Debt Recovery

Effective debt recovery is essential to sound financial management in local government. It supports revenue certainty, promotes fairness, and underpins public confidence in council decision‑making and enforcement.

We provide specialist legal advice to councils across the full spectrum of debt recovery matters, including rates, penalties, processing costs, development contributions, and other statutory charges. Our advice is grounded in a detailed understanding of the legislative and regulatory framework within which councils operate, and the public law obligations that sit alongside them.

Our approach is practical, proportionate, and tailored to each council’s policies and risk appetite. We support councils with proactive recovery strategies, clear and defensible demand processes, negotiated payment arrangements, registering security interests, and, where necessary, enforcement action through the courts. At each stage, we ensure recovery action is legally robust, procedurally fair, and consistent with good public‑sector practice.

We work closely with in‑house finance and legal teams to achieve outcomes that balance fiscal responsibility with fair and considered engagement with the community, supporting councils to recover debt confidently, transparently, and in a way that aligns with their broader governance and accountability obligations.