SUIP: new rating policy lands heavily – in Greytown

By Martin Freeth 

For all those not in “the know,” SUIP is a new rates regime which has hit some 560 South Wairarapa ratepayers this rating year – with the top impact of the new charge located in Greytown.

Greytown Orchards Retirement Village takes the Crown for biggest single ratepayer in the district thanks to the rating policy on Separately Used and Inhabitable Parts (SUIPs) of a property.

In other words, the second (or more) – separate,  and inhabitable – dwelling/s are rateable.

Property rates data on the SWDC website shows Orchards retirement village to be one rateable property at 67 Reading Street but with 71 separate dwellings – and accordingly, a $326,957 total rates bill for 2024-25.

Until the latest rating revision was implemented, the village was rated as one place/dwelling.

Greytown Orchards stands out among 560 rates accounts identified by SWDC as potentially subject to additional rates under the policy in 2024-25. 

All have at least one additional SUIP (separately used and inhabitable part) at the urban or rural property.

This SUIP approach to rating, which is now under implementation around New Zealand, is about securing a bigger contribution to local government funding from people who operate accommodation businesses from domestic premises, and from their guests or permanent renters.

The SWDC has given its intention as “creating a fairness that will mean everyone is paying a fair share for those activities.”

Greytown Orchards, with a capital value of $30.4 million (fixed last September), now sees its annual rates bill jump from $141,672 last year to $326,957 (an increase of $185,285). These totals include SWDC and Greater Wellington regional council rates components plus GST.

This year’s total represents a $4,605 charge on each of the 71 units within the village – an amount below most rates bills on individual dwellings in neighbouring streets.

Greytown Orchards’ website promises residents “comfort, ease of living and a relaxed pace, coupled with the vibrancy of Greytown’s Main Street and all that the outer lying Wairarapa towns and countryside have to offer.” 

The property’s contribution back to the district will continue rising if the developer follows through on his announced intention in 2019 to build a total of 180 units at the property. 

Rates Impact:

In 2024-25, a ratepayer with town water supply, sewerage and refuse collection can have their rates topped up by $3,322 for each additional SUIP, as fixed charges in the district council component of their bill are multiplied accordingly. 

Where the ratepayer is not connected to these services, the additional rate per SUIP is $594.

Rates remission is available where SUIPs are not operated as rental or leased accommodation, but occupied by the property owner themselves, family members or dependent others. 

Farm owners can obtain remission where a SUIP is used for farm employee accommodation.

The SWDC identified the relevant 560 rates accounts through property improvement descriptions listed on the Quotable Value database. Of the total, 447 are properties with only one additional SUIP. 

Obviously Greytown Orchards is at the top of the range with 70 additional parts. It’s understood that until now most of the property owners identified by the SWDC have not been paying additional rates for additional SUIPs.

Individual ratepayers can obtain remission where they meet one or more of the criteria in the SWDC’s remission of rates policy as currently being extended.

In effect, the SWDC is exempting property owners who do not use their SUIPs as income-deriving rental or lease accommodation in public markets.

An SUIP is defined as, “any portion inhabitable or used by the owner or a person other than the owner who has the right to use or inhabit that portion by virtue of a tenancy, lease, licence, or other agreement. It includes separately used parts, whether or not actually occupied at any

particular time, which are used by the owner for rental (or other form of occupation) on an occasional or long-term basis by someone other than the owner.”

In recent weeks, the council has called for public submissions on the remissions policy extension to more fully cover its implementation in respect of SUIPs. 

It is due to be finalised in September or October. 

SWDC says it has four objectives:

• To provide relief to ratepayers with more than 1 SUIP where 1 or more SUIP’s are occupied by dependent or other family members.

• To provide relief to ratepayers where a property is a retail unit and has a residential SUIP occupied by the owner of the retail unit.

• To provide relief to ratepayers of dairy or pastoral farming properties where 1 or more SUIP’s is an unoccupied or unused farm building that is no longer required for the operation of the farming activity.

• To provide relief to ratepayers of dairy or pastoral farming properties where 1 or more SUIP’s is accommodation used by workers essential in the day-to-day operation of the farming activity.