Frequently Asked Questions

Who are QAHC?

Please follow the link to the About Us page

Who are NRAS tenants?

The Australian Government has identified 1.5 million households that are eligible for NRAS assistance. These are households on lower or middle incomes, which are set out in the table below.

Household Types	Annual income limit for initial tenant eligibility	Upper income limit for maintaining eligibility
One adult	$41,514	$51,892
Two adults	$57,391	$71,739
Three adults	$73,268	$91,585
Four adults	$89,145	$111,431
Sole parent with 1 child	$57,432	$71,790
Sole parent with 2 children	$71,200	$89,000
Sole parent with 3 children	$84,968	$106,210
Couple with 1 child	$71,159	$88,949
Couple with 2 children	$84,927	$106,159
Couple with 3 children	$98,695	$123,369

It is very important to note that the Consortium’s mission is to hold a portfolio of dwellings that reflects all of this income range and all types of households.

This list is not an exhaustive list and other household compositions may be eligible to rent NRAS dwellings if their gross household income for the previous 12 months is within the initial income limit as calculated using the formula as set out in Regulation 19.

When calculating incoming NRAS eligibility for household types not covered above, please use the formula below:

Person Type                    Income Level
First single adult            $41,514
Each additional adult      $15,877
Each child                    $13,768
First sole parent            $43,664

Please note that tenant income is able to increase by 25 per cent before tenant eligibility is impacted.

What is the tax incentive?

The Commonwealth provides a $6,504 Refundable Tax Offset per approved dwelling per year for 10 years. This reduces your tax payable or can be received as a tax refund if you do not have sufficient tax payable. The State provides $2,168 per dwelling per year as ‘non-assessable, non exempt’ incentive for 10 years.

These entitlements are indexed to the rental component of the Consumer Price Index annually.

Individuals, corporations and superannuation funds can be entitled to the Tax Incentive. The ATO provides guidance on how the incentive can be distributed in unit trusts or other trust arrangements.

Please follow the link to the Australian Taxation Office's 'National Rental Affordability Scheme - Refundable tax offset and other taxation issues' page to find out more about the tax incentive.

Why 25% Discount?

The Consortium is an endorsed Charity through the ATO. All Charities are required to provide rental residential accommodation on a ‘non-commercial’ basis. The ATO definition of ‘non-commercial’ is 74.9% of market rent.

Failure to meet this requirement could jeapordise the Consortium's charitable status and its charitable tax benefits.

The Consortium's business model aims to ‘compensate’ owners by improving the security of their income stream from investment property. This means that we have thought long and hard about how we can improve the security of payments to investors, including cash-flow, addressing a range of tenant risks and providing 2 weeks vacancy cover, these are part and parcel of our approach.

What if I want to sell?

We would all like to ensure that approved dwellings can remain in the Scheme for the full 10 years. However, if you need to sell please consider the following points:

• As a large scale consortium, we may already have investors that want to buy your property with NRAS on it and with a sitting tenant. Sales within the Scheme will be easy to manage from a Compliance viewpoint.

• Our strategic partners can help market your property to new NRAS investors.

• If you want to sell it ‘outside the NRAS scheme’, work with the Consortium so we can provide a similar property to the Government as a substitute.

• In cases of hardship, work with the Consortium early. We may be able to assist you.

Please note that if you do sell outside the Scheme you will lose the NRAS Incentive for the year in which you sell.

Who manages my stock?

The Consortium will mainly use not-for-profit property managers that are regionally based and members of the Consortium to manage NRAS properties.

Managers have extensive rental management experience, including the management of privately owned housing.

In some States, not-for-profit Housing Managers are regulated by State Governments. For example, in Queensland funded providers are regulated under the 2003 Housing Act.

In most States, not-for-profit Property Managers have to meet certain standards. The Consortium will only select Managers that meet the required standards. This may include meeting the National Community Housing Standards.

The Consortium is open to using for-profit Property Managers, this will be in the following situations:

• There is no suitable not-for-profit Manager in the area, or the for-profit entity has better capability.

• The for-profit Manager agrees to meet national standards.

• Management rights have been sold to a private company and agreement has been made with the Consortium on a case-by-case basis.

The role and performance of the Property Manager is governed by the Property Management Agreement that is signed by the Manager, the Consortium and Owner.

Why 10% and what does it cover?

While investors could shop-around and find Property Management Fees of 6-8%, these fees often include additional charges for a range of activities.

The Consortium’s business model is to work at scale and provide a high level of certainty about roles, responsibilities and fees.

We have therefore decided that we will have an all-inclusive flat-rate Property Management Fee of 10% plus gst. There are no ‘additional charges’ for re-letting, advertising, correspondence, reporting etc. The fee also covers 2 week vacancy cover for each RTA lease period. Please see the Consortium's Secured Income Stream and Group Insurance Documents.

What is a secured income stream?

Detailed Risk-Appraisal underpins the Consortium Model. To manage risks through a 10 year Head Lease under a Government Legislated Scheme requires considerable planning and risk management, this includes:

• All party Group Insurance, protecting property, tenant liabilities, public liability and professional indemnity.

• Vacancy profiling looking at eligible tenant's profiles, tenant mix, long term leases and vacancy cover.

• Internal performance systems.

Click here to see the Secured Income Stream.

Click here to see the Summary of Insurance.

What do we mean by affordable housing?

There are many competing definitions of affordable housing. The Queensland Affordable Housing Consortium uses the definition developed by the National Affordable Housing Summit Group*.

“Affordable Housing is housing which is reasonably adequate in standard and location for lower or middle income households and does not cost so much that a household is unlikely to be able to meet other basic needs on a sustainable basis”

* The Summit Group consists of the: Housing Industry Association, Australian Council of Trades Unions, Australian Council of Social Services, The Community Housing Federation of Australia and National Shelter.

Other definitions use a benchmarking approach. For example, that housing costs should be less then 30 per cent of gross household income. This is a generally useful guide for households in the lowest 40 per cent of incomes.

However affordability is not simply a matter of housing costs. A well located dwelling might save significant household travel costs and therefore improve overall family economics, even if the rent is higher than a dwelling in a poorer location.

The peak body for community housing providers, Queensland Community Housing Coalition, has created a chart and a set of principles for affordable housing that may help to improve public understanding of our commitment to good quality housing outcomes: Affordability Chart.

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