Whyalla City Council force property auctions to chase owners’ rates debts

Seventeen properties in a major SA regional town will be auctioned off by the council after the owners failed to pay rates for years. See the list of properties for sale here.

A two-acre property at 46 Havelberg Street Whyalla Stuart will be auctioned off on Friday. Picture- realestate.com.au

Whyalla City Council will auction off nearly 20 properties after abandoning attempts to recoup years of unpaid rates.

Seventeen properties across Whyalla will be auctioned on Friday starting at 10am, including one two-acre property with a large industrial building, a three-bedroom duplex, factories, overgrown residential properties and empty lots.

Although 17 properties will be auctioned, there were only five owners across the properties, and none of them were occupied.

“We have made repeated attempts over a number of years to contact the owners to put payment plans in place but have not been successful,” a Whyalla City Council spokesman said.

9 Cowled Street, Whyalla Norrie. Picture- realestate.com.au

45 Phillips Street, Whyalla Stuart. Picture: realestate.com.au

3 Foote Place, Whyalla Stuart. Picture: realestate.com.au

Collectively the owners owe $458,000, about 2 per cent of the council’s annual rates revenue.

The spokesman said many of the property owners hadn’t paid rates for more than a decade.

The total capital value of all properties to be auctioned is $1.6m.

With the public interest in the auction being “very encouraging”, the spokesman said the property auction would help reduce the council’s debt, which was sitting at $12m at the end of August.

Two years ago, in a similar move, Coober Pedy Council auctioned off 40 properties.

Councils can sell properties if owners have had outstanding bills for more than three years, but must first go through a process of recovering debts and offering assistance through payment plans.

The auction will take place at the Westland Hotel, Palms Venue, 100 McDouall Stuart Ave, Whyalla Norrie.