Council has exhausted all other avenues available under the Local Government Act and is now taking preliminary steps to sell the property by public auction. The auction date has not yet been set.
Barunga West Council CEO Maree Wauchope said the decision to sell a property is always a last resort, taken after years of attempting to resolve unpaid rates with the landowner.
“We understand that some members of our community are suffering from genuine hardship, and in such cases, our teams work diligently with them to plan repayments,” Ms Wauchope said. “However, in this instance, the outstanding rates have been unresolved for many years, and the responsible party is now uncontactable. They have neither applied for genuine hardship nor entered into an arrangement that meets Council guidelines for payment.
“In such a dire financial situation, we can no longer expect other ratepayers to subsidise this unpaid property. The auctioning of a property due to unpaid rates is extremely rare in Barunga West — we don’t do this lightly.”
A survey conducted by News Corp in September 2023 of 32 South Australian councils revealed 32 forced sales of properties during 2022-23 and more than 50 properties in the current financial year, aiming to recover years’ worth of unpaid rates. The survey also indicated that councils referred about 17,263 people to debt collectors, while 595 property owners faced legal action for neglecting to settle their council rates for over three years. In March 2024, 25 properties were auctioned by the Mount Remarkable Council to recoup years of unpaid council rates.
Under the Local Government Act, a council may sell land for non-payment of rates that have been in arrears for three years or more. Property owners have until the date of the auction to pay their outstanding rates and charges. Ms Wauchope said ratepayers will be given years of notice to discuss potential payment plans for their rates.
“This is a very long and protracted process; it's not something we wish to do, and we recognise the vast majority of our ratepayers do pay their rates,” Ms Wauchope said. “Unfortunately, a few ratepayers have not paid their rates for many years and it’s unfair to other ratepayers.”