Duties Act 1997

Mortgage duty is not chargeable in respect of a mortgage if the mortgage secures an advance or advances made for the purpose of owner occupied housing and no other advances.

If a mortgage secures an advance made for the purpose of owner occupied housing and another advance that is not made for that purpose, mortgage duty is not chargeable in respect of the mortgage in relation to the amount advanced for the purpose of owner occupied housing.

This section applies in respect of a mortgage only if the borrower under the mortgage is a natural person or, if there is more than one borrower, each of them is a natural person.

An advance is made for the purpose of owner occupied housing if it is to be applied wholly or predominantly for one or more of the following purposes—

financing the acquisition of a residence,

financing the construction of a residence,

financing alterations or additions to a residence,

financing the acquisition of residential land,

repaying another advance, if the advance to be repaid was made for the purpose of owner occupied housing (within the meaning of this section).

For the purposes of this section, a residence is a private dwelling house that is used and occupied or intended to be used and occupied by the borrower, or by any of the borrowers, as a place of residence.

To avoid doubt, an exemption provided for by this section is not available in respect of any advance that is to be applied wholly or predominantly for business or investment purposes (or both).

The Chief Commissioner may, by written instrument, determine the criteria that may be applied by lenders for the purpose of establishing that the exemption provided for by this section applies in respect of an advance.

Without limiting subsection (7), the Chief Commissioner may determine that an advance is taken to be made for the purpose of owner occupied housing if it meets criteria set out in any APRA reporting standard relating to housing finance that is specified by the Chief Commissioner to be applicable to the exemption under this section.

A determination made by the Chief Commissioner under this section—

may be varied or revoked by the making of a further determination, and

has effect according to its tenor.

The exemption provided for by this section takes effect on and from 1 September 2007.