EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1987 NO. 68
FIRST HOME OWNERS REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
Issued by Authority of the Minister of State for Housing and Construction.
Statutory Rule 1987 No. makes a regulation under the First Home Owners Act 1983 (“the Act”) relating to the establishment of separate income limits for applicants without dependent children, and to provide increased income limits for all applicants.
Relevant amounts for the income test in section 23 of the Act
Section 23 of the Act provides a formula to determine the amount of assistance payable where the prescribed earnings of an applicant, or joint applicants exceed a prescribed amount but do not exceed a higher prescribed amount, and also provides that no assistance is payable where the applicant’s prescribed earnings exceed the higher prescribed amount. The First Home Owners Regulations (Amendment) amends Regulations 5 which prescribes the higher and lower relevant amounts for each of the four levels of assistance.
Higher and lower relevant amounts
Four categories of higher and lower relevant amounts are provided in Sub-regulation 5(3)
(i) $31,000 (higher relevant amount)
- $23,000 (lower relevant amount)
for joint applicants without dependent children;
(ii) $15,500 (higher relevant amount)
- $11,500 (lower relevant amount)
for single applicants without dependent children;
(iii) $33,000 (higher relevant amount
- $25,000 (lower relevant amount)
for applicants with one dependent child; and
(iv) $34,000 (higher relevant amount)
- $26,000 (lower relevant amount)
for applicants with two or more dependent children.
The revised income limits came into effect from 31 March 1987 and will apply to all applicants whose prescribed date, as defined in section 14 of the Act, occurs on or after that date.
Sub-regulations 5(1) and (2) provide that the higher and lower relevant amounts applicable to applicants with prescribed dates which fall between 1 October 1983 and 30 March 1987, inclusive, remain applicable to those applications.