Permanent vacation of principal home 102-03010040

Does not apply for FTB/CCS: customers receiving only Family Tax Benefit (FTB) and Child Care Subsidy (CCS) are not assets tested, so this procedure does not apply to these customers.

If customer advises vacation of the principal home will be temporary, go to Step 2.

If permanent vacation of home, was the customer a homeowner?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, go to Step 4

• If the temporary absence from the home is for respite care, go to Temporary change of address to an aged care home for Respite Care
• If the absence is for a care situation, see Vacation of principal home due to illness
• If the temporary absence is not due to the customer receiving or providing care, see Temporary vacation of principal home
• If the absence from the home is due to family and domestic violence, see temporary vacation of the principal home

Note: if a customer advises they are separating, see Separating safely – protecting personal details to ensure personal information is kept safe.

Procedure ends here.

Has customer vacated their principal home due to illness?

• Yes, the home may remain exempt from the assets test for two years, or, if the customer is eligible, for five years or longer. If the customer entered aged care on or after 1 January 2017, any rental income from the former principal home will be counted as income. See Vacation of principal home due to illness. Procedure ends here
• No, and the customer has:
• Permanently moved into a home they already owned, it will become an exempt asset. See Assessment and sale of real estate and timeshare asset. Procedure ends here
• Sold their old home, see Sale of principal home. Procedure ends here
• Moved and has not yet sold their previous home, go to Step 5

What is customer's current situation?

• Customer now owns/is buying their principal home. See Non-homeowner purchasing a home. Procedure ends here
• Customer has moved into a home they already owned. See Assessment and sale of real estate and timeshare asset. Procedure ends here
• Customer is still a non-homeowner:
• Run the Change in Contact Details workflow or change the address on the Address Details (AD) screen. For more information, see Changing address or rent details
• Update the rent details, if applicable by using the Change in Contact Details workflow, or update the Accommodation (AC) screen. See Recording accommodation details
• Request appropriate rent verification. Procedure ends here

This step applies if the customer has not finalised sale of previous home, or is not intending to sell previous home, e.g. has separated from their partner and their partner lives in the principal home.

• Run the Change in Contact Details workflow or change the address on the Address Details (AD) screen. For more information, see Changing address or rent details
• Update Home Ownership field to:
• 'NHO' - non homeowner, if customer has not purchased new residence, or
• 'HOM' - fully owns home, purchasing own home, or owns jointly with their partner
• Update the rent details, if applicable, by running the Change in Contact Details workflow, or on the Accommodation (AC) screen. See Recording accommodation details
• Request appropriate rent verification
• If customer is sharing and is not a close family member or partner, ask the Living Arrangements question set and issue appropriate Relationship Details form, if required
• If not already provided, issue the customer with a Module R - Real Estate Details (MOD R) for previous home. See Requesting information (CLK). Note: for Blind Pension (means test free), do not issue a MOD R to the customer as income and assets details are not required. However, take care if they are renting privately or have a partner and the partner is not on a means test free payment. In these cases details will be needed to assess entitlement to Rent Assistance or to review the partner's entitlement
• If customer is awaiting settlement, advise them to contact within 14 days of settlement to provide new savings and investment details
• If the customer has advised they have separated from their partner and the partner still resides in the principal home, the percentage of the property the customer owns becomes an assessable asset.(e.g. if they were joint owners they would be considered to be 50% owners of the net asset value calculated by assessing the market value reduced by any loans or liabilities secured against the property). If the customer is affected by the assets test, the property may be disregarded under the assets test hardship provisions if the asset cannot be sold (unrealisable asset)

Update and finalise activity. Record details on a DOC including previous address and intentions for previous principal home. Note: real estate details cannot be updated until the MOD R is returned. Procedure ends here.

• Yes, go to Step 7
• No, go to Step 8

• Go to the Real Estate/Business Identifying (REBI) screen and update with the address and description of the previous home
• Code the Real Estate Detail (RE) screen, using an estimate of the value of the previous home. Note: do not code the previous home on the REBI or RE screens where the customer has a definite settlement date for the sale
• For full coding information, see Assessment and sale of real estate and timeshare asset

Record the details on a DOC, including address of previous home, intentions for previous principal home.

Finalise the activity on the Assessment Results (AR) screen.