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    3. Transfer duty
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    5. Concessions for homes
    6. Disposal and its effect on your concession

    Disposal and its effect on your concession

    If you dispose (e.g. sell, rent) all or part of your property before—or too soon after—moving in, you might lose your home transfer (stamp) duty concession.

    Topics on this page

      To keep your transfer (stamp) duty concession for homes you generally can’t dispose of any part of the property before moving in or within 1 year of when you first occupy it.

      For transfer duty, ‘dispose of’ means to lease, sell, transfer or otherwise grant another person exclusive possession
      Exclusive possession

      Generally, the right to exclude all others, including the owner, from all or part of a property.

      Whether exclusive possession has been granted depends on the:

      • terms of the written agreement, where there is one
      • facts and circumstances of the arrangement, where there is no written agreement.

      Exclusive possession may also be granted by law.

      For example, the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008 applies to certain renting arrangements.

      You should seek professional advice before arranging to rent out all or any part of your home or granny flat.

      See the Residential Tenancies Authority for more information on leasing arrangements and obligations.

       of any part of the property (e.g. rooms, granny flat).

      From 10 September 2024, changes to leasing, renting or granting of exclusive possession of the property came into effect.

      Read the public rulings on home concessions:

      Read the practice direction where not all taxpayers comply with the conditions (DA000.1).

      Received a text message from Queensland Revenue Office?

      It might just be a reminder about your home concession.

      If you’ve moved in and are meeting the obligations of the concession, you don’t need to contact us.

      If your circumstances have changed, you must notify us by completing a form.

      Learn more about how we connect with you.

      Disposing of a property

      You dispose of your property when you:

      • sell or transfer part of your interest in the property
      • lease, rent or grant exclusive possession of all the property
      • lease, rent or grant exclusive possession of a room or granny flat on the property before 10 September 2024
      • transfer part of your interest in the property, even under a court order
      • use an online accommodation-sharing platform (e.g. Airbnb, Booking.com, Stayz) to lease out any part of your home, including honouring existing holiday lettings before 10 September 2024
      • purchase a property with a lease in place and one of the following applies
        • you grant a lease extension to the existing tenant
        • the existing tenant stays in the home after their lease expires or for more than 6 months after settlement (whichever comes earlier)
        • you grant a new lease after the existing tenant leaves
      • allow the previous owner to stay in the home longer than 6 months of the transfer date (i.e. they don’t move out within the 6 months).

      Lease arrangements from 10 September 2024

      If you have moved into the property, you can lease, rent or otherwise grant exclusive possession of part of the property, providing that the lease arrangement starts on or after 10 September 2024 and you continue to live in the property.

      Where the lease arrangement starts before this date, you may lose the concession.

      You will also lose the concession if you lease, rent or otherwise grant exclusive possession of all of the property within 1 year after you move into the property.

      Foreign retirees

      You won’t lose the benefits of any home transfer duty concession or the AFAD exemption if all the following apply:

      • You are a specified foreign retiree.
        Specified foreign retiree

        For the purposes of additional foreign acquirer duty (AFAD), a specified foreign retiree is an individual (not an agent) who:

        • holds a retirement visa (subclass 405 or 410)
          or
        • applied for a parent visa (subclass 103) or contributory parent visa (subclass 143) on or after 8 May 2018 and the application is pending, and the last substantive visa held before applying is a retirement visa (subclass 405 or 410).
      • You received an exemption from additional foreign acquirer duty (AFAD) on your principal place of residence.
      • You lease or rent part of the property after moving in where the lease arrangement starts between 10 September 2024 and 5 December 2024 (both dates inclusive) and you continue living in the property.

      You will lose the AFAD exemption if any of the following apply:

      • You sell or transfer all of the property before moving in or within 1 year of moving in.
      • You lease or rent part of the property within 1 year of moving in (unless the lease arrangement starts between 10 September 2024 and 5 December 2024, both dates inclusive).
      • You lease or rent all of the property within 1 year of moving in.

      Gifting a share of your home

      Gifting property is a form of disposal. If you gift a share of your property to someone, you will need to repay your concession and they will need to pay transfer duty in most cases.

      However, if you transfer a half-interest in your home to your spouse as a gift—and you both live in it afterwards—your transaction may not count as a disposal.

      Demolishing a home

      If you knock down an existing residence before living there as your principal place of residence
      Principal place of residence

      Transfer duty

      A residence you live in (with your personal belongings) on a daily basis.

      Other factors may determine whether a residence is your principal place of residence, such as:

      • where your family lives
      • the extent of time you live in the residence
      • the address you have your mail delivered to
      • whether utilities (e.g. electricity, gas and telephone) are connected to the dwelling and the accounts are in your name
      • whether the residence address is recorded against your name on electoral rolls.

      See the public ruling on occupancy requirements for home and first home concessions (DA085.1).

       , you’ll lose your transfer duty concession. Even if you move in after rebuilding, you will not be able to keep any concession that you have claimed.

      When you lose the concession

      If you dispose of the property, you could lose all or part of the concession.

      Losing the full concession

      You will lose the full concession (i.e. you’ll have to repay the concession) in the following situations.

      • You don’t move into the property:
        • within 1 year after the transfer date (home and first home concessions)
        • within 2 years after the transfer date (first home vacant land concession).
      • Before you move into the property, you:
        • sell or transfer all or part of the property
        • lease, rent or otherwise grant exclusive possession of all or part of the property.
      • Within 1 year after you move into the property, you lease, rent or otherwise grant exclusive possession of all of the property.

      Losing part of the concession

      You will lose part of the concession (i.e. you’ll have to repay some of the concession) if, within 1 year after you move into the property, you:

      • sell or transfer all or part of the property
      • lease, rent or otherwise grant exclusive possession of all of the property
      • lease, rent or otherwise grant exclusive possession of part of the property where the lease arrangement starts before 10 September 2024.

      How to tell us if you no longer qualify

      If you claimed a transfer duty concession (and the specified foreign retiree AFAD exemption, where applicable) but no longer qualify for all or part of the concession, you must tell us within 28 days. Complete a notice for reassessment (Form D2.4). You can either:

      • submit the form online—tell us in Part F of your change in circumstances or if you claimed the specified foreign retiree additional foreign acquirer duty AFAD exemption

      or

      • download the form to send by email or post. Use this form if you are experiencing domestic or family violence.

      If we do a reassessment, you will have to pay back some transfer duty and AFAD (where applicable). You may also have to pay unpaid tax interest and penalty tax, depending on your circumstances. This will be explained on your reassessment notice if you receive one.

      The sooner you tell us you no longer meet an eligibility requirement, the better your chances of paying lower interest and penalty amounts.

      You might not lose the concession if you can’t occupy the home because of an intervening event
      Intervening event (home concessions)

      Any of the following:

      • a natural disaster (including fire or flood)
      • the death or incapacity of a transferee or lessee who was granted the home concession
      • another event prescribed under a regulation.

      See Schedule 6 of the Duties Act 2001 for a full definition.

       , but you still must notify us.

      Estimate what you might pay back

      Follow these steps to estimate the amount of transfer duty you may have to pay back.

      1. Use our estimator to learn how much duty you would have paid if you didn’t get a concession.
      2. Work out the actual (concessional) amount of transfer duty you paid. Find this on your transaction documents in your settlement statement from your conveyancer. (You can use the estimator if you are unsure.)
      3. Subtract your step 2 amount from your step 1 amount to calculate the total discount you received.
      4. Divide your step 3 amount by 365 to work out your daily discounted amount.
      5. Work out the number of days from your disposal date to the 1-year anniversary of your moving in.
      6. Multiply your daily concession amount (step 4) by the number of days where you didn’t live in your property (step 5).

      You purchase an apartment for $500,000 and claim a home concession. You move in on 1 April and transfer the property to Jenny on 21 December. Using your date of occupation as the start date, you work out that you sold your property 100 days short of meeting your 12-month obligation.

      1. Duty on $500,000 with no concession = $15,925
      2. Duty on $500,000 with a home concession = $8,750
      3. Amount saved due to receiving concession ($15,925 – $8,750) = $7,175
      4. Daily discounted amount ($7,175 ÷ 365 days) = $19.6575 per day
      5. Number of days short in meeting the 12-month obligation = 100 days (22 December to 31 March)
      6. Transfer duty to be paid back ($19.6575 × 100) = $1,965.75

      After settlement, you move into your home and then lease out the whole property a few weeks short of the 12-month obligation. You complete and submit a Form D2.4 within 28 days of granting the lease.

      You will receive a partial concession on a pro-rata basis. You will have to pay duty on the number of days that you were short in meeting your obligations. We will work out what you need to repay. In this instance, no unpaid tax interest or penalty tax applies because you did the right thing and told us in time.

      Your existing tenants move out after their lease expires and you start renovating. The renovations will take 15 months. You tell us as soon as you realise you won’t be able to move in within 12 months of settlement.

      You will have to:

      • repay the transfer duty concession in full
      • pay unpaid tax interest because you received a benefit that you were not entitled to.

      In this instance, however, no penalty tax applies because you notified us properly.

      After settlement, you don’t move into your property but lease it out instead. You do not notify us and provide misleading information during our investigation.

      You will have to repay the concession in full. You will also have to pay unpaid tax interest because you received a benefit that you were not entitled to. Penalty tax of up to 90% will also apply because you didn’t notify us of your breach, didn’t cooperate and tried to stop us from understanding your liability.

      Also consider…

      Last updated: 14 January 2025