Lovelock v Waitakere City Council - [1996] 3 NZLR 310

Local government — Rating — Council rating on land value — Council proposing change to capital value contrary to recommendation of officers and rating committee to adopt stepped differential rating for residential properties — Council owing fiduciary duty to ratepayers to produce equitable result — Procedure to be followed before making and levying rates — Relevant considerations to be taken into account — Whether fiduciary duty required council to fix rates on basis of stepped differential — Whether council's decision to maintain status quo unreasonable and therefore invalid — Local Government Act 1974, ss 121 and 122 — Rating Powers Act 1988, ss 12, 95, 109 and 110.

Administrative law — Judicial review — Whether a local body's rating decision unreasonable and therefore invalid — Whether fiduciary duty to ratepayers amenable to judicial review.