SA Riverland council sells 57 properties to recoup rate debts

A Riverland CEO has been left shocked after every single one of the almost 60 properties his council forcibly sold as a last-ditch attempt to recover more than $170,000 in unpaid rates sold under the hammer.

The District Council of Loxton Waikerie took 57 properties to auction on Thursday – predominantly deceased estates – with the lots a mix of houses, wooded area conservation, cropping land and vacant land.

The 58 properties scheduled to go under the hammer were in Alawoona, Bugle Hut, Caliph, Kringin, Maggea, Malpas, Meribah, Murbko, Paruna, Peebinga, Pyap, Taldra, Talpan, Veitch, Waikerie, Woodleigh and Wunkar, however only 57 hit the auction block as the debt on one was cleared prior.

Council chief executive David Beaton said he was thrilled with the result.

“In the end I was expecting to sell five or six out of the 57,” Mr Beaton said.

“The vacant lot stuff varied from $1000 to $40,000 and there was one house that went for $180,000 – the total for the 57 was a bit over $500,000.

MORE NEWS:

This 100 pound Adelaide home just sold for how much?^[1]

How a simple change at the supermarket can get you into a home faster^[2]

How much you need to save to buy in every Australian suburb^[3]

This 100 pound property just sold for how much?^[4]

Block fever sparks mad rush for rundown homes^[5]

Aussie island property selling for a steal – but there’s a catch^[6]

“We can only recover the rates, we have to pass on the rest of the funds to the mortgagee and the people that own the property.

“But we’ve got enough to recover the debt and that’s a fantastic result.

“It gets all those properties into the hands of new people, and a lot of them were bought by people that weren’t necessarily locals – there were some some people from Adelaide, people from interstate including New South Wales and Victoria, so they got brought out of the woodwork so that was good.

“Some of the blocks are quite isolated and one person brought 18, so that sort of put a floor in the market, so that was good.”

Mr Beaton told The Advertiser prior to the sale the auctions allowed the council to remove them from its books.

He also said the council was “not really expecting to sell any.”

“If we did I’d be surprised and you think they’d sell for sub-$1000,” he said.

“If the properties don’t sell the Act allows us to give them back to the Crown, so they won’t accrue rates.”

MORE: Regional SA leading home value growth^[7]

” alt=”Aerial view of leafy eastern suburban houses on 4-way cross road intersection in Adelaide, South Australia” loading=”eager”>

A council can only sell properties if all recovery steps have been taken and a property remains more than three years in arrears.

---

Under the Local Government Act, councils have the authority to sell land by public auction if a property remained more than three years in arrears.

The council’s website says it follows a strict debt recovery policy to collect outstanding rates and charges.

“If all recovery steps have been taken and a property remains more than three years in arrears, Council has the authority under the Local Government Act to sell the land by public auction,” it says.

“Each year, the chief executive officer provides a list of eligible properties to Council for consideration.

MORE NEWS

‘Aussie John’ quietly pulls $200m+ home from sale^[8]

Mansion sale smashes 2025 state record^[9]

Regional SA leading home value growth^[10]

Beer icon James Boag III’s home for sale^[11]

“Following this, a notice of intention to sell is issued to the registered owners.

“If payment is not received or no contact is made, Council commences the legal process to auction the property.”

All the properties were scheduled to be sold as is and no internal inspections were allowed prior to their sale.

Anyone who purchased the properties were also faced a $390 minimum rates charge for this financial year.

RELATED: Remote council takes drastic action to recoup debts^[12]

” alt loading=”eager”>

The District Council of Loxton Waikerie is selling almost 60 properties to recoup unpaid rates.

---

The sale was conducted at The Precinct in Loxton by Elders Loxton with about 100 people attending, and it took just 90 minutes to sell all 57 properties.

It attracted 60 bidder registrations.

It comes after Peterborough Council sold eight properties^[13] at auction earlier in the year to recover unpaid rates.

The six houses and two vacant blocks, all of which were in Peterborough local government area, were sold for various prices between $46,000 and $137,000 in May.

Selling agent Angus Barnden, of Wardle Co Real Estate, said at the time one other property that was due to be auction was withdrawn at the eleventh hour as the vendor paid their debt.

Each of the properties auctioned were in various states of neglect and disrepair and expected to fetch no more than $80,000 each.

The full results from the auction:

Lot 2 Karoonda Highway, Alawoona – Vacant Land – Sold for $11,000

Lot 26 High Street, Alawoona – Vacant Land – Sold for $3000

Lot 46 High Street, Alawoona – Vacant Land – Sold for $3500

Lot 52 High Street, Alawoona – Vacant Land – Sold for $4000

Lot 53 High Street, Alawoona – Vacant Land – Sold for $4000

Lot 67 High Street, Alawoona – Vacant Land – Sold for $3000

Lot 68 High Street, Alawoona – Vacant Land – Sold for $3000

Lot 69 High Street, Alawoona – Vacant Land – Sold for $1000

Lot 74 South Street, Alawoona – Vacant Land – Sold for $2000

Lot 75 South Terrace, Alawoona – Vacant Land – Sold for $2500

Lots 82-83 South Terrace, Alawoona – Vacant Land – Sold for $6500

Lot 87 South Terrace, Alawoona – Vacant Land – Sold for $2500

Lots 88-89 South Terrace, Alawoona – Vacant Land – Sold for $8500

Sec 88 Vinedale Road, Alawoona – Vacant Land – Sold for $30,000

Lot 31 Obst Road, Bugle Hut – Vacant Land – Sold for $4000

Lot 32 Obst Road, Bugle Hut – Vacant Land – Sold for $3000

Sec 65 Hutchings Road, Bugle Hut – Vacant Land – Sold for $2500

2167 Wormald Road, Caliph – House – Sold for $15,000

Lot 2 Railway Terrace, Caliph – Vacant Land – Sold for $2000

Lot 4 Railway Terrace, Caliph – Vacant Land – Sold for $3500

Lot 9 Wormald Road, Caliph – Vacant Land – Sold for $2000

Lot 10 Burnett Street, Caliph – Vacant Land – Sold for $5000

Lot 9-10 Kringin Rd, Kringin – Vacant Land – Sold for $10,500

Lot 32-33 Schubert Road, Kringin – Vacant Land – Sold for $3500

Lot 34 Schubert Road, Kringin – Vacant Land – Sold for $1500

Lot 1 Hamp Terrace, Maggea – Vacant Land – Sold for $4000

Lot 15 Ridgeway Street, Maggea – Vacant Land – Sold for $4000

Lots 18-19 Ridgeway Street, Maggea – Vacant Land – Sold for $7000

Lot 37-38 Teasdale Street, Maggea – Vacant Land – Sold for $9000

Lot 40 & 52 Teasdale Street, Maggea – Vacant Land – Sold for $5500

14 Malpas North Road, Malpas – Vacant Land – Sold for $9000

Sec 120 Cameron Highway, Malpas – Wooded Area Conservation – Sold for $4500

Sec 121 Cameron Highway, Malpas – Vacant Land – Sold for $4500

Lot 13 Railway Terrace, Meribah – Vacant Land – Sold for $9000

Lot 18 Railway Terrace, Meribah – Vacant Land – Sold for $4000

Lot 25 Bell Terrace, Meribah – Vacant Land – Sold for $2500

Lot 28 Bell Terrace, Meribah – Vacant Land – Sold for $3500

Sec 7 Murbko Road, Murbko – Vacant Land – Sold for $40,000

Lot 54 High Street, Paruna – Vacant Land – Sold for $6000

Lot 64 North Terrace, Paruna – Vacant Land – Sold for $2500

Lot 1 Railway Terrace, Peebinga – Vacant Land – Sold for $7000

Lot 3 Railway Terrace, Peebinga – Vacant Land – Sold for $7000

Lot 24 Main Street, Peebinga – Vacant Land – Sold for $2500

Lot 34 Main Street, Peebinga – Vacant Land – Sold for $5000

Sec 48 Mindarie Rd, Pyap – Vacant Land – Sold for $5000

2118 Crase Road, Taldra – House – Sold for $19,000

Lot 87 Taplan Rd, Taplan – Vacant Land – Sold for $4500

Lot 97 Hampel Road, Taplan – Vacant Land – Sold for $6000

Lot 98 Hampel Road, Taplan – Vacant Land – Sold for $5500

Lot 2 Railway Terrace, Veitch – Vacant Land – Sold for $3000

Lot 7 Railway Terrace, Veitch – Vacant Land – Sold for $4500

Lot 42 Hockridge Terrace, Veitch – Vacant Land – Sold for $3000

10 Andrew Street, Waikerie – House – Sold for $180,000

Lot 100 Browns Well Highway, Woodleigh – Vacant Land – Sold for $5500

Sec 165 Priest Road, Woodleigh – Cropping land – Sold for $20,000

Lot 23 The Crescent, Wunkar – Vacant Land – Sold for $4000

Lot 34 Walker Terrace, Wunkar – Vacant Land – Sold for $5000

Total value of sales: $538,500

Additional reporting by Jessica Brown and Erin Jones.