RUOK? How my job might affect someone you love.

    I seem to be on a Community Service Post roll at the moment….

I want to take a minute of your time to let you know what I do as a job at the moment and how it could affect someone you love.

Do you have a relative, perhaps elderly or down on their luck, who owns their own home, perhaps with a mortgage?

Are they struggling with their bills?

Would they tell you if they were?

I think we all know what happens if we don’t pay our gas bill; the gas company cuts off our gas.

Same with our phone bill or our electricity.

But do you know what happens when you don’t pay your Shire rates?

In Western Australia, if you fall behind in your rates payments and have not had them paid in full for more than three years, the Shire can SELL YOUR HOUSE from underneath you.

Yep, you read that right. You or someone you love could be left homeless. I have seen it happen. I have authorised it to happen.

You can have your house sold out from underneath you for as little as the Shire Rates are worth. So if you owe $10,000 in rates, the Shire can sell your house for just that.

OR, if the house/land isn’t worth the outstanding rates, the Shire can simply have it transferred into their name.

This is something that I am sure a lot of people are not aware of when they start struggling with debt.

My current job at the moment in the town where I live, is the rates debt collector.

Its not fun and at times it is heartbreaking. I am writing this to make you all aware of the very dire consequences of having unpaid rates on your property, or that of an fallen on financial hardship/elderly/ill relative.

If you care about someone who you suspect may be in financial hardship, as hard as it might be, please have a chat and check to see if they are at least on top of their rates.