How your rates are calculated and used

Your rates are calculated based on a number of factors, based on the value of your land and its uses.

Finding rating information for a property

You can find all Lower Hutt’s rating information on our property enquiry system.

This includes full information about a property, including how it's rated. This doesn’t include the name or postal address of the owner.

How can I find out an owners name and postal address?

To access these details you'll need to come in to our office and talk to us in person. 

The Local Government (Rating) Act allows these details to be made available to the public, unless there's been a specific request to withhold them. The person requesting the information has to personally come into Council and make a request.

How do I withhold my name and address details?

If you'd like your name and postal address to be withheld from our public rating information, you'll need to make a request in writing, providing details for each property concerned. You can change this back at any time by writing to us.

Things to note are:

• If there's more than one owner for a property and you request to withhold details for it, all owner information will be withheld
• Even if you withhold details, they will still be publicly available as part of a property’s Record of Title Information, which is available through Land Information New Zealand

How the rating system works

Each rating unit (or property) is placed within a differential rating category, based on land use. Rates are calculated using these differentials.

For full details of how rates are calculated see the funding impact statement including rates for 2021-2022 (PDF 222.3 KB).

How is the current differential rating system calculated?

The following categories have been given differential weightings as outlined below:

This means that the rates are set by the rate in the dollar multiplied by the differential rating.

Calculating your rates

How are my rates calculated?

The fixed charges (including GST) on each separately occupied portion of a property are:

How are the rates in the dollar on the capital value broken down?

Your rates are broken down, based on your differential group, as follows: 

*Hutt City Council collects rates on behalf of the Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC).

**Wellington Regional Strategy (WRS) funds the WRS including part funding of the economic development agency - Grow Wellington.

**Warm Greater Wellington (WGW) is the rate is set on those properties that utilise the WGW assistance to help install clean heat or insulation in their homes as a targeted rate of 15.00 cents per dollar of cost incurred (each year for nine years).

Jackson Street Programme

The Jackson Street Programme is a community based initiative to help reorganise and revitalise commercial activity in Jackson Street, Petone.

Business properties situated on Jackson Street between Cuba Street and Hutt Road are charged an additional rate, levied on the capital value at 0.074897 cents in the dollar to cover costs of the programme.

An example of a rating calculation

Let’s say your property is in differential class "residential" (RES), and has a capital value of $600,000. Your rates would be worked out as follows:

The valuation process

Council contracts Quotable Value New Zealand to undertake the valuation process. For more information, visit their website or call 04 576 4455.

Greater Wellington Regional Council rates

We collect rates on behalf of the Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC). You can find out more about these on the GWRC website.