New South Wales Consolidated Acts

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1993 - SECT 555

555 What land is exempt from all rates?

(1) The following land is exempt from all rates:

(a) land owned by the Crown, not being land held under a lease for private purposes,

(b) land within a national park, historic site, nature reserve, state game reserve or karst conservation reserve (within the meaning of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 ), whether or not the land is affected by a lease, licence, occupancy or use,

(b1) subject to subsection (3), land that is the subject of a conservation agreement (within the meaning of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 ),

(b2) land that is vested in, owned by, held on trust by or leased by the Nature Conservation Trust of New South Wales constituted by the Nature Conservation Trust Act 2001 ,

(c) land that is within a special area or controlled area (within the meaning of the Water Board (Corporatisation) Act 1994 ) for Sydney Water Corporation referred to in that Act and is Crown land or land vested in the Corporation,

(c1) land that is within a special area (within the meaning of the Hunter Water Board (Corporatisation) Act 1991 ) for the Hunter Water Corporation and is Crown land or land vested in that company,

(c2) land that is vested in or owned by State Water Corporation and in, on or over which water supply works (within the meaning of the Water Management Act 2000 ) are installed,

(d) land that is within a special area (as declared by an order under section 302 of the Water Management Act 2000 ) for a water supply authority and is Crown land or land vested in the authority,

(e) land that belongs to a religious body and is occupied and used in connection with:

(i) a church or other building used or occupied for public worship, or

(ii) a building used or occupied solely as the residence of a minister of religion in connection with any such church or building, or

(iii) a building used or occupied for the purpose of religious teaching or training, or

(iv) a building used or occupied solely as the residence of the official head or the assistant official head (or both) of any religious body in the State or in any diocese within the State,

(f) land that belongs to and is occupied and used in connection with a school (being a government school or non-government school within the meaning of the Education Reform Act 1990 or a school in respect of which a certificate of exemption under section 78 of that Act is in force), including:

(i) a playground that belongs to and is used in connection with the school, and

(ii) a building occupied as a residence by a teacher, employee or caretaker of the school that belongs to and is used in connection with the school,

(g) land that is vested in the New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council or a Local Aboriginal Land Council and is declared under Division 5 of Part 2 of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 to be exempt from payment of rates,

(g1) land that is vested in or owned by a public transport agency (within the meaning of section 3C of the Transport Administration Act 1988 ) and in, on or over which rail infrastructure facilities (within the meaning of that Act) are installed,

(h) land that is below high water mark and is used for any aquaculture (within the meaning of the Fisheries Management Act 1994 ) relating to the cultivation of oysters.

(2) Land is not rateable under subsection (1) (a) only because the land is leased by the Crown to a caretaker at a nominal rent.

(3) If part of a single parcel of land is the subject of a conservation agreement within the meaning of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 (as referred to in subsection (1) (b1)), any rate levied on that whole parcel (for any period on or after 1 July 2008) is to be reduced by the following percentage:

"Aca" is the area of that part of the parcel that is the subject of the conservation agreement, and
"Awhole" is the area of the whole parcel.

Note: For example, if a parcel of land would normally be subject to a rate of $1,000, but 40% of the area of the land is subject to a conservation agreement, that rate is to be reduced by 40% to $600.

(4) Land that is a lot in a strata plan registered under the Strata Schemes (Leasehold Development) Act 1986 is taken, for the purposes of subsection (1) (e), (f), (g) and (g1), to belong to or be vested in the lessee (within the meaning of that Act) of the lot and not the lessor (within the meaning of that Act), unless the lessor is the lessee for the purposes of that Act.

(5) A parcel of rateable land belonging to a religious body that is partly occupied and used in a manner described in subsection (1) (e), and partly in a manner that would result in part of the parcel not being exempt from rates under this section, is to be valued in accordance with section 28A of the Valuation of Land Act 1916 to enable those rates to be levied on the part that is not exempt.

(6) Any such valuation is to be made at the request of the council that proposes to levy rates on the parcel concerned.

(7) For the avoidance of doubt, sections 7B and 28A of the Valuation of Land Act 1916 extend to a stratum for the purpose of carrying out a valuation in accordance with subsection (5) and so extend whether or not the stratum is a lot in a strata plan that is registered under the Strata Schemes (Freehold Development) Act 1973 or the Strata Schemes (Leasehold Development) Act 1986 .