4 November 2014

Help ensure first home buyers don’t miss out on the Home Buyers Assistance Account (HBAA) $2,000 grant. Applications must be lodged no more than 90 days after the date that the offer to purchase the dwelling was accepted, even if not all information is available at the time.

The HBAA is a State Government scheme administered by the Department of Commerce (the Department) under the Real Estate and Business Agents Act 1978.

The Department encourages real estate agents and sales representatives to promote and educate clients about this grant particularly at the time of purchasing their first home.

The funding for the scheme comes from the interest paid on real estate agents’ trust accounts and currently provides a grant of up to $2,000 towards some of the incidental expenses associated with buying a first home such as conveyancing/settlement fee, Landgate transfer registration fee, mortgage registration fee, mortgage insurance premium, loan establishment fee, and pest/building inspection fees.

Other costs such as postage and petties, bank cheque fees, rates and taxes on the property cannot be considered as part of the grant.

To ensure the application is lodged within the required 90 day timeframe, the application form can be submitted to the Department without supporting documentation. The applicant can provide the outstanding documents, such as the final settlement statement, when it becomes available.

If the application will be lodged outside the 90 day timeframe, it must be accompanied by a written explanation as to the reason for the late lodgement and the applicant should include documentation that may support the reason for late lodgement.

As the eligibility criteria may be subject to change, you can view the current HBAA information and form on the Department’s website. Should you have any queries in relation to the HBAA, you can contact the Department for assistance on 1300 30 40 54 or by email at hbaa@commerce.wa.gov.au