Greg, Michele and Bella

What's all this then???????? Free money???????!!!!!!! Is it as easy as it would appear, or is it some mythical grant that is impossible to apply for an even more difficult to have granted??? We are off to Brisbane next April and with the way the exchange rate is going at present, every penny (cent) counts

Can anyone who has applied in Queensland and successfully received said cash let me know how complicated the process was?

Also, advice on any other grants (solar power for example) / stamp duty reductions would be much appreciated

Thanks in advance

Greg, Michele and Bella

ABCDiamond

Your solicitor, for the house buying process, can complete it all for you, or even a mortgage broker if you use one.

Stamp duty:
The basic info, as at Aug 2004, is:
Under the new transfer duty arrangements, the lower duty rate of $1 for each $100, or part of $100, will apply to the first $300,000 of the consideration for, or value of, a home.

For first home buyers, no duty applies to the purchase of their home up to $250,000.
Currently, where the price exceeds $250,000, home concession duty applies to the first $250 000 with a sliding scale rebate applying to homes over $250,000 up to $499,999
This link gives details of stamp duty concessions from August 2004 for home buyers:
http://www.osr.qld.gov.au/taxes/duti...ome_buyers.htm
and this is a calculator: http://www.osr.qld.gov.au/calculators/transferDuty.htm


A First Home Owners grant of $7,000 is also available to most people.
http://www.osr.qld.gov.au/gas/fhog/
One of the conditions is : You, or a joint applicant, must be an Australian citizen or a permanent resident.

http://www.abcdiamond.com/brisbane/viewtopic.php?t=18

biggy

We got the home owners grant,,filled in the form when applyin for the mortgage....came through in about a month, and is sitting in our mortgage account until completion of the house.

Ceri

"Also, advice on any other grants (solar power for example)"




When you buy into an area etc and are on their rates list etc, your council should send you an info pack/folder, basically called "A welcome pack" - I don't know if all councils do this, but Pine shire does. I recieved a big folder off my council when we first moved into the area, with tokens, maps, grant forms for this and that . The folder should contain local info and info on current grants for things and a letter to you welcoming to the area off the Mayor etc. Forms/info for any enviro grants from fittings in and on your home etc to free trees/plants etc.

I'd phone up your own local council if I were you and ask them, the councils have always got some sort of rebate/schemes for certain current things going on each different year.

anyway found this:
" You could be eligible for the Council’s $500 sustainable home rebate if you are building or buying a new home between 1 July 2005 and 31 December 2006"

"to apply for the rebate, you need to be the owner of a new home that:

is located in Brisbane
is constructed or sold to its first owner between 1 July 2005 and 31 December 2006
has AAA showers and a greenhouse ef�cient hot water system"

info below regarding the rebate for this. I don't know if it covers all councils around Brisbane (a qld scheme or a local council scheme) or just the Brisbane council area, or the whole of Brisbane if you know what I mean. You'll have to check it out, they have a few links on the below web site, I haven't read through it all , so don't know if this will answer your exact queries . Phone up your local , or the Brisbane council whether that's your local council or not.


http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/BCC:S...456:pc=PC_1833
.................................................. .................................................. ...

The home grant is pretty straight forward to fill in yourself if you want to do it yourself and have no mortgage , don't have a broker etc ( I filled in my own and sent off off it, downloaded the forms off the web site. I can't remember exactly all the paperwork you hand in with the form without looking at the form on the website .

It was a few a years ago I did mine , but I had two lots and more paperwork and had to submit all my building plans ( I built not bought an existing home - so had quite a few more thing to hand in with the extra $3 thou grant too at the time), plus the final handover date etc etc, final safety inspection reports from the council - as I was applying for two which were dealt with two separate departments within the same tax office, and also had to submit a heap of things as when I applied the $10 had stopped.
I left it for about 8 or 9 months after we had built and finally got around to applying for it. I couldn't really be bothered applying for the grants when we were actually building, but was entitled to it - ie I was one of the last to apply for it, and recieve the 10 grand before the extra $3,000 claim went dead , ( $10 grand - $7 and plus the $3 thou which were separate forms. But You don't need to worry about this though, it's obsolete now - it's $7 for everyone(If your entitled to it of course and are a PR or an citizen, and it's your first home purchase here in Aus) whether you are building or buying an exisiting home.

Dowloadable forms are available for the current $7,000 grant on the above gov site which abc has posted, with clear step by step instructions on the form. Easy.

cheers

kango_jack

As others have mentioned, really easy to claim we did ours ourself and as with most things we have claimed, money is in your bank really swiftly!

spuds

Don't know about other states but we did ours in Vic and it was "too easy" as the Aussies say. We applied through the mortgage broker filled in 1 (v basic) form and were told we'd get the money when the house is handed over (7 weeks and counting.)

Strangely, $12k arrived in our bank account yesterday with the helpful description "Deposit". Went to the bank today to see if it is the grant and they have no idea where it came from! We are assuming it's the FHBG as it's the correct amount but it would be nice if it was an anonymous sponsor and there's ANOTHER $12k on the way...

Did anyone else's account show the origin of the payment?

CornishPasty

I couldnt believe how easy it was. I filled out one form and gave it to the bank. The bank then go direct to the government for the money and I just gave them 7k less.

I just bought a house this week! I moved in on Tuesday. The pommie dream is slowly coming to fruition, I have the nice queenslander now and in a few years I hope to be able to afford the pool!

Ceri

I recieved a cheque for mine off the tax office as I dealt directly with the Brisbane revenue/tax office myself who issues out the payment and did not hand the form into my bank for them to deal with it like most people do. But a mate of mine here who gave the forms in through his bank, when he recieved his into his bank account it did not say an orgin
.
This is in Qld with us, but it looks if they sometimes do the same where you are too. Nothing on the bank statement to who deposited it

Be assured you won't be getting another payment off them lol - even if you did by their mistake, you'd have to pay it back when they realised their mistake.

It maybe because they issued it to your bank, and then your bank manager etc puts into your personal account- don't know, but my mates grant payment here was the same as yours by the sounds of things.

cheers

Soi Oz

Just curious, but had you ever purchased a house in the UK before?

ABCDiamond

It is about time the Governments changed the rules on this isn't it

But until they do..... People will claim what they are legally entitled to claim.

Ceri

It does not matter if he /she has. you are still entitled to the first home grant here. It is for first time home purchases in Australia, and previous home purchases in your other countries do not alter your eligibility for the grant here.

if this is the reason why your asking the question.

spuds

I assume you mean that you are not a 1st time homebuyer if you owned property overseas?? I never did so it doesn't apply to me but the idea is it's your 1st house in Oz not elsewhere.

Obviuosly the idea is to buoy up the housing market and whther youo have bought property abroad before or not - you are investing in Oz property for the 1st time. Seems fair enough to me.

ABCDiamond

I think the original idea was also quoted as being to help first time property buyers get into the market.

edit

spuds

But it's till primarily to balance the housing market, not coz the govt feels generous!!

Soi Oz

It is, and I think it sucks. I wasn't eligible as it used to be means tested, and I don't think we should be handing it out to people who are bringing in money (pounds remember) and who have owned homes before. 'Welcome to Australia, here - have a pile of cash courtesy of the Aussie taxpayer....'