Help to Buy Scheme: Could Shared Equity Help You Buy Your First Home?

For many Australians, buying their first home is no easy feat. Rising property prices and the increasing cost of living have made it harder than ever for first home buyers to get into the market. Fortunately, there are several Australian Government home buyer assistance initiatives designed to help first time buyers enter the property market.

The Australian Government’s Help to Buy Scheme aims to make home ownership more accessible by reducing both the upfront deposit required and the amount buyers need to borrow.

What is the Help to Buy Scheme?

The Help to Buy Scheme is a shared equity initiative that allows eligible Australians to purchase a home with financial support from the Australian Government.

The Government contributes towards the purchase price in exchange for an ownership share in the property. This means you’ll need to borrow less from your lender which also results in lower ongoing mortgage repayments.

The Government may contribute:

Up to 30% of the purchase price for an existing home.
Up to 40% of the purchase price for a newly built home – this includes off-the-plan townhomes and House & Land packages at Botania.

You remain the homeowner and can choose to buy back the Government’s equity over time or repay it when you sell the property.

Why is the Help to Buy Scheme beneficial?

The scheme has been designed to improve housing affordability and help eligible buyers enter the property market sooner.

Some of the key benefits include:

Buy with a deposit from as little as 2%
Borrow less, helping reduce monthly mortgage repayments
Avoid paying Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI)
Purchase a home sooner instead of waiting years to save a larger deposit and be able to afford the home you need.

What should buyers consider?

While the Help to Buy Scheme offers significant advantages, it’s important to understand how shared equity works.

Because the Australian Government contributes towards the purchase price, it also owns a percentage of your home’s value. If your property increases in value, the Government’s share increases proportionally. Likewise, if property values fall, the value of the Government’s equity decreases.

You can increase your ownership over time by purchasing additional equity from the Government, or the remaining share is repaid when the property is sold.

Who can apply?

To participate in the Help to Buy Scheme, applicants must meet eligibility requirements, including income limits and property price caps.

Generally, buyers will need to:

Contribute a minimum 2% deposit
Obtain finance through a participating lender
Receive approval before committing to purchase a property
Purchase an eligible home that satisfies the scheme requirements

Is the Help to Buy Scheme right for you?

Every buyer’s circumstances are different, but the Help to Buy Scheme could be worth exploring if you’ve found saving a large deposit or borrowing enough to purchase your ideal home challenging.

Speaking with a mortgage broker or participating lender is the best way to understand whether you qualify and how the scheme could work for your individual situation.

Take the next step

If you’re considering buying your first home or exploring a new house and land package, our team can help point you in the right direction.

We can connect you with participating builders and finance professionals who can explain the Help to Buy Scheme, assess your eligibility and help you understand your options.

Buying your first home may be closer than you think.

Our sales team is ready to guide you every step of the way.

Please contact our friendly sales team on 1300 888 182 or via email at info@botania.com.au to start your new story at Botania.

Growland Privacy Policy

Updated August 2018

Background
1. General
  
  Growland Group Pty Ltd (ACN 166 902 629) is a proprietary company limited by shares. References to ‘Growland’, ‘we’, ‘us’ or ‘our’ are references to Growland Group Pty Ltd (ACN 166 902 629) and its associated entities (as defined in the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)).
  
  Growland is committed to protecting your privacy, in accordance with applicable Australian privacy laws. This policy (‘Privacy Policy’) is designed to give you a greater understanding of how we collect, use, disclose and otherwise handle personal information.
  
  A copy of this Privacy Policy is available on our website at www.growland.com.au or you can request a copy by contacting our Privacy Officer (details under heading 13 below).
2. What is personal information?
  
  In general terms, legislation defines ‘personal information’ as information or an opinion about an identified individual or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether the information is true or not and whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not.
3. Our obligations
  
  We comply with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act). The APPs regulate the manner in which personal information is handled throughout its life cycle, from collection to use and disclosure, security, accessibility and disposal.
  
  The Privacy Act also includes a data breach notification regime, which requires Growland to address data breaches involving personal information held by Growland.
  
  We also comply with more specific privacy legislation in some circumstances, such as the Spam Act and the Do Not Call Register Act.
4. Employee records
  
  We are generally exempt from the Privacy Act when we collect and handle employee records and this Privacy Policy does not apply to that information. However, where State or Territory health privacy legislation applies, we are still required to protect the privacy of employee health information. This Privacy Policy will apply in those circumstances.
What we collect
1. General
  
  The type of personal information that we collect about you depends on the type of dealings you have with us. For example, if you:
  - are a purchaser or prospective purchaser of a property, we will collect your name, contact details (such as address, telephone number and email address), date of birth, gender, employment details, details of the property that you are interested in or have agreed to purchase, what prompted you to inspect the project, how you heard about us, confirm whether you are an Australian resident, information relating to your financing arrangements
  - are a supplier to us, we will collect your name and contact details, details about the goods or services you supply and payment details
  - send us an enquiry, complete a registration of interest or provide us with feedback, we may collect your name, contact details, details of your enquiry or feedback and information about our response
  - fill in a contact form at one of our sales offices, we will collect your name, age, address, contact details, details of the properties you are interested in (including price ranges), what prompted you to inspect the project, whether you are an owner occupier or investor and how your heard about us or the relevant property development
  - ask us to send you information about our developments or other products and services, we will collect your name, address, contact details, details of the properties you are interested in and how you heard about us or the relevant property development
  - apply for a job with us, we will collect the information you include in your job application, including your cover letter, resume, contact details and referee reports
  - enter into any promotions, competitions or special offers, we will collect the information you provide when submitting your entry
  In addition to the above, if you interact with Growland generally, Growland will collect your details (e.g. name, telephone number, email address), details of the properties you are interested in, how you heard about us or the relevant property development and details of your dealings with us. Other information may be collected from other sources but those sources should provide you with details of what personal information is being collected and why.
  
  The personal information collected may vary depending on your particular interaction with Growland but will be limited to that information necessary to record and manage our interaction with you (e.g. your name, relevant contact details and information about the interaction) and to that information required to enable you to participate in our services and other products being offered on Growland’s website.
2. Sensitive information
  
  Sensitive information is a subset of personal information that is generally afforded a higher level of privacy protection, such as health information. We only collect sensitive information where it is reasonably necessary for our functions or activities and either:
  - the individual has consented; or
  - we are required or authorised by or under law (including applicable privacy legislation) to do so.
3. Collection of information other than personal information through our website
  
  When you visit our website, some of the information that is collected about your visit is not personal information, as it does not reveal your identity.
  
  Site visit information
  
  For example, we record your server address, the date and time of your visit, the pages you visited, any documents you downloaded, the previous site you visited and the type of device, browser and operating system you used.
  We use and disclose this information in anonymous, aggregated form only, for purposes including statistical analysis and to assist us to improve the functionality and usability of our website. You are not individually identified, however we reserve the right to use or disclose this information to try to locate an individual where we reasonably believe that the individual may have engaged in any unlawful or inappropriate activity in connection with our website, or where we are otherwise required or authorised by law to do so.
  
  Cookies
  
  A cookie is a small string of information that a website transfers to your browser for identification purposes. The cookies we use do not identify individual users, although they do identify the user’s internet browser.
  We use cookies to hold anonymous session information. This information is used to personalise your current visit to the website, for example to allow the website to remember who you are by keeping server variables linked to your session. We only use non-persistent cookies. That is, they are held on your browser’s memory only for the duration of your session.
  Most internet browsers are set to accept cookies. If you prefer not to receive them, you can adjust your internet browser to reject cookies, or to notify you when they are being used. There are also software products available that can manage cookies for you. Rejecting cookies can, however, limit the functionality of our website.
  
  Online Behavioural Advertising
  
  We use advertising programs that place cookies on your computer to collect information about your browsing history (including on external websites). This information, which does not identify you personally, is collected in order to improve your online experience by customising the advertising you see to your interests (including the display of more relevant ads on external websites). You can opt out of these programs at any time by clicking unsubscribe.
4. 2.4 What if you don’t provide us with your personal information?
  
  We will provide individuals with the option of not identifying themselves, or of using a pseudonym, when dealing with us if it is lawful and practicable to do so. A pseudonym is a name or other descriptor that is different to an individual’s actual name. For example, you can access our website and make general phone queries without having to identify yourself.
  
  In some cases however, if you don’t provide us with your personal information when requested, we may not be able to provide you with the product or service that you are seeking. For example, you must identify yourself to register your interest or purchase a property at any Growland development.
How we collect personal information
1. Methods of collection
  
  We collect personal information in a number of ways, including:
  - directly from you in person (for example, if you visit our sales office or development, or at events or at conferences)
  - through our website (for example, by making an online enquiry)
  - through our social media pages (for example, through Twitter, LinkedIn or our Facebook page)
  - over the telephone
  - through written correspondence (such as letters, faxes and emails)
  - on hard copy forms (for example, competition entry forms and surveys)
  - through surveillance cameras at our corporate premises and on some of our sales suites or development sites
  - from third parties, including:
    - your representatives, including your lawyers, financiers and other authorised agents
    - the Land Titles Office
    - relevant State and Territory Valuers General
    - our sales agents
    - other real estate agents
    - the Australian Securities and Investment Commission
    - mortgage brokers and/or financial service providers
2. Collection notices
  
  Where we collect personal information about you, we will take reasonable steps to provide you with certain details about that collection (such as why we are collecting the information and who we may share it with). We will generally include this information in a collection notice.
  
  Collection notices provide more specific information than this Privacy Policy. The terms of this Privacy Policy are subject to any specific provisions contained in collection notices and in the terms and conditions of particular offers, products and services. We encourage you to read those provisions carefully.
3. Unsolicited information
  
  Unsolicited personal information is personal information we receive that we have taken no active steps to collect (such as an employment application sent to us by an individual on their own initiative, rather than in response to a job advertisement).
  
  We may keep records of unsolicited personal information if the Privacy Act permits it (for example, if the information is reasonably necessary for one or more of our functions or activities). If not, we will destroy or de-identify the information as soon as practicable, provided it is lawful and reasonable to do so.
Why we collect personal information

The main purposes for which we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information are set out below:
- to verify your identity and conduct credit checks
- designing, engineering, constructing and delivering our developments
- to carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between you and us and to provide you with the products, services and information that you request from us
- outlining our development products and services to prospective and existing purchasers
- obtaining finance for our developments
- providing you with information and the services that you have requested
- to communicate with you, including by email, mail or telephone
- processing transactions for the sale of land and/or houses and any applicable payments and for our billing and account purposes
- to administer our website and for internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, statistical and survey purposes
- promoting ourselves and our products and services, including through direct marketing, events and competitions
- performing research and statistical analysis, including for customer satisfaction and service improvement purposes
- protecting the security of our offices, staff, customers and the property held on our premises
- to assist you with enquiries, resolving complaints or to improve our customer service
- recruiting staff and contractors
- to update our records
- to enforce the terms of any agreement that you enter into relating to our products and services
- complying with legal and regulatory obligations including notifying you of matters that we may be required by law to notify you of
We may also collect, hold, use and disclose personal information for other purposes explained at the time of collection or:
- which are required or authorised by or under law (including, without limitation, privacy legislation); and
- for which you have provided your consent.
Direct marketing

You consent (until such time as you opt out, as described below) that we may use your personal information to let you know about us and our products and services (including promotions, special offers and events) and our third party products and services, either where we have your express or implied consent, or where we are otherwise permitted by law to do so. We may contact you for these purposes in a variety of ways, including by mail, email, SMS, telephone and online advertising.

Opting out

Where you have consented to receiving marketing communications from us, your consent will remain current until you advise us otherwise. However, you can opt out at any time, by:
- contacting us (details under heading 13 below)
- advising us if you receive a marketing call that you no longer wish to receive these calls
- using the unsubscribe facility that we include in our commercial electronic messages (such as emails and SMS’s)
Once you do this, we will update your profile to ensure that you don’t receive further marketing messages. Stopping marketing messages will not stop service communications (such as contract updates).

Third-party marketing

We will get your express opt-in consent before we share your personal data with any company outside the Growland entities for marketing purposes.

Notification of source

If we have collected the personal information that we use to send you marketing communications from a third party (for example a direct mail database provider), you can ask us to notify you of our source of information, and we will do so, unless this would be unreasonable or impracticable.
Who we may share your personal information with

Growland may disclose your personal information, and you consent to Growland disclosing your personal information, to it’s related bodies corporate and associated entities (as those terms are defined in the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)).

Growland may also disclose your personal information, and you consent to Growland disclosing your personal information, to the following third parties:
- responsible authorities, such as local councils and water authorities
- builders and their housing consultants
- sub-contractors
- the Land Titles Office
- relevant State and Territory Valuers General
- real estate agents
- Australian Securities and Investment Commission
- financiers and prospective financiers
- financial institutions for payment processing
- an individual’s agent or authorised representative
- referees whose details are provided to us by job applicants
- third parties who support our information technology or handle mailings on our behalf
- our contracted service providers (including payment processors). In each case, we may disclose personal information to the service provider and the service provider may in turn provide us with personal information collected from you in the course of providing the relevant products or services;
- law enforcement agencies, other governmental agencies or third parties if we are required by law to do so, or in other limited circumstances (for example if required by a court order or regulatory authority, or if we believe that such action is necessary to prevent fraud or cyber-crime or to protect our website, our products or our technology assets or the rights, property or personal safety of any person)
- our professional advisers
In each case, we may disclose personal information to the service provider and the service provider may in turn provide us with personal information collected from you in the course of providing the relevant services. We may also disclose information to provide our products and services, to respond to legal requirements, enforce our policies, and protect our rights and property.
Cross border disclosure of personal information

We do not currently disclose personal information to third parties located overseas. If this changes at some time in the future, we will comply with the requirements of the Privacy Act that apply to cross border disclosures of personal information and this Privacy Policy will be amended accordingly.
Use of government related identifiers

We will not:
- use a government related identifier of an individual (such as a Medicare number or driver’s licence number) as our own identifier of individuals; or
- otherwise use or disclose such a government related identifier
Unless this is permitted by the Privacy Act (for example, use of an identifier to verify an individual’s identity or uses or disclosures required or authorised by or under an Australian law).
Data quality and security
1. General
  
  Growland is committed to keeping your personal information secure and confidential. All reasonable precautions will be taken to protect personal information from loss, misuse, unauthorised access or alteration. Paper documents are held in locked drawers and cabinets. Paper files may also be archived in boxes and stored offsite in secure facilities. Additionally, we also take reasonable steps to:
  - make sure that the personal information that we collect, use and disclose is accurate, up to date and complete and (in the case of use and disclosure) relevant;
  - protect the personal information that we hold from misuse, interference and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure; and
  - destroy or permanently de-identify personal information that is no longer needed for any purpose that is permitted by the APPs.
  You can help us keep your information up to date, by letting us know about any changes to your details, such as your address, email address or phone number. You acknowledge that the security of online transactions you conduct using the website cannot be guaranteed. To the fullest extent permitted at law, Growland does not accept responsibility for misuse of or loss of, or unauthorised access to, your personal information where the security of that information is not within Growland’s control.
  
  Within Growland, access to personal information is restricted to personnel on a need to know basis. Growland has directed its staff that personal information must be dealt with in accordance with this Privacy Policy and kept secure from unauthorised access or disclosure. We educate our staff about their duty to protect your privacy and provide training regarding this Privacy Policy.
2. Security
  
  The steps we take to secure the personal information we hold include website protection measures (such as firewalls and anti-virus software), security restrictions on access to our computer systems (such as login and password protection), controlled access to our corporate premises, policies on document storage and security, personnel security (including restricting access to personal information on our systems to staff who need that access to carry out their duties), staff training and workplace policies.
  
  Website security
  
  While we strive to protect the personal information and privacy of users of our website, we cannot guarantee the security of any information that you disclose online and you disclose that information at your own risk. If you are concerned about sending your information over the internet, you can contact us by telephone or post (details under heading 13 below). If you are a registered user of our website, you can also help to protect the privacy of your personal information by maintaining the confidentiality of your username and password and by ensuring that you log out of the website when you have finished using it. In addition, if you become aware of any security breach, please let us know as soon as possible.
  
  IP address
  
  An IP (internet protocol) address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer by your internet service provider when you log on. Your IP address is not linked to your personal information but we do preserve the right to use IP addresses to identify individuals who may threaten our site, services or clients. IP addresses may also be used to help diagnose problems with our website and to gather broad demographic information.
  
  Third party websites
  
  Links to third party websites that are not operated or controlled by us are provided for your convenience. We are not responsible for the privacy or security practices of those websites, which are not covered by this Privacy Policy. Third party websites should have their own privacy and security policies, which we encourage you to read before supplying any personal information to them.
  
  Data breaches
  
  If there is any breach of your personal information, Growland will deal with such breach and notify you in accordance with its obligations under the Privacy Act.
How long we keep your information

We will only keep the information we collect about you for as long as required for the purposes set out above or as required to comply with any legal obligations to which we are subject. This will involve us regularly reviewing our files to check that information is accurate, up-to-date and still required.
If you close an account you have with us or you decide not to go ahead with purchasing a property for which you have registered, we may still keep your information.
Mail and email information

If you wish to stop receiving any e-mails or other communications from Growland which may be sent to you in the future, or if you have submitted personal information through the website and would like to have that information deleted from our records, please unsubscribe through the link at the bottom of any email or notify us at privacy@growland.com.au.
Growland will preserve the contents of any e-mail message that you send if we believe that we have a legal requirement to do so. E-mails sent to or from Growland are routinely monitored for quality control, systems administration and legal compliance purposes.
Access and Correction
1. General
  
  Please contact our Privacy Officer (details under heading 13 below) if you would like to access or correct the personal information that we hold about you. We may require you to verify your identity before processing any access or correction requests, to make sure that the personal information we hold is properly protected.
2. Access
  
  We will generally provide you with access to your personal information, subject to some exceptions permitted by law. We will also generally provide access in the manner that you have requested (eg by providing photocopies or allowing a file to be viewed), provided it is reasonable and practicable for us to do so. We may however charge a fee to cover our reasonable costs of locating the information and providing it to you.
3. Correction
  
  If you ask us to correct personal information that we hold about you, or if we are satisfied that the personal information we hold is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading, we will take reasonable steps to correct that information to ensure that, having regard to the purpose for which it is held, the information is accurate, up-to-date, complete, relevant and not misleading.
  If we correct personal information about you, and we have previously disclosed that information to another agency or organisation that is subject to the Privacy Act, you may ask us to notify that other entity. If so, we will take reasonable steps to do so, unless this would be impracticable or unlawful.
4. Timeframe for access and correction requests
  
  Except in the case of more complicated requests, we will endeavour to respond to access and correction requests within 30 days.
5. What if we do not agree to your request for access or correction?
  
  If we do not agree to your access or correction request, or if we do not agree to give you access in the manner you requested, we will provide you with a written notice setting out:
  - the reasons for our decision (except to the extent that, having regard to the grounds for refusal, it would be unreasonable to do so); and
  - available complaint mechanisms.
  In addition, if we refuse to correct personal information in the manner you have requested, you may ask us to associate with the information a statement that the information is inaccurate, out-of-date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading, and we will take reasonable steps to do this in such a way that will make the statement apparent to users of the information.
Complaints

If you have a complaint about how we have collected or handled your personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer (details under heading 13 below). We will endeavour in the first instance to deal with your complaint and take any steps necessary to resolve the matter within a week. If your complaint can’t be resolved at the first instance, we will ask you to submit your complaint in writing.
Our Contact Details

Please contact us if you have any queries about the personal information that we hold about you or the way we handle that personal information. Our contact details are set out below.

Mail: The Privacy Officer, Growland, Level 27, 150 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000

Email: privacy@growland.com.au

Telephone: (03) 9867 2673

Further general information about privacy is available on the website of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at www.oaic.gov.au or by calling the OAIC’s enquiry line at 1300 363 992.
Changes to this Policy

We may amend this Privacy Policy from time to time. The current version will be posted on our website and a copy may be obtained by contacting our Privacy Officer (details above). All amended terms will automatically take effect immediately on posting. Please check this Privacy Policy periodically to inform yourself of any changes. If you do not accept the changes made to this Privacy Policy you should immediately stop using the website and our products and services.

News & Community.