St Giles vs. Northern Midlands Council: Unearthing a 25 year $8000 error

The organisation's former chief financial officer, and now chief executive, Honni Pitt in 2021 discovered St Giles was not the registered owner of a small block of land in Rossarden which was given to it in 1995.

Ms Pitt said it appeared the certificate of transfer was signed but apparently never lodged with the Land Titles Office.

The block's owner was still recorded as Sally Terese Fell, the person who gifted the land to St Giles.

At the council's March meeting, a motion was unanimously passed to sell the land for unpaid rates and repay St Giles in wrongly levied rates before the property was sold.

Ms Pitt described the move as a common-sense decision.

"When it became apparent that we didn't own the Rossarden property and had been wrongly paying rates for it, it was clear that the council has an obligation to correct their error and reimburse the full amount immediately, and not have us wait,"

"For a charitable organisation such as St Giles, $8000 is a lot of money."

The situation is reminiscent of a mistake over deed tile paperwork uncovered in 2008 where a number of Rossarden residents where found to not be the actual owners of their houses, rather the house next door to them.

Under section 137 of the Local Government Act, a Tasmanian council is allowed to see properties for unpaid rates if they are overdue by four years or more.

Property owners are given 90 days to pay unpaid rates and charges in full at the start of the process.