[Michael Williams]

Good morning all,

I am wondering if anyone has pensioners living in a property under a ‘Granny Flat Agreement’.

We have a pension concession application on a property where the owner is the son and the tenant is his mother (the pensioner). It was accompanied by a letter from her solicitor requesting we grant the concession subject to the Granny Flat Agreement.

While acknowledging the Agreement is legitimate for the purposes of estate planning and social security, I feel that it otherwise represents a tenancy agreement and therefore does not meet Council’s requirements for granting a concession.

I have not come across this situation before and would appreciate any input/comments from other Councils.

Thanks

[Ken Bakon]

Michael,
The Act and regulations state that only the owner can be granted a rebate – not a tenant.
However, this type of situation may fall into the “life tenancy” category, which some Councils consider OK to grant a rebate for.

We at Canterbury-Bankstown do not grant rebates in life tenancy situations.

Be interested to hear other opinions

Ken

[Ian Clayton]

Hi Michael,

I’m not familiar with a granny flat agreement, but I doubt we would be granting a rebate on it. Sounds more like a landlord/tenant arrangement.

We do, however, allow rebates in life tenancy situations, but only where they’re registered on title. We’ve only got a couple of these & they’re single dwellings where the pensioner is paying the rates.

Cheers
Ian

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