First Home Owners Grant (FHOG) - Regional Victoria

boondocksaint on 04/05/2021 - 18:21
Last edited 05/05/2021 - 09:14

Hi all.

We have been approved for a bank loan on a new property we are building. In a very bizarre manner, our loan agent at a local Home Loans shop in town, emails me and says, oh, I see your property is valued over $ 750 000, you don't qualify for FHOG. And continues on like this is not an big issue.

Does FHOG include the cost of the land,or just the cost of construction when building?

We bought the property in a separate transaction, and the contract of the construction document only contains the build itself, not the land.

https://www.sro.vic.gov.au/fhogapply
Your first new home can be a house, townhouse, apartment, unit or similar. The amount paid for the home, that is the contract price for construction when building the home, must be $750,000 or less.

https://www.sro.vic.gov.au/regionalFAQs#:~:text=The%20region….
The regional First Home Owner Grant (FHOG) is a $20,000 payment for first home buyers who sign a contract to buy or build their new home, where the contract price (or cost of construction for an owner builder) is $750,000 or less, in regional Victoria.

I don't want to get into to much details, about how mad I am, switching agents after the money settles etc etc. I will be seeing them tomorrow, but it seems I need some info, as they are pretty useless.

Thanks

*** UPDATE ***

With all the information I found, our loan agent phoned SRO. The land and build was two separate transactions, the FHOG is then based on build contract amount. If it was sold as a house and land package, we would was lost out on the grant.

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Comments

  • Settero on 04/05/2021 - 18:35

    nvm was thinking of a different scheme.

  • apple2016 on 04/05/2021 - 19:15

    As far as I know , if you buy a land < A$750K and build on it , you will be eligible.
    You can call the SRO and talk to them directly regarding this.

    • boondocksaint on 04/05/2021 - 19:20

      Thanks. I reveived the email after COB today and could not contact anyone. The combined value of the property and build is more than 750k,the build itself is less than 750k.

  • pjetson on 04/05/2021 - 19:24
    +4

    I can't see anywhere in the information in the SRO link you provided that specifically says that the land price is included, but neither can I see anywhere that excludes it. In quite a few places, the strong implication is that the land is included in the definition of a home, and I think that's what a reasonable person would expect.

    Applicant - The person applying for a grant who, on completion of the purchase of a home or construction of a new home, will own or hold a relevant interest in the land on which the home is built

    Be buying or building a home for which the purchase price of the property does not exceed the $750,000 cap

    Home - A building affixed to land that may be lawfully used as a place of residence

    Owner - A person who has a relevant interest in land on which a home is built

    Owner builder - An owner of land who builds a home, or has a home built, on the land

    Residential property - Land in Australia on which there is a home which is lawfully occupied or suitable for occupation

    I think it's pretty obvious that the intention is that the $750,000 cap includes the land, especially since it's a bit tough to build a house anywhere other than on land, or to sell a house without also selling the land that it is built on.

    However, I'm not a lawyer. Perhaps your point is arguable. I doubt they'll just roll over and give you the money, though, so you'll have to consider your legal costs, and if you lose, their legal costs as well.

    • boondocksaint on 04/05/2021 - 19:32

      Thanks for the reply.

      On the Home Builder Grant they actually specify that the value is land and property. Looking around,most of the time they talk about buying a property which includes both,but they don't really talk about building. Also,you cannot claim first home owners on just a piece of land,which counter argues it a bit. It would kind of make sense you get the grant based on the build cost then.

      I don't want to try and and find loopholes,really just want to get clarity. Minus that 20k makes a big difference,so we need to know what our next steps are to budget for the rest of the build

      Seems contacting SRO in the morning is the best starting point.

    • boondocksaint on 04/05/2021 - 19:42

      Added another link in OP. Another interesting wording on Building vs Buying

      • pjetson on 04/05/2021 - 20:23

        They define a home as "a building affixed to land" which I think makes it pretty clear that you can't "divorce" the two.

    • jjjaar on 05/05/2021 - 00:15

      See, I’m not so sure. What happens if you’ve had a parcel of land for 20/30 years and you choose to knock down and rebuild. All of the points above say to me that in that case you’d be eligible.

      Ultimately the point of this grant is to encourage people to build, to support that industry, and land purchase has no part in that.

      But you are 100% right. It doesn’t state either way explicitly so it’s really hard to know.

  • djkelly69 on 04/05/2021 - 21:01

    'new home' includes a land and building package. It will also include separate land and building contracts not as a package.

  • boondocksaint on 05/05/2021 - 09:14

    OP Updated

  • pjetson on 05/05/2021 - 14:13

    With all the information I found, our loan agent phoned SRO. The land and build was two separate transactions, the FHOG is then based on build contract amount. If it was sold as a house and land package, we would was lost out on the grant.

    A great result for you then! Good to hear.

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