Rent definitions
5N Rent definitions
In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:
amount of rent paid or payable has the meaning given by subsections (6) and (7).
board, when used in the expression board and lodging, means the provision of meals on a regular basis in connection with the provision of lodging.
Government rent means rent payable to any of the following authorities:
New South Wales Land and Housing Corporation;
the Director, within the meaning of the Housing Act 1983 of the State of Victoria;
The Queensland Housing Commission;
The Corporation of the Director of Aboriginal and Islanders Advancement established by a law of Queensland;
the South Australian Housing Trust;
The State Housing Commission established by a law of Western Australia;
the Director‑General of Housing and Construction holding office under a law of Tasmania;
the Northern Territory Housing Commission;
The Commissioner for Housing within the meaning of the Housing Assistance Act 1987 of the Australian Capital Territory.
Subsection (5) deals with the situation when the name of an authority is altered.
Rent payable by a person for living in premises in respect of which someone else pays Government rent may also be regarded as Government rent (see subsection (4)).
ineligible property owner means a property owner other than:
a person who is a property owner by virtue of paragraph 5L(4)(c); or
a person who:
is absent from the person’s principal home, in relation to which the person is a property owner; and
is in a care situation but is not residing in a retirement village; or
a person who:
is absent from the person’s principal home, in relation to which the person is a property owner; and
is personally providing community‑based care for another person; or
a person who pays amounts for the use of a site for a caravan or other vehicle, or a structure, that is the person’s principal home; or
a person who pays amounts for the right to moor a vessel that is the person’s principal home.
For retirement village see subsections 5M(3) and (4), for property owner see subsection 5L(4), for principal home see section 5LA, for personally providing community‑based care, see subsection 5NC(4), for in a care situation see subsection 5NC(2).
rent has the meaning given by this section.
residential care charge means an amount paid by, or on behalf of, a person to a registered provider (within the meaning of the Aged Care Act 2024) for the delivery of care to the person, but does not include an accommodation bond (within the meaning of that Act).
Amounts are rent in relation to the person if:
the amounts are payable by the person:
as a condition of occupancy of premises, or of a part of premises, that are in Australia and are occupied by the person as the person’s principal home; or
as a condition of occupancy of premises, or of a part of premises, that are in Australia and are occupied by the person to allow him or her personally to provide community‑based care for another person; or
for services provided in a retirement village in Australia that is the person’s principal home; or
if the person is in a care situation and the place where the person receives the care is a place in Australia that is the person’s principal home or would be the person’s principal home apart from subsection 5LA(8) or (9)—for accommodation in the place where the person receives care; or
for lodging in premises in Australia that are the person’s principal home; or
for the use of a site in Australia for:
a caravan or other vehicle; or
a structure;
occupied by the person as the person’s principal home; or
for the right to moor in Australia a vessel that is occupied by the person as the person’s principal home; and
either:
the amounts are payable every 3 months or more frequently; or
the amounts are payable at regular intervals (greater than 3 months) and the Commission is satisfied that the amounts should be treated as rent for the purposes of this Act.
For retirement village see subsections 5M(3) and (4) and for principal home see section 5LA.
Subparagraphs (2)(a)(ii) to (vi) (inclusive) do not limit the generality of subparagraph (2)(a)(i).
To avoid doubt, an amount that is paid or becomes payable by a person is not rent in relation to the person (either at the time when it is paid or becomes payable or at any later time) if the amount is, or forms part of, a special resident’s entry contribution in relation to the person in respect of a retirement village under section 52M, whether the amount is paid or payable (whether wholly or partly) in a lump sum, by instalments or otherwise.
If the whole or any part of an amount that is not rent in relation to a person as mentioned in subsection (3AA) is, or will or may become, repayable to the person, any amount by which the amount so repayable is reduced is not rent in relation to the person (either at the time when the reduction occurs or at any later time).
If a person is in a care situation and the person’s principal home is not the place where the person receives the care, the person’s rent may be an amount described in any of the subparagraphs of paragraph (2)(a) that applies to the person but cannot include amounts described in different subparagraphs of paragraph (2)(a).
Under subsection 5LA(8) or (9), the principal home of a person in a care situation may be a place other than the place where the person receives care.
If an amount described in subparagraph (2)(a)(ia) and an amount described in another subparagraph of paragraph (2)(a) are payable by a person, the person’s rent may be an amount described in either of those subparagraphs but cannot include amounts described in different subparagraphs of paragraph (2)(a).
Under subsection 5LA(8) or (9), premises occupied by a person as described in subparagraph (2)(a)(ia) may not be the person’s principal home.
If a person pays, or is liable to pay, rent for living in premises in respect of which another person pays Government rent, the rent paid or payable by the person for living in those premises is taken to be Government rent, unless:
the rent paid by the other person is at or above a rate that the authority receiving the rent has told the Department is the market rate; or
the person shares the premises with that other person and the person’s income has been taken into account in calculating the amount of Government rent payable in respect of those premises.
If a law of a State or of the Northern Territory alters the name of an authority referred to in the definition of Government rent in subsection (1), a reference to that authority in that definition is to be read as a reference to the authority under the new name.
Board and lodging
Where:
a person pays, or is liable to pay, amounts for board and lodging; and
it is not possible to work out the part of each of those amounts that is paid or payable for lodging;
the amount of rent paid or payable by the person is, for the purposes of this Act, to be taken to be two‑thirds of the amounts paid or payable as mentioned in paragraph (a).
People in care situations
Where:
a person in a care situation pays, or is liable to pay, amounts for accommodation and other services in the care situation; and
it is not possible to work out the part of each of those amounts that is paid or payable in respect of accommodation;
the amount of rent paid or payable by the person is, for the purposes of this Act, to be taken to be two‑thirds of the amounts paid or payable as mentioned in paragraph (a).
This Act’s bill:Second reading speech
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