Rates Rebate (Retirement Village Residents) Amendment Bill

Ruth Dysons’ Rates Rebate (Retirement Village Residents) Amendment Bill got drawn from the ballot.

The purpose is:

The rates rebate scheme was introduced in 1973 to allow ratepayers of residential properties who are on low incomes to receive a rebate on their rates. This was before the expansion of retirement villages and occupation right agreements (ORAs). Residents of retirement villages with ORAs pay rates but, in most circumstances, pay indirectly (i.e. to the retirement village owner) rather than directly to the local authority. Under the Rates Rebate Act 1973, these residents are not entitled to a rates rebate. It is this anomaly that this Bill addresses.

Some local authorities have changed their rating practice so that individual residents with ORAs are billed directly for their rates. In these instances, the residents are entitled to apply for a rates rebate. This amendment would ensure that, regardless of the billing practice of the local authority, residents are recognised as paying rates, and are therefore entitled to apply for a rates rebate.

Looks like a sensible bill, and at first glance can’t see any reason why all MPs shouldn’t support it.