on the 1277m2 property, which has a CV of $165,000.
“Napier City Council intends to exercise its statutory powers ... in respect of the land,” the public notice read, published in Hawke’s Bay Today on Wednesday.
“[And] apply to the District Court one month after the date of this notice for an order declaring the land to be abandoned, and to authorise Napier City Council to sell or lease the land.”
The council confirmed it was an “extremely rare situation”.
A Napier City Council spokeswoman said if an order were made in court declaring it abandoned, the council would not own that property but there would be a “lengthy prescribed process that would ultimately result in the sale of the property”.
“After taking off outstanding rates and charges, the balance would be held by Public Trust on behalf of the owner(s) or beneficiaries.”
A picture taken up the hill, overlooking the property and neighbouring property. Photo / NZME
The council confirmed there were a few possibilities behind not being able to contact the owner or a representative for the owner.
That included the possibility they were deceased and had no personal representative, or they could not be found after due inquiry and had no known NZ agent.
The property is owned by Robert Neil McLachlan, according to property records.
The public notice asked for anyone with “an interest or any information relevant to the proposed application” to email dmc@mw.org.nz.
According to the council’s database, the property was charged $2607.29 in Napier City Council rates during the three years ending June 2024.
Gary Hamilton-Irvine is a Hawke’s Bay-based reporter who covers a range of news topics including business, councils, breaking news and cyclone recovery. He formerly worked at News Corp Australia.
