Last amended: 11 January 2012
When is rent verified?
A person's rent must be verified when an application for rent assistance is received or at any time during the year when notification is received from the pensioner of a change in rental payment. This includes any change of address notification.
Purpose of rent verification
A person's entitlement to payment of rent assistance can be affected by any of the following changes:
- rent payment or liability to pay rent ceases,
- rent paid below the threshold,
- rent paid increases,
- type of accommodation changes and Government rent becomes payable,
- type of accommodation changes to payment of board and lodging,
- renter becomes an ineligible property owner,
- a partner starts receiving (or there is a change in) an allowance or pension from Centrelink or DVA, or
- renter leaves Australia.
Note: Some of the above would result in loss of rent assistance eligibility and some in a change in the amount paid for rent assistance. Loss of eligibility would prompt questions such as had the pensioner become a homeowner, whereas change in rent assistance paid would prompt verification of rent paid.
What is considered acceptable proof of rent?
Acceptable proof of the amount of rent paid includes any one of the following:
- signed rent book,
- rent verification form signed by the landlord,
- recent rent receipt, not more than 12 weeks old,
- current lease or tenancy agreement in the client's name,
- document confirming a regular (eg. weekly) maintenance charge for services provided in a retirement village, or
- signed letter or statement from the landlord or person to whom rent is paid.
Payment of rent by a co-tenant
In a situation of shared accommodation, where one tenant is paying the entire rent without contribution from the co-tenant, there is no requirement to halve the rent payment across both tenants for the purposes of assessing rent assistance eligibility. That is, the rent assistance provisions do not require that a co-tenant must contribute to the payment of rent.