Liverpool Plains Shire Council land auction to recover unpaid rates

A total of 17 private lots were sold at the Community Hub in Quirindi on May 12, with the local council recovering $200,000 in unpaid rates and overdue costs.

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Four of the lots were not sold, which included a three-square metre grassy spot in Werris Creek.

And only 21 of the initial 24 listed properties went to auction because three owners came forward to pay their due rates.

Liverpool Plains Shire Council mayor Doug Hawkins said it was good that people came forward to pay their rates but that "it was just a pity" it had to get to that point.

"Because I don't want to see people out of their properties and I don't think anyone else on the council does either," Mr Hawkins said.

Overall, Mr Hawkins said it was a "successful" auction and that he was happy with the result even though selling private land to recover rates is "never a pleasant thing to do".

"But it's a burden on the rest of the taxpayers and this is just some way of getting some back," Mr Hawkins said.

While bidders from neighbouring properties snapped up the land to extend their own properties, others phoned in from as far away as Sydney and the northern and central NSW coasts.

McCulloch Agencies' Jessica Slade said most of the land lots included grazing and country pastures or roadside parcels, with the biggest being five acres in Premer.

Any additional money above the amount council needed to collect from the auction is expected to be put into a trust for the title owners to claim.

If that money is not collected then it is held with the NSW department of revenue's unclaimed money account.

About $152 million sits unclaimed within the state department, including from deceased estates, overpaid dues, bonds, share dividends and other sources.

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