http://www.dss.gov.au/our-responsibilities/housing-support/programmes-services/nras-resources-documents-and-information/consent-to-release-information-to-investors-forms

Dear Adrian

Thank you for your email regarding the National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS).

In the 2013-14 NRAS year, the Department identified a range of compliance issues resulting in a delay in the issuing of incentives for that year. The Department is taking advantage of the lessons learned from the 2013-14 NRAS year to ensure a smoother processing period for the 2014-15 year. It is important to note, that the issuing of incentives for 2014-15 remains dependent upon approved participants meeting the compliance framework.

For the 2014-15 NRAS year, approved participants have been directed to advise the Department when all their Statements of Compliance are ready to be assessed, and have been provided with a checklist to guide their preparations. Further, the due date for lodging Statements of Compliance was extended from 30 June 2015 to 14 August 2015 to allow approved participants additional time to lodge their Statements of Compliance.

When the Department has received notification from the approved participant that all Statements of Compliance have been lodged, these Statements of Compliance are assessed, and NRAS incentives issued for those dwellings assessed as fully compliant. Approved participants are notified of any NRAS dwellings which have non-compliance issues to be resolved, or where further information is required.

Please note that the Department has been processing and issuing incentives for approved participants who advised that their Statements of Compliance were ready prior to the extended lodgement date of 14 August 2015. The Department has already processed and issued over 18,000 incentives for the 2014-15 NRAS year.

*** Because the Department’s relationship with approved participants is commercial in confidence, we are not able to provide specific information to investors about the status of the Statement of Compliance process. However, we have introduced a process whereby investors can obtain information about their NRAS dwelling directly from the Department with the consent of the approved participant. The Department can then provide information regarding the compliance status of the investor’s NRAS dwelling.

NRAS investors complete the investor consent form, seek approval from their approved participant and return it to the Department, the Department will be able to advise them of the status of their incentive. Further information and the investor consent form is available at

www.dss.gov.au/our-responsibilities/housing-support/programmes-services/nras-resources-documents-and-information/consent-to-release-information-to-investors-forms

Please feel free to pass this information on to NRAS investors.

NRAS Helpdesk

Department of Social Services