BY CHARLES STENNETT
The Honiara City Council’s, (HCC) legal team is in the process of issuing legal notices to landlords in Honiara who have long outstanding property arrears for their property.
Kenneth Ilabae of the Council’s Finance Department said the matter has now been referred to the HCC’s legal team after a visit to Honiara’s three constituencies in May when it was discovered that a lot of property owners failed to pay property rates for more than 20 to 30 years.
He said the legal team will soon be issuing 28 days’ legal notices, starting on the date the notice is served to property owners with huge arrears.
“The Finance Division has informed the legal team to take the matter up to issue legal notices to all the landlords within the Honiara City boundary with long outstanding arrears” Mr Ilabae said.
He warns that if the cases are brought to court and the landlord loses, the property will be taken away from the owner.
Ilabae said, to avoid this happening, property owners are encouraged to discuss the issue with the Council’s Revenue Division so that an agreement can be reached on how to settle the arrears.
He also said that the council had undertook a property rates field operation in May covering the three constituencies in Honiara and found that some property owners have deceased while others have left Honiara to their home provinces without settling their arrears and letting the Honiara City Council know resulting in the accumulation of arrears over many years.
The Honiara City Council has been trying to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in uncollected property payments.
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