Ritzy Brisbane suburbs with massive unpaid rates bills

Major councils across SEQ are owed about $150 million in unpaid rates, with some houses in blue chip Brisbane’s suburbs racking up ignored bills of hundreds of thousands of dollars each.

Major councils across South East Queensland are owed about $150 million in unpaid rates, with some houses in Brisbane’s ritziest suburbs racking up ignored bills of hundreds of thousands of dollars each.

Overdue rates in Brisbane City Council surged to more than $39.8 million by the end of November, which was nearly $10 million more than at the end of December in 2022.

Unpaid rates on the Gold Coast were once again the highest, where $44m was owed, followed by $20.7m and $16.2m for Moreton Bay and Ipswich respectively for both residential and commercial rates.

Logan and Redland councils were owed $15.6m and $13.1m respectively.

Two households in Brisbane’s blue chip suburb of Clayfield featured in the top five properties with the highest accumulated overdue rates bills, with two homes owing $357,000 and $323,500.

But a Highgate Hill home topped the list with the highest unpaid rates bill, owing $366,00, with multiple overdue quarterly rates bills likely the cause for the extreme figure.

Properties in Salisbury and Kelvin Grove were also in the top five list, owing between $324,000 and $341,000.

Residents in Clayfield owed Brisbane Council nearly $920,000 combined.

The top five suburbs for outstanding rates for all forms on the Gold Coast were Surfers Paradise, where $5.5m is owed, followed by Southport, South Stradbroke, Coomera, and Palm Beach, where between $2.5m and $1.3m is owed.

In Ipswich, the top five suburbs with overdue rates were Redbank Plains, Springfield Lakes, Bundamba, Brassall, and Collingwood Park.

A spokeswoman for Brisbane council said residents who have rates outstanding are aware they can apply to an Independent Rates Relief Tribunal who can offer assistance to ratepayers experiencing financial hardship.

There is then a sequence of stages where the council sends reminders to residents to pay their overdue rates.

“Where accounts remain unpaid for more than 35 days past its due date, council will commence a review to determine if further debt recovery activities are required, which may include referring the matter to the courts,” she said.

“Where debt is over three years outstanding, the City of Brisbane Act 2010 empowers Council to consider the sale of land for the recovery of unpaid rates and charges.”

Ipswich councillor Jacob Madsen, who chairs the governance and transparency committee, said the council empathised with residents struggling with the cost of living pressures.

“We feel for all our residents and businesses doing it tough at the moment in these challenging economic times and try to assist with overdue rates where we can,” he said.

“Council’s recovery process takes a stepped or progressive approach to the collection of overdue rates and charges.

“Council’s philosophy is premised around supporting ratepayers and where possible using payment arrangements to assist ratepayers in not letting their arrear grow to unmanageable levels.

“As previously reported, due to impacts of COVID and the 2022 weather events, council offered a greater level of support by providing interest free payment arrangements and granting of discounts.”