Skip to content
An ACT Government Website
Accessibility
Contact us
Accessibility Contact us

Disability Duty Concession Scheme

The ACT Government announced the Disability Duty Concession Scheme (DDCS) as part of the 2016-17 Budget. The DDCS encourages adults with a long-term and permanent disability, who may otherwise rely on government accommodation, to find long term‑ accommodation to suit their needs.

The DDCS provides a concession from having to pay conveyance duty if you have a long-term and permanent disability and you want to purchase a home as your principal residence under the eligible property threshold.

It’s available to ACT residents who have qualified for an individual funding package under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). NDIS participants are individuals with a long-term and permanent intellectual, physical, sensory or psychiatric disability that significantly impacts their level of function.

From 1 July 2026, you will be exempt from paying conveyance duty under the DDCS if you are eligible.

Eligible transactions

The DDCS can apply to the purchase of a home (new or established) or a block of vacant residential land with a transaction date of 1 July 2016 or later. The transaction date is the date of grant, transfer, or agreement for transfer (whichever is first - not the settlement date).

Eligibility

From 1 July 2026, to claim the DDCS, you need to meet the following eligibility requirements:

  1. You, or at least one other buyer of the property, must be a NDIS participant.
  2. The NDIS participant must acquire at least 51 per cent interest in the home.
  3. You are an individual 18 years old or over.
  4. You (and your domestic partner) need to meet prior property requirements.
  5. The NDIS participant must own and live in the home as their principal place of residence continuously for a minimum of one year The NDIS participant must start to reside in the home within one year of your settlement date (or issue of the certificate of occupancy for vacant land)
  6. The NDIS participant must not have previously received a concession.

If you would like to claim the DDCS, you must meet all 6 of the requirements.

1. You, or at least one other buyer of the property, must be a NDIS participant.

An NDIS participant is a person who is in receipt of an individual funding package as a participant of the NDIS.

At least one person purchasing the property must be a NDIS participant to be eligible for this concession.

2. The NDIS participant must acquire at least 51 per cent interest in the home.

The NDIS participant must acquire 51 per cent interest in the home to be the majority owner in the home. If the home is purchased solely in the name of the NDIS participant, the criterion will be met.

You cannot purchase the property as joint tenants, as the NDIS participant will not acquire 51 per cent ownership of the home

3. You are an individual 18 years old or over

To claim the DDCS, you and any other buyers of the property are individuals who are 18 years old or over.

This means you cannot claim the exemption if you are buying the property:

  • through a legal arrangement such as a company
  • as an individual to hold on trust as a trustee
  • as a partner in a partnership. ‘Partnership’ means persons conducting business together – not a domestic partnership.
  • an agent of a company, trustee or partnership.

You cannot purchase the property with a buyer who is not an individual such as a company.

The Commissioner has the discretion to allow someone under 18 years old to be eligible, if it is fair and reasonable under the circumstances. Contact us if you would like to know more about this.

4. You (and your domestic partner) need to meet prior property requirements.

Property Requirements

All purchasers cannot have owned any land or property other than the home you're buying under the DDCS in the two years leading up to the transaction date.

You may be  exempt from the prior property requirements if one of the following  situations apply.

Executor or trustee (but not a beneficiary) under a will

If any buyer's or their domestic partner acquired an interest in property as an executor or trustee (but not a beneficiary) under a will, then this interest in property can be exempted from the property ownership requirements.

To find out more about the evidence you will need to claim, go to Pensioner duty concession.

Orders or agreements to relinquish your interest in property

This is where a relationship has ended and one of the buyers was required to relinquish (gives up) their interest in property under a court order or binding agreement.

If you or your domestic partner were required to transfer or sell (relinquish) your interest in property by any of the following orders or agreements, then this property may be exempt from the property ownership requirement:

For an order or agreement, it must instruct you to transfer or sell (relinquish) your interest in any prior property that you may own. It is also important the following requirements are met for this exemption to apply:

  • for a sealed order of a court:
    • it must be sealed (signed and stamped) before the transaction date of your new property purchase
    • it must be sealed before you transfer or sell (relinquish) any prior interests in property and sign and exchange contracts for the sale of your former home
  • for an agreement, it must be signed by both parties before:
    • the transaction date of your new property purchase
    • you transfer or sell (relinquish) any prior interests in property and exchange contracts for the sale of your former home.

To meet these exemption requirements, you need to follow the correct timeline of events.

To find out more about the evidence you will need to claim, go to Pensioner duty concession.

Separation from a domestic partner (spouse)

An exemption for a spouse's property interests exists for a transaction that has a transaction date from 1 July 2025. If any buyers have separated from, but are still legally married to, their former spouse, the spouse’s property interests may be exempted from the DDCS requirements if:

  1. There has been a dissolution, annulment or irretrievable breakdown of the domestic relationship.
  2. The buyer is not living (cohabiting) with their former spouse and there is no likelihood of cohabitation being resumed.

Additionally, if the buyers prior property interests are exempt, they can claim the DDCS for the new property when it is not  in the same names as the former property .

To find out more about the evidence you will need to claim, go to  Pensioner duty concession with separation from a domestic partner (spouse) exemption .

5. The NDIS participant must own and live in the home as their principal place of residence continuously for a minimum of one year

The DDCS residence requirement states that once you buy your new property, at least one NDIS participant must live in it continuously for a minimum of one year.

This means the NDIS participant must start living in the new property as their principal place of residence within one year of either:

  • the settlement date (for a new or established home), or
  • the date that a certificate of occupancy and use (COU) has been issued (for vacant land).

Principal place of residence

Principal place of residence (PPR) is where a person mainly lives. A person can occupy more than one place of residence at a time, however, only one residence may be a person’s PPR. Find out more about principal place of residence (272 KB)

When claiming the DDCS, you are agreeing to meet this residence requirement in advance. If you do not meet the residence requirement, you will be liable to pay full conveyance duty (stamp duty) in relation to the transaction. Penalty tax or interest may also apply if the requirements are not met. Read more about your obligations and responsibilities.

Residence exemption

If you are experiencing unforeseen circumstances and cannot meet the residence requirements, find out more in the following.

Residence requirement exemption

The Commissioner for ACT Revenue can reduce the residence period, in full or in part, or extend the time before you must start living in the property, but only if:

  1. There has been an unforeseen circumstance such as a health-related issue. Find out more about unforeseen circumstances.
  2. You make a request no later than 18 months after:
    • the settlement date (for an eligible home), or
    • the date you receive the COU once construction of the new home is finished (for vacant land).

If you have any concerns about meeting your residence requirement, you should contact us as early as possible.

5. The NDIS participant must not have previously received a concession

To be eligible for the DDCS, the NDIS participant cannot have previously received a concession under the

Check if you may be eligible for the Disability Duty Concession Scheme

Use this eligibility checker to find out if you may be eligible to claim the home buyer concession.

The questionnaire is intended to be used by you as a guide only, to help you better understand whether you may be eligible for any ACT Government home buyer assistance schemes.

If the eligibility assessment result states that you may be eligible, this is indicative only and should not be relied on as confirmation of eligibility or approval.

Users should use their own judgement in using the eligibility assessment tool and carefully evaluate the accuracy, currency, completeness and relevance of the information it provides.

All concessions and exemption applications at the ACT Revenue Office are self-assessed. You are obligated to ensure that all the eligibility criteria have been met (or will be met) before applying for any concession or exemption code in the Buyer Verification Declaration.

You should undertake your own inquiries into the eligibility requirements. This may include obtaining information from this website, legislation, or independent professional advice.

Find out if you're eligible

Find out how much duty concession you can get

To find out how much concession on conveyance duty (stamp duty) you would get, choose from one of the following periods of time. Use the transaction date of when you purchased your property to find which yearly period applies.

Concession amount for transaction dates from 1 July 2026

From 1 July 2026, the property value limit has been removed. This means no conveyance duty (stamp duty) is payable.

Property type Duty payable
Home $0
Vacant land $0  

Concession amounts before 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026

Concession amount for transaction dates from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026

From 1 July 2025, the maximum amount of conveyance duty (stamp duty) concession you can receive when claiming a concession is $35,238. The limit for property value is set at $1,020,000 or less. If you pay higher than this amount for your property, duty starts to apply.

Property value Duty to pay after concession
$1,020,000 or less $0
Between $1,020,000 and $1,455,000 $6.40 for every $100, or part of $100, by which the dutiable value exceeds $1,020,000
$1,455,000 or more a flat rate of $4.54 per $100 applied to the total dutiable value, less an amount of $35,238
  • Before 1 July 2024, the DDCS was limited to purchases of properties at or below a property threshold value.

How to claim?

If you're eligible, to claim the DDCS you will need to reference the concession code 010 on your completed questionnaire on the Buyer Verification Declaration before you register the title transfer with Access Canberra. You do not need to give us any other documents at this time. You can find out your eligibility for the DDCS and the documents you need to keep by completing the online questionnaire.

If you do not claim the concession code number on the Buyer Verification Declaration before you register your transfer, you can submit a late claim using the Application for concession, exemption or correction of duty after registration of title form. When we receive your claim, we will issue you a notice of reassessment with the concession applied.

To apply using the Separation from a domestic partner (spouse) provisions - DPS25

For agreements made on or after 1 July 2025, if you are legally married but separated from your spouse; their property interests may be excluded from the DDCS requirements, provided the Commissioner is satisfied that:

  • there has been a dissolution, annulment or irretrievable breakdown of the domestic relationship, and
  • you are not cohabitating with the spouse and there is no likelihood of cohabitation being resumed.

You will be required to provide evidence of separation from your spouse.

How to claim?

If you are eligible under the DDCS for a full duty concession with reference to the separation provisions, you will need to declare concession code DPS25 on the Buyer Verification Declaration. If you are eligible for a partial duty concession, you may choose to defer the balance by using code DP25D. This should be done before you register the title transfer with Access Canberra.

If you do not declare the DDCS concession code number on the Buyer Verification Declaration before you register your title transfer, you can submit a late claim using the Application for concession, exemption or correction of duty after registration of title. When we receive your claim, we will issue you a Notice of Reassessment with the concession applied.

What happens next?

When you claim the DDCS on your Buyer Verification Declaration, we’ll issue you a Notice of Assessment for the duty with the concession applied. No further action is needed for full concessions. For partial concessions, you must pay the duty shown on the notice.

After you’ve received your notice, we may contact you to verify your eligibility for the concession. For example, we may require you to give us copies of any documents that support your eligibility, or we may ask you to prove your residency at the home.

You need to keep copies of your supporting documents for at least five years after the transaction. We review claims and conduct investigations into the DDCS on an ongoing basis.

Reference Material

Further information on the DDCS can be located using the information below: