Rates Postponement - What's it All About?

wellington.govt.nz

Postponement of rates payments

Does anyone know someone who is currently on Wellington’s rates postponement scheme? How did they find the application process? What about the benefits?

The relevant policy I find on the WCC website lacks clear definition for criteria such as what constitutes ‘significant asset’, what are ‘all other avenues’ that one must have tried first, what is the current interest rate on offer and are there any other associated costs other than the $200 annual application fee.

My understanding is the key benefit of the scheme is for successful applicants to be able to take advantage of the council’s lower borrowing rate. This makes it is cheaper than going a private provider to get a reverse mortgage, for example.

I’m trying to get some answers from the WCC, including how many rate payers are currently on this scheme and what is the cost to the Council to administer the scheme.

Lowering Wellington rate payers’ burden is the ‘top of the cliff’ solution. However, for people who are already ‘at the bottom of the cliff’, such as retired people who can’t afford to pay their rates and would like to remain in their family home, how do we make the scheme more reasonably accessible? What might other solutions be?