What's the meaning of contiguous properties?

Contiguous rating is a legislative requirement under Section 20 of the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002. This requires Council’s to treat two or more rating units as if they were one for rating purposes if those units are:

(a) owned by the same person or persons; and 

(b) used jointly as a single unit; and 

(c) contiguous or separated only by a road, railway, drain, water race, river, or stream. 

This is most commonly applied in the rural sector whereby various pieces of land, under different certificate of titles, are owned by the same person and used for a single farm operation.