Loose-fill asbestos buyback concession scheme

In 2014, the ACT Government announced the Loose-fill Asbestos Insulation Eradication Scheme, offering to buy all ACT homes affected by loose-fill asbestos (Mr Fluffy) insulation. Under the scheme, the ACT Government is acquiring, demolishing and safely disposing of affected homes, remediating the blocks and then reselling them to assist with the overall costs of the scheme. The ACT Revenue Office oversees the scheme.

Part of this eradication scheme is the Loose-Fill Asbestos Insulation Eradication Buyback Concession Scheme. If you’re an eligible homeowner and you hand over your affected block as part of the buyback program, you’re entitled to a conveyance duty concession under the scheme when you buy another home in the ACT.

You should apply for the Scheme before the title to your new home is registered at Access Canberra in Dickson.

Eligibility

The Loose-Fill Asbestos Buyback Concession Scheme is available to all homeowners, including landlords, who meet the following eligibility criteria:

• you must be the legal title holder of an affected home as of 28 October 2014
• the ACT must have identified the home as containing loose-fill asbestos insulation
• you must, with some exceptions, have acquired the legal title to the home before 18 February 2014
• you must opt in to the buyback scheme and either hand over your Crown lease for the home or sell your unit to the ACT
• the new home to which the concession will be applied must have a transaction date on or after 18 February 2014 (the transaction date is the date of grant, transfer or agreement to transfer), or
• if the contract to purchase the new home has a transaction date before 18 February 2014, the contract must complete on or after 18 February 2014.

Please note, the transaction date is the date of grant, transfer, or agreement for transfer of your new home (whichever is first – not the settlement date).

You’re also eligible if:

• on 18 February 2014, you didn’t own the affected home but had already entered into a contract to buy it, as long as the contract completed after 18 February 2014 and before 28 October 2014.
• your home wasn't identified as an affected home until after 28 October 2014.

Certain people with a financial interest in the affected home after 18 February 2014 may also be eligible - for example, if you inherited the home through a deceased estate or a family law transfer.

If you bought an affected home under a contract you entered into between 18 February 2014 and 28 October 2014, you may request special consideration from the head of the ACT Loose Fill Asbestos Coordination team.

Questionnaire

To determine your eligibility for the Loose-fill asbestos buyback concession scheme complete the online questionnaire.

Conditions

There’s one duty concession per household. You need to use the concession in one transaction to buy a property in the ACT.

You cannot divide the concession; we provide it to the home’s registered owner. If the home has more than one registered owner, you need the consent of all the other registered owners to use the concession.

You don’t have to use the duty concession on your next purchase of land in the ACT. If you’re planning to buy back your former block following remediation, you may want to hold on to the concession to do that even if you buy a new home in the meantime.

You can’t use the concession to buy a home outside the ACT.

Concession amount

We cap the value of the concession at the value of the duty you would’ve paid on the home you’re handing over.

We calculate your maximum concession based on the duty rates that applied on:

• 28 October 2014 - if your affected home was identified on or before that date; or
• the day your home is added to the Affected Residential Premises Register - if it was identified as affected after 28 October 2014.

The maximum concession is equal to the amount of duty you'd owe if you had purchased the affected home on the relevant date for an amount equal to the surrender sum - or, in the case of a unit, the purchase price.

We’ll calculate the duty due on the new home you’re buying at the rate that applies on the date of purchase.

Example 1

You surrender or sell your current home to the ACT Government for $600,000. The duty on a home of this value is $20,800. Now, say you want to buy a new home for $800,000; the duty on this home is $30,350. The concession applied is the lower duty amount: $20,800. To calculate the duty on the purchase of your new home, subtract the lower duty amount ($20,800) from the higher duty amount ($30,350). This means you’ll pay $9,550 duty on your new home.

Example 2

You surrender your current home to the ACT Government for $700,000. The duty on a home of this value is $25,800. Now, say you want to buy a new home for $500,000; the duty on this home is $14,600. The concession applied is the lower duty amount: $14,600. This means you’ll pay no duty on the new home purchase and you won’t receive a refund of the difference.

Additional details

If on or after 18 February 2014 you’ve already settled and paid duty on a new home, we’ll also calculate your concession entitlement as part of the surrender process and refund you once the surrender of your affected home is complete.

If you owe us any duty from a previous transaction, such as Deferred Duty, you need to repay it in full as part of the surrender process to be able to access the buyback concession scheme. You can either make these payments directly before you surrender your home, or we can deduct them from the surrender sum.

How to claim?

Transactions from 18 September 2017

The ACT Government introduced the Barrier Free model for duty as part of its tax reform on 18 September 2017. Loose-Fill Asbestos Insulation Eradication Buyback Concession Scheme applications must now be made by SmartForm.

Application

You can apply for the Scheme at any time, but you should apply as early as possible to avoid delays.

To apply for the concession, complete the Asbestos Insulation Eradication Buyback Concession Scheme Application SmartForm and attach a scanned copy of the dated and signed deed of surrender.

We may require additional information to prove eligibility and process the application. We cannot confirm the concession until you have completed your Application SmartForm and claimed the concession at Access Canberra.

When you register your new home at Access Canberra

For transactions dated on or after 18 September 2017 duty is usually payable within 14 days after your title to the new home is registered at Access Canberra.

To claim, enter the concession code number for the scheme on the Buyer Verification Declaration before you register the title transfer with Access Canberra.

If you need more time to pay duty for your new home before you exchange the deed of surrender for your affected home (or before you sell your unit) you can apply to us to postpone your duty payment.

Once you exchange the deed of surrender for the affected home, we can calculate the concession amount and apply it to your new home purchase in a Notice of Assessment.

If you fail to complete the surrender of your home, you’ll have to pay back any concession to us.