Not living in homes - but still having to pay rates or partial rates.

[Suezy]

No rates for 'homeless' red-zoners - councillor
SAM SACHDEVA AND RACHEL YOUNG Last updated 10:27 11/04/2012

Councillors yesterday voted against including an option for full rates relief in the draft annual plan.

Residents forced out of their homes by quake damage have begun to circulate a petition asking for full relief.

Ratepayers who are unable to occupy their homes because of the quakes are eligible for a 40 per cent rates remission.

Burwood-Pegasus councillor Glenn Livingstone, who voted for the council to consider full relief, said today that red-zone residents did not have habitable housing so should not be paying rates.

"By definition, those in the red zones are homeless,'' he said.

"Homelessness is defined by domains and those in the residential red zones fit that definition.

''The social domain is being able to pursue normal social relations, having a personal [household] living space, maintaining privacy and having safe accommodation.

"The legal domain covers having exclusive possession and security of occupation or tenure.

''The physical domain is the structural aspect of housing and means having habitable housing."

He questioned how the council could charge homeless people rates.

Redcliffs resident Nigel Salsbury, who started the petition, yesterday said some residents had been forced to move several times and were paying rates at their new rental properties as well as at their quake-hit homes.

"We don't have any services. There's no water, no electricity, no rubbish collection, but we still have to pay rates."

He said the petition was still "quite fresh", but efforts were gathering pace as people heard about it.

Livingstone agreed with Salsbury. "Salsbury is right. Many in Christchurch are homeless and paying 100 per cent rates."

At yesterday's meeting, Livingstone and fellow Burwood-Pegasus councillor Peter Beck proposed an amendment asking the council to consider providing a 100 per cent rates remission for ratepayers with uninhabitable homes.

Beck said the council should not distinguish between residents who had been forced out of their homes because of potential rockfalls, and who received full rates relief, and those who could not live in their houses for other quake-related reasons.

"If you can't live in your home you shouldn't have to pay rates," he said.
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[TokWW]

Exactly, and if they are in rented accommodation, they are in effect, paying rates there indirectly through their rent.

[Mark]

Why cant the rates be covered by the house insurance?.