Mornington Peninsula council to consider seizing properties as it chases $15m in unpaid rates
A Mornington Peninsula property owner who failed to pay council rates for 10 years now owes at least $100k and could lose their land.
South East
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A Victorian council is poised to seize multiple properties after the owners refused to pay rates for up to 10 years., with one racking up more than $100,000 in unpaid property tax.
Mornington Peninsula Shire will consider selling the properties as it chases $15m in outstanding rates.
The Herald Sun understands the council will debate the merits of forcing the sale of the properties at a meeting on Tuesday night.
The decision will be made in secret after the item was listed as confidential on the meeting agenda.
According to the agenda the report was considered confidential as it contained details relating to the personal hardship of a ratepayer or resident and if released would be an “unreasonable disclosure”.
However, the council has the power to make parts of a report public while protecting confidential information relating to a ratepayer’s personal affairs.
Mayor Anthony Marsh revealed the properties being considered for sale owed tens of thousands of dollars each with one bill topping $100,000
He confirmed the council was only considering commercial properties and vacant land and none of the properties were a principal place of residence or owned by someone who would qualify for hardship relief.
“In one instance the rates have not been paid for more than a decade,” Mr Marsh said.
“Ratepayers expect everyone to contribute and it’s clear that the council needs to take further steps on these properties.”
Mornington Peninsula Shire was owed $14,564,059 in unpaid rates as at December 4, 2024. Of that total $5,985,109 was yet to be paid for the 2024/25 financial year.
The council has previously considered selling up to 153 properties to recoup $1.4m in outstanding rates.
The move comes just three months after the council voted to update a policy which gave it the power to sell a property on which rates have not been paid for three or more years and the amount owing is $5000 or greater.
A property owner could also be forced into bankruptcy by the council under similar circumstances.
At the time mayor Anthony Marsh said the policy would not be enacted on principal places of residence or ratepayers suffering from hardship.
Ratepayers with a payment plan in place would also be exempt.
In 2017 the shire found 153 properties had $1.4m in outstanding rates and planned to seize and sell them to claw back the money.
Those ratepayers in the red included 52 properties owned by companies or people who did not use them as a principal place of residence.
A further 70 were owner/occupiers with no payment plan in place and 31 spanned both categories and had defaulted on payment plans.
Some of the properties had more than 10 years of rates owing.
The council voted to issue a notice of intention to sell or bankrupt the 153 properties.
If no response was received it would move to sell.
It is not known how many properties were eventually sold.
A Herald Sun poll revealed residents were divided over wether the council should have the power to force the sale of a property to recoup outstanding rates.
Of the 107 participants 59 per cent didn’t think the council should have to power to sell property with outstanding rates while 41 per cent supported the move.