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.
Generally, if you claimed a transfer (stamp) duty concession for homes and wish to keep the full concession, you can’t dispose of any part of the property before moving in or within 12 months of when you first occupy it.
If you received a specified foreign retiree exemption from additional foreign acquirer duty (AFAD) when you bought your property, you will also lose the benefit of that exemption if you dispose of the property (e.g. sell or rent 1 or more rooms) before occupying it, or within 1 year of occupying it.
Recent changes mean that you can now rent or lease part of the property after you move in if the lease arrangement starts between 10 September 2024 and 30 June 2025 and you continue to live in the property. Where the lease arrangement starts outside this period—or if you rent or lease all the property—you may lose the concession.
Changes have been made to the lease arrangement dates for home concessions from 6 December 2024.
After you move in, you’ll be able to lease or rent part of the property if the lease arrangement started on 10 September 2024 or later. You must continue to live in the property. All other eligibility criteria remain the same.
Disposing of a property
You dispose of your property when you:
- sell or transfer part of your interest in the property
- lease or rent the property
- lease out a room or granny flat on the property
- 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
- purchase a property with a lease in place and
- you grant a lease extension to the existing tenant
or
-
- 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)
- grant a person exclusive possession of any part of the property.
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.
Learn more about how we connect with you.
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 between 10 September 2024 and 30 June 2025 and you continue to live in the property.
Where the lease arrangement starts outside this period, 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.
- 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 30 June 2025 and you continue living in the property.
If you sell or transfer all of the property before moving in or within 1 year of moving in, you will lose the concession and AFAD exemption.
Read the public ruling on partial renting and concessions for homes (DA000.18).
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.
Demolishing a home
When you lose the 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.
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 or part of the property where the lease arrangement starts before 10 September 2024 (or after 30 June 2025).
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 notify us within 28 days by completing 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 additional foreign acquirer duty (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.
Losing some of the concession
If you claimed a home concession, first home concession or the specified foreign retiree AFAD exemption, you must move in within 12 months.
If you claimed the first home vacant land concession or the specified foreign retiree AFAD exemption in relation to vacant land, you have 2 years to build and move in.
In some cases, you may be eligible for a partial concession (i.e. you’ll only need to repay a part of the concession or AFAD exemption). For example, you moved in on time and:
- sell or transfer any part of the property within the 12 months after you first occupied the property
- lease, rent or otherwise grant exclusive possession of all or part of the property where the lease arrangement starts before 10 September 2024 or after 30 June 2025.
Estimate what you might pay back
Follow these steps to estimate the amount of transfer duty you may have to pay back.
- Use our estimator to learn how much duty you would have paid if you didn’t get a concession.
- 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.)
- Subtract your step 2 amount from your step 1 amount to calculate the total discount you received.
- Divide your step 3 amount by 365 to work out your daily discounted amount.
- Work out the number of days from your disposal date to the 1-year anniversary of your moving in.
- 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.
- Duty on $500,000 with no concession = $15,925
- Duty on $500,000 with a home concession = $8,750
- Amount saved due to receiving concession ($15,925 – $8,750) = $7,175
- Daily discounted amount ($7,175 ÷ 365 days) = $19.6575 per day
- Number of days short in meeting the 12-month obligation = 100 days (22 December to 31 March)
- Transfer duty to be paid back ($19.6575 × 100) = $1,965.75
After settlement, you move into your home and then lease it out 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…
- Find out about the changes that affect land tax exemptions, such as selling your land.
- Learn the requirements to keep home concessions and the first home owner grant.