Frequently Asked Questions

Secure Home is an assisted ownership programme based on a leasehold ownership tenure. You pay an upfront payment (purchase price) for the home based on its construction costs only. The banks may require a 20% deposit, however if you qualify for the Government's First Home Loan initiative, your deposit requirement is reduced to as low as 5%. There is also a monthly ground rent payment to QLCHT for use of the land.

Firstly, you need to register your interest.

Once you've registered, one of our team will call you within a few weeks to assess your eligibility. If you're eligible for housing assistance, you will be added to our waiting list straight away and start receiving quarterly updates via email.

At the time we allocate homes, we'll email all those on our waiting list who appear to be suitable for the home, in terms of its size and location, inviting expressions of interest. For all those that come back to us we then work out who will be invited to formally apply for a home, as per our policy on allocation of properties.  

All you need to do is make sure we have your most current details and keep an eye out for our emails inviting expressions of interest for particular homes or developments. You can keep up to date with our developments on our website, or via our latest newsletter.  

The costs to move into a QLCHT home are typically the same as with any rented or purchased home. 

When moving into a rental property, there is your first weeks rent (to be paid in advance), along with a bond of four weeks rent (which you can transfer from your previous rental property). There're also the usual costs involved in moving, such as setting up power and internet. 

When purchasing one of our assisted ownership homes, there's the initial settlement amount to be paid, which is made up of the agreed purchase price, pro-rated Ground Rent for the first month, pro-rated local rates and regional rates, and pro-rated body corporate levies (where applicable). We also suggest keeping around $5,000 aside for additional costs such as your house insurance premium, solicitor's legal fees and moving costs such as setting up power and internet. 

Under our assisted ownership terms, the occupant is responsible for the full upkeep and maintenance of the home and land, just as any homeowner would be. You are required to have house insurance in place, which provides full cover for damage to the home (not wear and tear). 

The Secure Home agreement has a maintenance schedule attached to it, setting out maintenance expectations and estimated costs. As set out in the Secure Home agreement, these scheduled maintenance costs are factored into the buy-back price of the home.

To assist with maintenance upkeep, we arrange for annual inspections of all our assisted ownership homes, with a report provided back to the household identifying any maintenance that needs taking care of. The inspections are a great way to stay on top of maintenance and keep it manageable.  

Our Secure Home page has further detailed information. 

QLCHT currently offers one assisted ownership programme, called Secure Home. It's an affordable, assisted ownership based on a leasehold type model, whereby you purchase the building, but not the land, with a 100-year lease registered in your name. 

You can learn more here about our Secure Home programme here, including an indication of cost. 

In short, no it can't. If you were to die, QLCHT would purchase the house back as per the terms of our Secure Home Agreement, and the funds would go to your estate, to be distributed as per your directions. 

As there are specific eligibility criteria for each of our housing programmes, we will always go through a thorough application process to ensure eligibility is met. For these reasons, there's never an automatic passing on of properties. 

If you are a tenant renting one of our homes, then no you can't.

If you own your home through our assisted ownership programme Secure Home, then yes you can. But only for a maximum of 28 days, unless with our prior approval. 

QLCHT ultimately retains ownership of the assisted ownership properties, so that the community continues to benefit from these homes into the future. 

For anyone in these homes under Secure Home, you are committed to living there for the first three years. Beyond that, you can exit at any time and sell the house back to QLCHT, so that it can be offered to another qualifying household.

Once we receive notice in writing that you wish to sell the home back to us, we will calculate the reversion (buyback) amount, with the transaction taking place no earlier than 28 days later. You will receive back the amount you paid for your home, plus an inflation adjustment for the time you've owned the home, along with any improvements and maintenance costs factored in. 

The Secure Home Agreement sets out the reversion calculation in more detail.

This is a possibility, but it depends largely on the circumstances and the availability of homes. 

We are aware that household needs can change over time and where possible we try to support this through the ability to move to another more suitable home. However, it is always on a case-by-case basis, where there are legitimate and practical reasons to support the change.