Horowhenua District Council Rating Information
Simply enter a Street Address or VG Number in the fields below to search the Horowhenua District Council Rating Information Database for property rates.
The Horowhenua District is part of the Horizons region. As such, rates for the Horizons Regional Council are payable but not included in the information provided here. Information on the Horizons Regional Council rates can be found on the Horizons Regional Council website.
Long Term Plan Amendment and Annual Plan - Proposed rates for your property for 2023/2024
Proposed (indicative) rates for the 2023/2024 Rating Year are now available alongside the current rates.
To bring these proposed changes together, your proposed rates for 2023/2024 are changing for three key reasons. The changes in your proposed rates are made up of three changes:
- The impact of your 2022 property revaluation.
- A change that Horowhenua District Council is proposing to make to how we share rates across the district.
- Horowhenua District Council's proposed rates increase for 2023/2024.
The proposed rates displayed are not final and should not be considered or quoted as accurate. The indicative figures are calculated as per the Long Term Plan 2021-2041 Amendment & Annual Plan 2023/2024, and the Consultation Document rating change proposal, which may be subject to change following public submissions and Council deliberation.
Proposed Rates Review changes are outlined in the Consultation Document and relate to the General Rate moving from rates charged based on land value to capital value. For more information about the changes, please view the Consultation Document available on
letskorero.horowhenua.govt.nz.
Growth in the rating base (more subdivisions and houses) has the effect of reducing rates to ratepayers that were already on the Rating Database. The indicative rates have the assumption relating to growth factored in. However, if the growth is lower than the assumed growth the actual rates increase will go up. On the other hand, if growth is higher than the assumption the rates increase will go down.
Valuation Changes
At least once every three years every district and city in New Zealand is revalued to set the values on which council rates are based for the following three years. These new values are used by Horowhenua District Council to determine rating from 1 July 2023. To find out more about the revaluation process, please visit our How Will Revaluations Affect Your Rates page.
Revaluation does not increase the amount Council collects from rates, it just helps us to work out everyone’s share of rates. The rating valuation provides the means to share the cost of the rates across the district according to a set of property values that are provided for every property on a common date (1 August 2022). Using a common date means that every property is valued on the same basis and at the same time.
Search Tips
If you are searching by Your Address you can:
- into the box "Type in Your Address", type in the street address number, for example "126" then continue to type in all or part of the street name, for example "Oxford";
ie type in "126 Oxford", then click on the correct address in the popup below the text entry box.
- once you have selected the correct property, click on "Show Rating Information" to show all of the available information on the selected property.
When typing the address in it may take a few seconds for it to be found.
If you are searching by VG Number, type the valuation number in the "VG Number" box; for example "1505064500", then click on the correct entry in the popup below the text entry box.
If you are searching by Assessment Number, type the assessment number in the "Assessment Number" box; for example "120857", then click on the correct entry in the popup below the text entry box.
Once you have selected the correct property, click on "Show Rating Information" to show all of the available information on the selected property.
Click on "Start Again" if you wish to start searching again from scratch, at any point.
Understanding the rates table
To help you understand the information displayed in the table below, here is a brief description about what each column shows:
- Current Rates from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023 - this is what your rates are currently.
- Impact of your property valuation change - this is the change in rates as a result of the recent valuation change.
Since the August 2022 property revaluations have to be included in the options, let’s start with them. The Rating Valuation Act 1988 says valuations for each ’rating unit’ (basically, a property) have to be updated every three years. These revaluations are the largest driver in the rates increase by property type and account for the large increases in both land and capital value we’ve seen over three years. Urban properties have experienced the greatest increases.
QV will have written to you, advising you of the new valuation for your property and providing details of how to lodge an objection if you disagree.
An increase in your property value may not mean you pay more in rates. Any rates increase is determined by your property value increase compared with the average increase across the Horowhenua District.
If your property has increased by more than the average, you may pay more than the average rates increase for the 2023/2024 financial year.
Revaluation does not affect the amount of money Council collects from rates - it helps us work out everyone's share of rates.
- Rates review - A change that Horowhenua District Council is proposing to make to how we share rates across the district.
Council promised to do a Rates Review after the Annual Plan 2022/2023 to consider how rates and costs are shared across our district. Many members of our community on low incomes are spending some of the highest proportions of their incomes on rent and mortgages in New Zealand.
Now inflation, interest rates rises and price increases have added to the pressure. Some households are paying 8-9% of their income on rates, while others pay just 1-2%. There are different reasons for this, and we can influence one of them – how Council’s rating policy is set.
Currently, charges based on land value make up almost 25% of the rates we collect, Capital Value (the value of the land and buildings) makes up 13% and fixed charges make up about 60%, with the rest coming from our metered water rates. This means that owners of lower-value homes can have rates bills that are similar to those of owners of much higher-value properties.
This year we are proposing to move the 25% of rates charged based on Land Value to Capital Value. This will mean more of our rates are based on the value of your land and buildings rather than just land value.
- Proposed rates increase for 2023/2024 financial year - Horowhenua District Council’s proposed rates increase for 2023/2024.
As with individual households, the ‘cost of living’ for Council has also increased. Costs outside of our control like insurance, interest rates, depreciation and contract rate increases are the drivers behind the proposed average rates increase of 7.9% for 2023/2024.
The change to your property will depend on its value, type and location. Rural properties without water and wastewater connections are likely to see smaller increases and properties in the urban areas with connections and access to all Council services will likely see larger increases.
- Total Proposed Rates from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024 - this is the proposed rates for the 2023/2024 rating year.
