Far North District Council has set up a dedicated unit to work with Māori freehold landowners in a bid to recoup more than $20 million unpaid rates.

The total rates debt on Māori freehold land from 2013 to 2018 is $20.9m owed by 2060 accounts.

Because much of the land is of poor quality, unoccupied and landlocked, along with the issue of collective ownership, the council is working with Māori to develop their land to generate income to repay the debt.

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Treaty lawyer Season-Mary Downs, from Tukau Law and Consultancy, said addressing rating issues would be difficult as there were "a lot of historical issues" that must be taken into account.

Only 5 per cent of land in New Zealand is Māori land, and there needed to be "careful consideration about if and how it is rated", she said.

"It's not just a rating issue, it's a Treaty and a partnership issue," Downs said.

"Any regime created must consider Treaty issues as well as the Treaty partnership.

"Rating for Māori is a massive issue and grievance because historically rating was imposed without their consent as a way of councils enforcing the alienation of further lands when they only had very little left."

Māori land is subject to Te Ture Whenua Act 1993 and is registered at the Māori Land Court.

Unlike general title land, the council cannot sell Māori land to recover debt.

Downs, who is also deputy chair of Waikare Marae Committee, said that traditionally Māori land was owned collectively by multiple owners.

It was different to general title because it was very difficult to sell and approval from the Māori Land Court must be sought, and to build on it you needed to have the agreement of most of the owners. A lot of it was also landlocked and uneconomic.

"There's no other instance where one parcel of land is owned by hundreds of people," Downs said.

"It's hard to track down the owners and the records are not up to date."

supplied Te Horo 2B2B2B2 Trust Deputy Chair Huhana Lyndon.

Council spokesperson Samantha Edmonds said the Far North contained large tracts of Māori freehold land, much of which was unoccupied or unimproved.

This was due to a number of factors including ownership structures, special significance making it undesirable to develop or live on, it was isolated, of poor quality or had no road access, she said.

"Despite these impediments to development, the council recognises that all land is rateable.

"The vision for the team is to shift Māori freehold land from underused or unproductive to productive use."

Te Horo 2B2B2B2 Trust Deputy Chair Huhana Lyndon said the trust inherited around $200,000 worth of rates debt when new trustees took over nearly 3000 hectares of Māori freehold land in October 2017.

The land is in Pipiwai, Kaikou and the Te Horo Valley and is owned by 1300 shareholders, with the debt split between Far North District Council and Whangarei District Council.

The trust approached both councils to understand how it had accumulated.

The meetings were "very fruitful", Lyndon said, and trustees were now undertaking a feasibility study to find ways to create opportunities for income, including grazing and honey.

They also want to partition off blocks to give back to individual shareholders.

SCOTT HAMMOND/STUFF Te Horo 2B2B2B2 Trust is looking at ways to make their land productive, including grazing, to pay back around $200,000 of inherited rates debt.

"FNDC has been very productive in working with us...Through meetings and negotiations we have been able to reclassify the land and sort the debt. Our whānau who are living on the land are working with us and council."

Lyndon said rating Māori land needed to be "appropriate and considered".

"The rating needs to be worked through with tangata whenua underpinned by He Whakaputanga me Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

"Where there can be negotiated agreement on rates (if any) that could apply, but also a recognition of the various uses and purposes of land to tangata whenua and the special place that it holds for future generations."

Edmonds said the council has rates relief policies in place but "these policies are not intended as a permanent remission or exemption from rates, but are intended to allow owners time to call meetings with shareholders and consider options for their land."