National Rental Affordability Scheme
**Recent information**
March 2019 Regulatory Amendments
The Australian Government amended the National Rental Affordability Scheme Regulations 2008 on 9 March 2019. The amendments introduce a new compliance framework for approved participants including an approved participants’ code of conduct (the code of conduct). Further information about the amendments is available.
Deferral of the sunsetting of the NRAS Regulations
The Attorney-General has agreed to the deferral of the sunsetting of the National Rental Affordability Scheme Regulations 2008 (NRAS Regulations). The Department is currently working on the re-write of the NRAS Regulations, which will now sunset on 1 April 2020.
Transfer of NRAS allocations from Ethan to Questus
On 19 December 2018, at the request of Ethan Affordable Housing Limited (Ethan), the Secretary of the Department of Social Services transferred all of Ethan’s NRAS allocations to another approved participant, Questus Funds Management Limited (Questus). The transfer was made under Regulation 21 of the National Rental Affordability Scheme Regulations 2008.
The Secretary of the Department is of the view that the transfer is in the best interests of investors.
Ethan allocations that are subject to an existing transfer request under regulation 21A of the National Rental Affordability Scheme Regulations 2008 have been included in the group of allocations that have been transferred to Questus. This means that regulation 21A transfer requests to transfer from Ethan will not be progressed any further.
Incentives for the transferred allocations for the 2017-18 NRAS year will be issued to Questus before the end of 2018. Questus will then pass these incentives on to investors in the coming weeks.
Questus will be contacting investors for the transferred allocations shortly to explain ongoing arrangements. If investors wish to contact Questus in the meantime, they may send an email to Questus at NRASHelpdesk@questus.com.au.
A Frequently Asked Questions document for investors is available.
The National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS or the Scheme), which commenced in 2008, aims to increase the supply of new and affordable rental dwellings by providing an annual financial incentive for up to ten years. This incentive is issued to housing providers (“approved participants”) to provide affordable rental dwellings at least 20 per cent below market rates.
More information about the Scheme is available on the About NRAS page.
Latest news and events
7 February 2019 – Update to 2017-18 payments processing
| 2017/18 |
Ready for assessment |
Paid |
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
7 February 2019 |
Number of approved participants |
122 |
121 |
|
Number of incentives |
34,995 | 34,697 | |
For the 2017-18 NRAS year, 122 approved participants submitted Statements of Compliance (SOCs). As at 7 February 2019, the SOCs for 121 approved participants have been assessed and paid, in total or in part, resulting in 34,697 incentives issued (i.e.99 per cent of all incentive claims paid).
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