Parliament has given a third reading to the Rates Rebate (Retirement Village Residents) Amendment Bill.

The private member's bill, introduced by Labour MP Ruth Dyson on 5 May 2016, will affect rates in a rating year which begins on or after 1 July 2018.

The bill ensures that retirement village residents are recognised as paying rates and are therefore entitled to apply for a rates rebate regardless of the billing practice of the local authority.

The bill has passed in spite of a select committee report in which the majority recommended that the bill not progress because of the complexity of issues identified in the rating process. However, the Labour Party, Green Party and New Zealand First members of the select committee disagreed, stating that there was no complex issue.

The main provision in the new law is a new section 7A in the Rates Rebate Act 1973 which outlines the process and requirements.