Certificates of entitlement for subsidised loans can't be issued if the applicant, or their spouse or de facto, owns another home.
Where two or more people own a property, there are two forms of ownership:
- Joint tenancy – where two or more people own a property at the same time and under the same title. Each is treated as the single owner of the entire property. On the death of one joint tenant, their interest automatically passes to the surviving joint tenant, notwithstanding the terms of their will. Joint tenant ownership of another home by the applicant or their spouse constitutes ownership of another home.
- Tenants-in-common – where two or more people own the same property in distinct shares. Tenants-in-common may also acquire their interests under separate titles and at different times. It is co-ownership under which each tenant has a distinct interest in the property, though no one tenant has a right to possess any particular part of the property. There is no rule of survivorship. Tenants-in-common may devise their interest by will and, if they don’t, title passes on death to the executor or administrator. Under the law, a tenant-in-common is not, as an individual, regarded as the owner of another home, but rather as a person who has a share or interest in another home. Tenant-in-common ownership of another home by the applicant or their spouse or de facto does not constitute ownership of another home.
Ownership of shares in a company that owns a home is also not regarded as ownership.