Things to Consider When Applying for the HomeBuilder Grant
In early June the Federal Government announced a $680 million HomeBuilder scheme to stimulate the construction sector as Australia begins the economic recovery following COVID-19. This scheme will allow eligible owner-occupiers to access a tax-free grant of $25,000 to build a new home, or substantially renovate their existing home from now until 31 December 2020.
To check whether you are eligible, click here to view the HomeBuilder Frequently Asked Questions PDF.
Things to Consider
If you are interested in taking advantage of the HomeBuilder grant, there are a few things you should consider before you jump in.
Consider Your Timeline
One of the requirements of the grant is that construction begins within three months of signing the contract. Due to this tight time frame, it is important that you are organised and prepared, so you should consider whether you will have the sufficient time to have plans drawn up, obtain council approval and commence building within three months when signing the contract. From our experience, three months is a ‘tight timeframe’ to achieve the latter, so preparation is key!
Consider Your Finances
In addition to the HomeBuilder grant, you should consider whether you may be eligible for other grants, which may include the first home owner grant and the regional home building boost grant. You won’t be able to use the grant in your initial deposit as it is expected that it will take some time for it to be awarded. As such, you will need to ensure you have sufficient financing for any initial costs that you may have.
Choose Your Builder Carefully
It is very important that your builder is registered or licensed, otherwise you will not be eligible for the grant. You also cannot do the building work yourself as an owner-builder, or engage family or close friends. When selecting a builder, you should also review their proposed prices to ensure they’re reasonable and that you aren’t being ‘ripped off’ by builders capitalising on the HomeBuilder grant. Be on the lookout for builders who only commenced operating following the HomeBuilder announcement, as they are more likely to be taking advantage of the scheme than longstanding builders. Lastly, always make sure that you perform a QBCC license search on your builder, as this search will show you:
- the date your builder became licensed;
- the value of projects your builder completed since inception, and each financial year; and
- whether the QBCC has had to take any disciplinary action against the builder, such as notices to rectify, issuing of defect notices etc.
Review Your Construction Contract Carefully
It is very important that you do not simply ‘sign up’ to the contract your builder presents. The financial commitment you are making is likely one of the biggest in your life, and it should be treated with the same caution and respect as any other financial arrangement of that size. There are a number of key clauses that you need to pay very careful attention to, and a number of standard amendments you ought to request.
Make sure you check out our knowledge page in the coming weeks for our ‘Top 10 Domestic Construction Contract Clauses to Consider’ article.
In the meantime, if you would like to take advantage of the HomeBuilder grant and it feels like there is too much to consider, the team at Enterprise Legal can help.