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Christchurch City Council (Rates Validation) Bill (Consistent) (Section) [2014] NZBORARp 25 (21 August 2014)

Last Updated: 24 March 2019

Christchurch City Council (Rates Validation) Bill

21 August 2014

Hon Christopher Finlayson QC, Attorney-General


Legal Advice

Consistency with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990: Christchurch City Council (Rates Validation) Bill


  1. We have considered whether the Christchurch City Council (Rates Validation) Bill (‘the Bill’) is consistent with the rights and freedoms affirmed in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 (‘the Bill of Rights Act’).
  2. The Bill seeks to correct irregularities which occurred in the resolutions setting the

Christchurch City Council’s (‘the Council’) rates for the financial years 2003/4 to 2012/13. In particular, in each of the relevant years there was:

a failure to state in the resolution setting the rates that the rates were payable by instalments and the payment dates for the instalments; and

a failure to resolve that penalties would be added to unpaid rates, the dates that penalties would be added to unpaid rates and that the penalty would be 10% of the amount remaining unpaid.


  1. The Bill validates the rates, payment dates and penalties for non-payment, despite any failure of the Council to comply with the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002. The Bill also declares the payment of rates and recovery of unpaid rates or penalties to be lawful.
  2. We have concluded that the Bill appears to be consistent with the rights and freedoms affirmed in the Bill of Rights Act.

Renay Duncalfe


Acting Chief Legal Counsel Office of Legal Counsel

Disclaimer

In addition to the general disclaimer for all documents on this website, please note the following: This advice was prepared to assist the Attorney-General to determine whether a report should be made to Parliament under s 7 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 in relation to the Christchurch City Council (Rates Validation) Bill. It should not be used or acted upon for any other purpose. The advice does no more than assess whether the Bill complies with the minimum guarantees contained in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. The release of this advice should not be taken to indicate that the Attorney-General agrees with all aspects of it, nor does its release constitute a general waiver of legal professional privilege in respect of this or any other matter. Whilst care has been taken to ensure that

this document is an accurate reproduction of the advice provided to the Attorney-General, neither the Ministry of Justice nor the Crown Law Office accepts any liability for any errors or omissions.


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