Shared Equity Home Buyer Helper – participant information

What ongoing obligations to expect as a participant in Shared Equity Home Buyer Helper, and how you can exit the program when you have the capacity.

Senior male working at home

Participants in the Shared Equity program will need to meet ongoing criteria and obligations, and to advise Revenue NSW if their circumstances change.

Ongoing eligibility criteria

The ongoing eligibility requirements for Shared Equity relate to your:

  • gross income
  • place of residence
  • relationship status
  • citizenship or residency status
  • property ownership status.

You must notify Revenue NSW within 3 months if any of the circumstances above change, except for your gross income, which is assessed at each periodic review. 

Details are explained in the customer information guide.

Young couple planning and designing new home

Becoming ineligible

If your income or personal circumstances change, Revenue NSW will assess your situation and consult with you on the most suitable outcome.

All outcomes are on a case-by-case basis. You may be able to refinance or buy out some or all of the Government’s equity share in the property.

You won’t be forced to sell your property based on a change in circumstances. A forced sale would only occur as a result of a serious breach of the Policy Guidelines.

Ongoing obligations

Young woman using laptop and calculator

Under Shared Equity, you need to keep up to date with the following: 

  • costs associated with ownership
  • loan repayments
  • repairs and maintenance
  • insurance.

Further details are available in the customer information guide.

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Shared Equity Home Buyer Helper – ongoing eligibility and obligations

Renovating or selling your home

Renovations and modifications

If you want to do renovations or make modifications that will potentially change the value of the property, you’ll need approval from Revenue NSW if:

  • It will cost at least $20,000, incurred within a 12-month period.
  • You need council approval (including complying development.
  • Your plans will be approved if they are assessed as adding value to the property.
  • An independent property valuation, organised through your lender, will be required to do a valuation before work starts and to also estimate how much the property will be worth once the work is done (excluding the impact of general market movements).

The Government’s equity interest will be adjusted to take into account the increase in property value after the renovations/modifications. Further details are available in the customer information guide.

New home under construction
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Shared Equity Home Buyer Helper – property valuations, renovations and home improvements

Selling your home

If you decide to sell your home, you firstly need to inform your lending partner, who will arrange a full property valuation from an independent valuer. You can then inform Revenue NSW.

You should also tell your conveyancer or solicitor that you are a Shared Equity participant and inform them of the NSW Government’s equity in the property.

Upon the exchange of contracts, notify Revenue NSW of the sale price of the property. It can then calculate the payment required for you to buy out the government equity interest.

You are responsible for your own legal costs and you must pay all other costs, including the valuation, real estate costs and the agency commission, and the fee for exiting the mortgage early.

Paying out the proceeds of the sale

The proceeds from the sale will need to be paid out in the order below.

  1. Lending partner – the outstanding home loan amount.
  2. Revenue NSW – the government’s equity interest at the time of the sale.
  3. Any other parties with a legal or equitable claim to the property.

You will receive the remaining balance.

A multi-generational family sitting on the back of a truck with moving boxes and a sold sign in the background

Exiting Shared Equity

Participants are encouraged to voluntarily pay out the government’s equity interest in their home and exit Shared Equity if they are able to, however this is not mandatory.

Other ways to exit include refinancing or selling the property. If your situation changes altogether, you may also be required to exit following a periodic review, but only if an assessment of your new circumstances finds you can afford to do so, or are in a position to refinance your mortgage with a participating lender.

Voluntary payment

You may buy back some or all of the government’s equity interest at any time. However, any such voluntary payment must reduce the Government’s equity interest by at least 5 percentage points – except when the remaining equity interest is less than five percentage points, and the participant is making the final payment to exit Shared Equity.

Refinancing

Work with your lender if you are in a position to re-finance and acquire, in full or in part, the government’s equity interest. Though you can refinance from a lender that is not associated with Shared Equity, you should note:

  • Refinancing with an approved Shared Equity lending partner means you can buy out the Government’s equity interest in full or in part, subject to the minimum 5 percentage point reduction.
  • Refinancing with a different lender, means you must buy out the Government’s equity in full.

Further details are available in the customer information guide.

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