June 15, 2019
Sixty-five properties in the Toowoomba region – including three in Yarraman – will be offered for sale to help recover more than $1.1 million in unpaid rates and charges.
Toowoomba Regional Council voted on Wednesday to force the sale of the properties because they had fallen more than three years in arrears.
Under the Local Government Regulation 2012, Councils can sell properties where rates or charges are in arrears for a period greater than three years.
The outstanding rates – plus any sale costs – are recovered from the sale, with any money raised in excess of this sent to the owner.
According to the Council, the majority of the houses that will be put up for sale owed less than $30,000 in unpaid rates or charges.
Finance General Manager Arun Pratap said the recovery process was the most effective way to recoup outstanding debts.
Most property owners paid what they owed before a sale occurred, he said.
Fewer than a dozen properties had been sold by the Council since 2008, with the rest opting to pay their bills.
The three Yarraman properties under threat are located in Williams Court and Barr-Smith Street.
The total amount of outstanding rates and charges they owe is about $24,800, an average of about $8300 each.
