Buying

The tenant house sales program give public housing tenants an opportunity to purchase the property that they rent.

Eligibility

If you want to buy your house, you need to meet the following conditions:

1. You are the tenant of the property, and you signed the Residential Tenancy Agreement, or you are the spouse of the tenant and you're applying to purchase the house jointly with the tenant
2. You are up to date with rent and other charges (like maintenance and water charges) and you don't have any debts to us (like a Bond Loan)
3. Your rented property has a separate title
4. Your property hasn't been built, or had major work done on it by the Office of Housing in the last seven years
5. You don't own or have an interest in another property and you haven't signed a contract to buy another property
6. You have been the tenant of the property you want to purchase for a minimum of seven consecutive years
7. The property isn't located in an area or of a type that is subject to high demand for public rental accommodation and the property isn't required for strategic purposes like redevelopment, transit city or urban growth centres

Neighbourhood Renewal Areas

If you live in a Neighbourhood Renewal area, you can apply to buy your rental property if you've rented the property for at least two consecutive years. You will also need to meet points 1-5 of the eligibility criteria listed above and the sale can't compromise long-term plans or restrict the potential community development for the area.

Aboriginal Rental Housing Program

If you're an Indigenous tenant renting an Aboriginal Rental Housing Program house, the minimum tenancy of seven years does not apply. It also doesn't matter where or what type of property you rent.

Property titles

Every property has a title. The title tells you who owns a piece of land. It also lists any special conditions that affect that piece of land.

Sometimes the piece of land described in the title may have more than one house, unit or flat built on it. If another house, unit or flat shares the title to your rented property, then it doesn't have a separate title and we can't sell you the property.

Some flats and units, although they share the same piece of land, have a strata title. This means that each flat or unit on the same block of land can be split up and owned individually.

Setting the price

We're required by Government policy to sell our properties at or above the market value set by the Valuer-General. Your past rent payments won't get taken off the purchase price.

Getting finance and costs

You'll need a loan to buy your rental property.  Before applying, you need to speak with your bank or other financial institution to find out if you're able to borrow enough money.

We'll pay for the costs of the title search and the valuation fee. You'll have to pay the registration fees on the transfer of land and the mortgage, and the stamp duty on both documents.

Stamp duty is calculated on a sliding scale.  How much you'll have to pay depends on the value of the property. You could be able to get stamp duty concessions and the First Home Owners Grant. Call the State Revenue Office on 132 161 to find out more.

Once you own your property, you'll have to pay all the council rates and water authority charges, building insurance and repairs and maintenance costs.

Buying with your children

Sometimes you can buy your property with your child or children.  This could be because you can't get a loan unless the child or children are included. You'll need to prove your relationship to the child or children, with proof like a birth certificate.

Approval Process

First, you will need to fill out the Tenant House Sales Application form (Words Size KB, Pages ) and lodge it with your local housing office

We will inspect the property and recommend whether or not it should be sold.  We will consider your application, along with any future needs we have for the property.

If you application is denied

If the answer is no and you think this is wrong, you can appeal against the decision through our Appeals process.

If the answer is 'yes', we'll get a valuation of the property, and you'll be given the chance to purchase the property at this price.

If you accept the offer, our solicitors will draw up a contract of sale. You can withdraw your application by writing to or phoning us, right up to the day of settlement. If you do withdraw your application you'll continue as a tenant.

Usually, you'll know in writing within 6-8 weeks of applying to buy your property if you're successful.

Improvements and maintenance

Any improvements that you've made to the property should be listed on your application. We'll check that the improvements were made by you.

The current value of any improvements made by you is assessed by the Valuer when the property is valued. The current value of these improvements is taken off the purchase price by the Valuer before we make you an offer to sell.

If the property needs a lot of maintenance work we strongly advise you to get an independent report to check the condition of the property before you buy it.

You can get one of these reports from a qualified building expert like an architect or structural engineer.

While we are considering your application, we'll keep doing urgent and essential maintenance on your rented property, like repairs to faulty electrical wiring or water supply problems.

We won't start any major works, like painting, fencing or replacement of floor coverings, as these would affect the property price.

If works like these were planned for your property and your application is not approved or you withdraw your application, the planned works will be done after your application is cancelled.

The purchase process

Usually this will take about 4 months:

• One month to prepare paperwork like the Contract of Sale
• Another month for you to check the details and finalise your loan
• Sixty days from when the contract is signed to the day of settlement (when the title of the property is transferred from us to you).  You can arrange for the settlement time to be a shorter or longer period as long as we both agree.

Find out more

To learn more about the tenant house sales scheme, phone 1800 649 589.