Gold Coast property owners face having their homes auctioned if they don’t pay their rates

MORE than 400 Gold Coast property owners who have not paid rates face losing their homes as the council attempts to recoup $1.6 million debt.

Gold Coast City Council meeting at Evandale chambers - Councillor Greg Betts

MORE than 400 Gold Coast property owners face losing their homes after not paying their rates.

The Gold Coast City Council has 406 delinquent property owners in its sights over $1.6 million in unpaid water and city charges.

The city’s governance and finance committee yesterday voted to put up a list of properties for auction in a bid to recoup rates which have not been paid in more than three years.

The properties, which are understood to be spread across the city, mainly owe city hall $5000-$10,000 each.

The sell-up move comes as more than 46,000 Gold Coasters are unable to pay their council bills. However, just five properties have been sold off by the council in the past five auctions.

Around 6 per cent of properties actually went to auction in the past 15 years, with the balance paying overdue rates before the auction.

Burleigh councillor Greg Betts said the threat of a sell-off motivated tardy homeowners to pay their rates.

“People try to stretch it out and avoid paying but they normally move to settle the bill when they realise we are serious about selling their house,” he said.

“It is about calling their bluff but in the end we have to do something, because otherwise we would just be letting their debts pile up.”

Unpaid water rates make up the bulk of the properties on the chopping block.

Council insiders say many of the unpaid bills are likely left over from 2011 protests against controversial third-party water provider Allconnex, which has since been abolished and returned to council control.

The Bulletin revealed in May that unpaid council rates and water charges were owed on 46,582 of the city’s 240,000 rateable properties, with the debt to city hall topping $70 million.

The number of struggling ratepayers had increased by more than 13,000 since mid-2013, stunning aid and community outreach groups.

City finance boss William Owen-Jones denied the proposed sale was an “empty threat”.

“This is the last stage of recovery action the city will take and it is not something we do lightly,” he said. “When people are in arrears we make every effort to come to an arrangement with the property owners prior to the sale day but at the same time there are 240,000 ratepayers who make payments appropriately.

“This is serious and is not something we want to do but if rates have been left unpaid, then we do not have a choice.”

Each property approved will be listed for sale within three months of Friday’s full council meeting, when the committee’s vote will be confirmed.

Among the penalties tardy ratepayers face is accrued interest at 11 per cent annually, which compounds daily.