Local authorities impose compulsory payments under several different names: fees, levies, rates, poll tax etc. Rulings vary as to whether or not rates are a form of taxation, and different opinions have been expressed on the subject over the years.
A local authority presently has two options for collecting rate arrears: The first is by seizing and selling movable property owned by the defaulter and administrative confiscation, and the second is by suing the defaulter.
Rates are sometimes overcharged, in which case a refund needs to be claimed. One example is the rule that the municipality is required to refund excess rates paid under protest; on the other hand, if the excess rates are due to an error in determining the size of the property, a refund cannot be demanded.
Under the rates regulations, rates are imposed on six classes of property holders: the occupant and actual user of a property, an occupant not using the property, an ex-occupant of the property who has not yet notified the local authority of his change of status, a tenant renting the property for less than a year, a hotel resident, and a tenant to whom the property is sub-let.
Rates are assessed in accordance with the type of property: building, agricultural land, occupied land, and so forth. The law also lays down classes of land to which rates cannot be applied.
Applications may be made for exemption from rates or discounts on various grounds such as a demolished or damaged building, religious, charitable or educational institutions, disabled servicemen and policemen, the handicapped, pensioners, new immigrants, persons subsisting on a low income, single parents, etc.
A discount may also be requested for owners of a new or vacant building, and also for an industrial building or one housing small businesses.
Our firm represents ratepayers in dealings with local authorities as well as appeal committees. Disputes over rates may occasionally be brought before the courts.
