Refinancing your shared ownership home

There may come a time when you want to refinance your home to another lender. If you have a shared ownership home loan, the process is different as there are two owners for your home, you and the Housing Authority. We’ve put together a guide to help you prepare.

Flexible or fixed?

If you have a flexible shared ownership loan and want to refinance your home loan to another lender, you must ensure that your new home loan also covers the value of the Housing Authority’s share of the home.

If you have a fixed shared ownership loan, refinancing your home loan is not an option for you. You can choose to sell your home back to the Housing Authority.

Get in touch if you’re not sure if your loan is fixed or flexible. 

Steps to refinancing your shared ownership home

1. Notice of intent

The first step is to complete a Notice of Intent form, including the Change of Name form, if applicable, and Owner Improvements Checklist to let us know any improvements you have made to the property. You can request these forms by emailing customer@keystart.com.au or calling 1300 578 278. Please return these forms to sharedownership@keystart.com.au along with any receipts and shire approval.

Read Improvements to your shared ownership home for more information on the Owner Improvement Checklist.

We'll review your Notice of Intent form to ensure it has been completed correctly. If there's information missing we'll be in touch to let you know what's required.

2. Valuation

Next, we need a valuation of your home. The valuation fee is required to be paid up front. The minimum cost of your share of the valuation is $250. If the cost exceeds this amount, we'll pay up to $400 with the balance over this being met yourself. The amount required to value your property and the payment details are provided in the Notice of Intent covering letter. 

Once you've paid the valuation fee, we’ll arrange an independent valuation of your home. We use this valuation to calculate the value of the Housing Authority's share of your home in the current market. 

To ensure a fair valuation for all parties, we use independent, qualified property valuers. The valuer will contact you directly to arrange a suitable time to inspect the property. They'll contact you within two working days of receiving the valuation request from us. The valuation report will remain valid for four months. 

While the valuation report is not provided to you, it is used to create your Quote Statement.

Read more on the valuation process

3. Your Quote Statement

The Quote Statement provides you with a breakdown of:

• the valuation amount for your home, shown as market value
• the value of any home improvements, or the cost of any maintenance issues,
• the value of the Housing Authority’s share, 
• the balance required to pay out your Keystart loan, and 
• an estimate of the fees and charges involved in the refinance.

The Quote Statement gives you an estimation of the amount the Housing Authority will receive at settlement from your settlement agent.

It can take 3-4 weeks to generate your Quote Statement as we need to liaise with the valuer and the Housing Authority.

4. Find a lender to refinance with

Once you have received your Quote Statement, you can then look for another lender to refinance your home loan. Your new loan must cover the balance required amount shown in your Quote Statement.

You may find it helpful to view refinancing offers from other lenders.

5. Mortgage Discharge Request

Once you have been given unconditional finance approval by your new lender you will be required to complete and submit a Mortgage Discharge Request along with your proof of unconditional finance approval to sharedownership@keystart.com.au 

This form needs to be provided to us before the valuation on your home expires.

6. Settlement 

On receiving your proof of unconditional finance approval, we'll process your Mortgage Discharge Request.

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

Once received, documents will be 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. Speak to your new lender to see if the funds can be advanced. 

On receiving a response from the Office of State Revenue, the Housing Authority will be in a position to accept a settlement booking from your new lender. 

You do not need to appoint your own settlement agent as your new lender will have their own agent to manage the settlement on your behalf.

7. Loan finalisation 

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