A commercial property company owner in Hastings says he fears struggling businesses will either abandon the city or collapse due to rate spikes caused by revaluations of their properties.
Industrial and commercial property owners in Hastings have discovered they could face rate increases far exceeding the council’s proposed average rises of 5.9% or 9.1%, with some looking at hikes of 40%.
Hastings District Council has attributed the increases to the district-wide property revaluation recently released by Quotable Value, which has seen some parts of the Hastings district – particularly commercial and industrial properties – increase in land value.
Bill Livingstone, who owns Hastings commercial property company Livingstone Properties with his business partner Chris Skerman, said he knew nothing about the increases until a friend rang him.
“He said I might want to take a look and see how it affected me. So I did, and I was completely blown away,” Livingstone said.
