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New Home and First Home Owners Grant Schemes
In an understandable eagerness to kick start the home building industry in this State and help out first home buyers, The NSW Government has passed a number of measures for that purpose. These are:
New Home Grant Scheme
From 1 July 2012, a new $5,000 grant will be provided to buyers of new homes, whether off the plan or newly built, with a value up to $650,000 and to buyers of vacant land that is intended to be the site of a new home valued up to $450,000. The grant is targeted at all non-first home buyers and is available to investors as well as owner occupiers. The grant will be administered through the transfer duty payment process. The relevant form and factsheet will be made available prior to the commencement of the grant.
First Home – New Home
From 1 July 2012 the transfer duty exemption cap on new homes increases to $550,000 with duty concessions for new homes valued between $550,000 and $650,000; and the cap on vacant land increases to $350,000 with duty concessions for vacant land valued between $350,000 and $450,000.
First Home Owner Grant (New Home) Scheme
From 1 October 2012, the First Home Owner Grant Scheme will be replaced by the First Home Owner Grant (New Home) Scheme. The new scheme will only apply to first home owners who purchase or build a new home valued at up to $650,000. The grant will increase from $7,000 to $15,000 from 1 October 2012 to 31 December 2013 and to $10,000 from 1 January 2014.
What it means from my point of view however is that, if the scheme is successful, a large number of generally young and inexperienced and very vulnerable young couples will be approaching builders to contract to build new homes. These are people whose every consumer transaction has been governed by consumer protection legislation which was passed before they were born. They cannot comprehend that, in entering into the most important consumer transaction of their lives, they will not be similarly, fully protected. They could not be more wrong. The miniscule protection provided to the home owner in the 1987 legislation has never been upgraded. Unless urgent action is taken to ensure that the home building contracts they enter into are reasonably fair, the unintended consequences of this well meaning policy may be as disastrous as those of the Commonwealth Government with its home insulation scheme, and the monies paid out may provide little or no benefit to the recipients. We need urgent reform in this area of the law. In this area "freedom of contract' is simply freedom to cheat and oppress.
Regards
Peter Merity
New Home Grant Scheme
From 1 July 2012, a new $5,000 grant will be provided to buyers of new homes, whether off the plan or newly built, with a value up to $650,000 and to buyers of vacant land that is intended to be the site of a new home valued up to $450,000. The grant is targeted at all non-first home buyers and is available to investors as well as owner occupiers. The grant will be administered through the transfer duty payment process. The relevant form and factsheet will be made available prior to the commencement of the grant.
First Home – New Home
From 1 July 2012 the transfer duty exemption cap on new homes increases to $550,000 with duty concessions for new homes valued between $550,000 and $650,000; and the cap on vacant land increases to $350,000 with duty concessions for vacant land valued between $350,000 and $450,000.
First Home Owner Grant (New Home) Scheme
From 1 October 2012, the First Home Owner Grant Scheme will be replaced by the First Home Owner Grant (New Home) Scheme. The new scheme will only apply to first home owners who purchase or build a new home valued at up to $650,000. The grant will increase from $7,000 to $15,000 from 1 October 2012 to 31 December 2013 and to $10,000 from 1 January 2014.
What it means from my point of view however is that, if the scheme is successful, a large number of generally young and inexperienced and very vulnerable young couples will be approaching builders to contract to build new homes. These are people whose every consumer transaction has been governed by consumer protection legislation which was passed before they were born. They cannot comprehend that, in entering into the most important consumer transaction of their lives, they will not be similarly, fully protected. They could not be more wrong. The miniscule protection provided to the home owner in the 1987 legislation has never been upgraded. Unless urgent action is taken to ensure that the home building contracts they enter into are reasonably fair, the unintended consequences of this well meaning policy may be as disastrous as those of the Commonwealth Government with its home insulation scheme, and the monies paid out may provide little or no benefit to the recipients. We need urgent reform in this area of the law. In this area "freedom of contract' is simply freedom to cheat and oppress.
Regards
Peter Merity
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