Refinancing a shared ownership home loan for your customer

1. Request Notice of intent form

The first step is to complete a Notice of intent form. Customers can request the form by contacting our Customer Relationship team on 1300 578 278 or emailing customer@keystart.com.au. 

2. Owner improvement checklist

The Notice of intent form includes an Owner improvement checklist, which the customers would need to complete if they have made any improvements to the property. This helps the valuer take these improvements into account during the valuation. 

The customer would need to state the cost of each item and provide details of the month/year the improvements were added to the property. Receipts will need to be provided for any improvements resulting in over $5,000. If any of the improvements required council approval, this document will need to be supplied to Keystart prior to us ordering the valuation. 

Some examples of changes that may add value include air conditioning, deadlocks, security screens, a kitchen or bathroom renovation, a patio, reticulation, roller shutters, or a shed. We have a list of improvements that are considered to add value to the home, based on real estate standards. We won’t consider other items not included on the list. 

3. Valuation

Once we’ve received the Notice of intent along with the necessary receipts from the customer, we’ll arrange an independent valuation of the home. This valuation determines the value of the Housing Authority’s share of the home in the current market. The valuation will remain in place for four months. 

The valuer will contact the customer directly to arrange a suitable time to inspect the property. 

The valuer will include a list of market value of any home improvements that the customer has made as at the inspection date. We ask the valuer to comment on these improvements separately as these improvements would have contributed to increasing the overall value of the property, upon which the Housing Authority share purchase is calculated. The value of these improvements is then deducted from the valuation of the property. 

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We’ll share the valuation report with the Department of Communities, and they’ll issue a Settlement Statement. The Settlement Statement is sent to the customer and provides an indication of the costs associated with completing the transaction. 

Settlement statement screenshot to include here.

4. Quote statement 

Once the valuation is complete, a Quote statement will be provided to the customer, which includes an estimate of the amount that the Housing Authority will receive at settlement. 

5. Mortgage discharge request

Once the new lender grants unconditional finance approval, the customer is required to submit a Mortgage discharge request form along with the proof of unconditional finance approval to sharedownership@keystart.com.au. This form needs to be provided to us before the valuation expires.

6. Settlement

Once we received proof of unconditional finance approval, we'll process the Mortgage discharge request. 

The Housing Authority will then issue documents for the customer to sign and request an electrical safety certificate dated issued within the past 12 months. 

The documents are lodged with the Office of State Revenue to confirm if stamp duty is applicable. This can take 6 - 8 weeks for a response to be received. If stamp duty is applicable, this will need to be paid upfront to the Office of State Revenue. 

Once a response is received from the Office of State Revenue, the Housing Authority will be in a position to accept a settlement booking from the new lender.

7. Loan finalisation 

Once settlement has occurred, the funds will be deposited into Keystart loan. We'll arrange to cancel any direct debit arrangements in place, refund any surplus funds and will issue a letter and a final statement confirming the customer Keystart loan is now finalised.