Council charging investors more.

Hi Guys,

Wasn’t sure where to post this....

There are a handful of qld councils charging additional rates to investors simply because they are investment properties.

Does anyone know how they identify the property is rented? I have a property that is privately rented and the only things I can think of is that the postal address is elsewhere and maybe they cross check drivers licence?

Does anyone know if I simply change the postal address to the property they will adjust the rates as owner occ?

Cheers

 

I can't remember what the extra surcharge is for investor, but I tend to agree with @wylie it's probably not worth the risk as you could be up for a fine if they find out.

It all comes down to part of cost of property investing and should be factored in during the initial cashflow projection so this won't come in as a surprise. Personally, I would suggest to focus on bigger things than trying to figure out how to workaround the council and save couple of hundred dollars here.

Cheers,
David

 

Easiest way for the council to determine if it's an investment or owner occupied is to look at where they're sending the rates notices.

The second easiest way is to look at the electoral role to see where you're registered to vote.

 

Why oh why is everyone going after property investors??? I must admit I have never heard of councils charging additional rates for investments!

 

I know that the Gold Coast City Council does for one.

 

How much more though? is it like double the cost for investors vs the owner occupiers?

 

Dont think it happens in victoria

 

TBH, I can’t remember.

When we got our first Rates Notice back in 2016, I noticed that our Rate Category was different to that of the vendor. I phoned the GCCC and they advised that the vendor was living in the property and we were renting it out.

I calculated how much more we were paying. It wasn’t double but it was large enough for me to put a reminder in my diary to change the Category next year when we move in and make it our home .

 

So, whilst you were still getting a tax deduction on the excessive amount of rates, the Gold Coast City Council were still charging a heap extra because you were an investor, they were basically appropriating the deduction of the amount of tax that you would have got back, had the rates amount been the same as an owner occupier?

That is both creatively innovative and malevolently devious at the same time.

 

Canberra ACT government (no councils here) - also charge more for investment properties...

 

Moreton Bay Council charges investors 25% more than OO.

 

It's something like 20% extra in BCC area.. they are also getting very aggressive at assessing the land value at 90% of the property value to squeeze out extra money as well.

All so they can continue blow all their money on stupid things like back slapping marketing campaigns based on "look how good we are" through to pointless "rapid response" council cars. BCC must be one of the highest funded councils in Australia

 

I cannot find an old thread on this, but a couple of years ago when BCC started to charge investors more for rates (a real disincentive for property investors), Margaret Lomas and others did an (unsuccessful) petition.

 

Thanks for the news , will look into my council charges

What area you talking about, QLD/NSW

I was just looking at an area in Wellingotn New Zealand, these rates were 2-*3 times of what I'm charged in Brisbane city!!!!

Anybody know what the tweed shire is doing with these charges etc, looking for land in the area

 

From what I've gathered, they don't actively look/search. It is up to the property owner to notify council. In one example, I heard a disgruntled Tenant saw a copy of the rates notice which was sent to the property address by mistake, had the wrong designation on it, the Tenant called and reported to council that it was a rental property and not owner-occupied, to try and snub the owner with a few more $ dollars on the rates bill, BCC took no action even when having that information given to them.

 

I think the re has to notify them as we got a rate change immediately we listed it with an agent.

 

I just found this old article about it: The Queensland councils charging higher rates for investors

I never realised this was the case in so many QLD councils! Looked at my rates notices and its very sneaky how it just has a Category number, and you have to look up the categories online to determine if its an owner occupied or otherwise rate.

 

Surely in this age of data matching council could easily see which properties you have listed as rentals with OSR/ATO. I have a vague memory when we moved out of our last PPOR it didn’t take long for council to change the category despite me never advising them of the change