The Property Council has welcomed the Treasurer’s statement in Parliament confirming that previously rejected Homebuilder applications would be reconsidered.
Throughout this year the Property Council has relayed member concerns to Government regarding the inconsistency of rulings from the Queensland Revenue Office in relation to Homebuilder. This followed examples emerging where applications within the same development were either permitted or denied based on the same information being provided through the application process.
This inconsistency stemmed from the definition of ‘commencement of construction’, with apparent variation in how this is interpreted by different officers within Queensland’s Revenue Office.
Unlike other states, the current advice in Queensland is that for the purposes of the definition of ‘construction commencement date’ the Commissioner of State Revenue treats any work to prepare the land for an off-the-plan home as site preparation works. This includes land clearing, demolishing structures, remediating land, construction of roadways, guttering and sewerage.
Due to this, some Homebuilder applications were dismissed as the master developer had already undertaken these works in order to create new lots and register them.
The Property Council has welcomed Government’s recognition of this issue as essential in ensuring all Homebuilder applicants have equal opportunity to access the scheme.