Important amendments have been made to the National Rental Affordability Scheme Regulations 2008 (the Regulations) to create protection for investors of rental dwellings in the Scheme.
The Regulations have been amended to recognise the investors for the first time. For the purpose of NRAS, the investor is a person who is the owner of an approved rental dwelling as long as that person is not an approved participant.
The amendments introduce a power for the Secretary of the Department of Social Services to transfer an allocation attached to an approved rental dwelling from one approved participant to another if certain grounds exist.
This transfer can be initiated by the Secretary or at the request of the investor. The investor will be required to provide relevant documentary evidence to support grounds for requesting the transfer.
The grounds for transfer will apply whether they occurred before, on or after the date of the amendment being the 18 November 2017.
When the Secretary proposes to transfer an allocation to another approved participant, the Department will compile a list of approved participants in consultation with the State Government based on a number factors including location, incentive period and capacity. The investor nomination will only apply where an investor has requested in writing for a transfer of allocation to another approved participant.
The investor can only nominate from the list compiled by the Department.
The approved participant to whom the allocation is being transferred will be eligible to claim the incentive for the year in which the transfer occurs.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE NRAS CHANGESThe grounds under which the Secretary may transfer an allocation are set out below.
• The approved participant fails to provide information to the Department or provides false information.
• The approved participant fails to pass on the incentive to the investor within a reasonable timeframe after receiving the incentive.
• The approved participant provides misleading or false information about the Scheme and the rental dwelling to an investor.
• The approved participant claims the tax offset which they are not entitled to.
• The conduct of the approved participant in relation to the allocation contravenes consumer protection law.
• The approved participant becomes bankrupt.
• The approved participant is to become de-registered as a company by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission.