NATIONAL RENTAL ASSISTANCE SCHEME
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs) – ROUND FIVE CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
Updated 4 July 2013
If you have a question that is not currently featured below, you can send it to .
We will only respond to questions that relate to the application process. Questions regarding ‘Round Five’ projects will not be answered after 12:00pm AEST, Friday 2 August 2013.
Contents
Scope of Round 5
Application Form
Dwelling Schedule
Financial Viability Assessment Tools
Financial Statements and supporting documents
Lodging your Application
Assessment Process
NRAS Policy Issues
State and Territory participation in Round 5
Scope of Round 5
Question: What are the key dates?
Answer: Round Five, for dwellings to be available for rent in the 2015-16 financial year, opened on 7 May 2013 and will close at 5.00pm AEST, 6August2013.
Question: When do dwellings need to be completed?
Answer: Successful applicants who have applied under Round 5 must have approved dwellings completed and available for rent in the 201516 financial year.
Question: How many incentives will be allocated?
Answer: The call for applications for Round 5 will seek to allocate approximately 10,000 incentives for dwellings.
Question: Should I be aware of any specific requirements for Round 5?
Answer: All offers for Round 5 projects may include a condition that the homes will be first available for rent from 1 July 2015 until 30 June 2016. Delay in delivery against this timeline is likely to lead to the withdrawal of the incentive.
Application Form
Question: I am submitting multiple applications can I re-use the same application form?
Answer: No, you need to download a fresh application form for each application. Because of the “smart form” functionalities embedded in the form some data may stay in the form and prevent you from lodging subsequent applications.
Question: I am using a Mac computer system and cannot download the application form. What should I do?
Answer: Contact us through and we will email it to you. We aim to do this within 1 business day.
Question: When selecting applicants for the NRAS, is there a preference to project size. Would 10/ 20 completed units per year be acceptable? Do you have a minimum/ maximum/ optimum number that you can tell me?
Answer: The Assessment Criteria Set 6 of the NRAS Regulations does provide a preference for applications with 20 or more dwellings. However, the department may be prepared to support applications that are highly meritorious against the other assessment criteria in subset 1 of set 6.
This is explained in more detail on page 11 of the Round 5 Application Guidelines on the website(
Question: Can I obtain a copy of a previously submitted application that was successful in an earlier round?
Answer: Given the nature of the information contained in NRAS applications, which includes financial statements from applicants and their partners, the Australian Government treats this information as commercial-in-confidence.
Question: We are a property developer and intend on acquiring a property manager to complete the rental process and ongoing NRAS reporting processes. How do I document this on the application form?
Answer: Please provide this detail in the questions around governance and explaining your consortium or contractual arrangements that will enable you to comply with the scheme’s requirements in the future. Specifically the question on “…property and tenancy management…” As set out in the Application Guidelines (page 14) “If Applicants are outsourcing this function, Applicants should outline how they will ensure their Proposal complies with the NRAS requirements.”
Question: Applications are for dwellings that will be ready for rent in the 2015-2016 Financial Year. Can you confirm that this means the dwellings will be available to rent between July 2015 and June 2016or does it mean June 2016 to July 2017 which can be considered to be the financial reporting year for 2015/16?
Answer: For the purposes of Round 5 NRAS applications, dwellings that are supported with a reserved allocation of incentives will have a condition imposed that they be available for rent from 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2016.
Question: Does the preference for a minimum of 20 dwellings relate to the proposal (application) or to each project.
Answer: The preference for a minimum of 20 dwellings relates to the proposal (application) which may involve one or more projects.
Question: If my application has less than 100 dwellings do I need to complete the questions related to Assessment Criterion 2
Answer: The application is not divided into 2 subsets. There are 2 subsets of criteria to be utilised for assessment but please ensure you complete all questions within the application.
Page 11 of the Application Guidelines on the websiteshows the detail related to criteria 1(a). (
A proposal that has 100 or more dwellings will also score on criteria 2(a), covered at page 15 of the Application Guidelines.
The Assessment Tool on the websiteprovides further details on how the assessment will be conducted. (
Please also note that the Queensland Government has indicated they prefer that separate applications are lodged where a different developer or consortium is involved in the projects.
More information is available on the Queensland Government’s website about its approach to NRAS( .
Question: Is it possible for more than one entity to be listed as the Applicant on the Application Form? We would like to list the Applicant Organisation as 5 entities comprised of three superannuation funds, one trust fund and an individual taxpayer. Each has its own ABN and Tax File Number. Is this acceptable or does the applicant need to be one organisation? If this is acceptable, please advise how we should complete the Applicant Details section of the Application Form.
Answer: There needs to be one applicant for the proposal. That applicant’s responsibilities are set out in sub-section 3.1 of the Application Guidelines. You may consider the option of applying as a consortium. Sub-section 6.2 of the Application Guidelines discusses consortia, however you should make your own enquires of the Australian Taxation Office on the potential impact on members of the consortium and/or seek your own legal or financial advice.
Question: The QLD state government has mentioned that they ‘prefer individual applications for individual developers / consortiums. Will the government accept multiple applications from a single applicant with different joint venture partners or would they like one application in total from us with all developers bundled in the one application?
Answer: The Australian Government will receive applications for all jurisdictions whether they include multiple projects with mixtures of developers or are specific to a developer. However State and Territory Governments have also provided guidance on their websites to potential Applicants about the priorities likely to lead to their support under Criteria 1c. As you have noted the Queensland Government has indicated“it is preferred that a separate application be lodged for each developer or joint venture”
Question: Our company is preparing a national submission across 4 States. I note we will need to submit a separate Application Form for each State (and for each developer / builder in QLD). When we are answering questions in relation to the Proposal (i.e number of dwellings across number of projects), do we enter details about our overall Proposal nationally or per State?
Answer: When answering questions in the Application Form please answer them only in relation to the projects and dwellings contained in that application.
Question: Could you please provide some information on the detail required for Consortia partners to provide for the NRAS Round Five application? This is the first application we are submitting and I wish to ensure the correct importation is provided.
Answer: If you click “Yes” on question 12 of the Application Form it will open the questions to respond to for consortium members. In the query “Role in the consortium” you need to include a general statement of the tasks/functions they will be responsible for. Once you finish the detail for one member you can click the “+” to add an additional table for extra members.
We strongly encourage you to read the Application Guidelines and the Assessment Tool.
The Guidelines and the Tool provide information about the Set 6 Criteria including guidance on how to respond to Set 6 Criteria Subset 1 d and e. Information relating to various consortia members’ roles may also need to be included in responses to questions relating to these sub criteria.
Question: Assessment Criterion 2(a) states that Proposals involving 100 or more rental dwellings are preferred.
Are we required also to fill in questions 25 to 29 even though we only have less than 100 dwellings?
Answer: You should answer all questions in the application form regardless of the number of dwellings and incentives you are applying for. Please note that information regarding Subset 2a ‘Proposals involving 100 or more rental dwellings are preferred’ is drawn directly from the dwelling schedule and does not require a direct response. The remainder of the questions apply to all Applications regardless of the number of dwellings contained in the application.
Question: We are working on a project that will provide 30 rooms which are being set up to provide independent living i.e. with kitchenettes and en suites
Are we required to fill in the application for 30 separate dwelling places or one generic description of the facility as a whole?
Answer: Applications will be in the form of a Proposal. A Proposal may include one or more Projects. Each Project must nominate Locations and provide details about the Rental Dwellings, expected tenants, tenancy and property management arrangements, expected rent structure and Project status. Throughout the Proposal, Applicants should ensure that if they have more than one Project, each Project must be properly numbered and referenced.
If a Proposal contains Rental Dwellings in more than one state and/or territory, Applicants must submit a separate Application for each state and/or territory.
Based on the information you have provided, it appears that your Proposal would be to construct one (1) Project that contains 30 dwellings. Therefore, you should complete one Application that embodies that Proposal.
Question: In respect to question 1, the application will be made by consortium which is comprised of a community housing provider, a developer/builder and various support providers. Some entities are registered charities while others are not. In this case could you please advise how the consortium should address question 1? Should it be "partnership"? Although there is a joint venture agreement it is not a partnership as defined by ASIC.
Answer: Applications will not be accepted unless they are received by Applicants who are legal entities.
Applicants that are acting on behalf of an NRAS Consortium will need to identify themselves as the Lead Agency. The Lead Agency is the legal entity that will receive any Allocation or Reserved Allocation, the legal entity that FaHCSIA will deal with and is the legal entity that will receive Incentives.
For questions regarding the possible impact of Incentives to NRAS Consortium members, please contact the Australian Taxation Office. To answer your question, once you have chosen a ‘Lead Agency’ for your Round Five Application, you should select the ‘legal entity type’ of that Lead Agency, based on the status of that Lead Agency.
Later, at question 12 of the Application Form, you can input the details of the members of your consortium/joint venture/non-entity joint venture, which is represented by the Lead Agency.
Question: I have multiple developments that I wish to submit for NRAS. Should I put them all in one application or submit multiple applications?
Answer: Developments that are located in a particular State or Territory can be submitted in one application but you need to submit a separate application for each State or Territory.
See section 4.1(a) of the Application Guidelines for more information.
Applications will be assessed against Set 6, Criteria — subset 2 (a) of that criteria, which aims to encourage large-scale investment of 100 or more dwellings. All else being equal, anApplication that contains 100 or more dwellings will receive a higher score against this criteria.
State and Territory Governments have also provided guidance to potential Applicants about the priorities likely to lead to their support under Criteria 1c on their websites. It will be important to read that information in developing your application.
For example, the Queensland Government has indicated“it is preferred that a separate application be lodged for each developer or joint venture.”
Dwelling Schedule
Question: Do the Dwelling Schedule and the Financial Viability Tool need to be renamed with the Receipt Confirmation Number?
Answer: If attached to the Application Form they will not. However if submitted via an email then the subject should include the Receipt Confirmation Number and follow the naming convention set out in the Application Guidelines.
Question: I am attempting to complete a Dwelling Schedule Excel sheet for a Round 5 NRAS funding application. The document presents an error whenever it is closed, saying that: "The number of inserted rows does not match the number of Dwellings."
The number of inserted rows in the Dwelling Breakdown is the same as the number of dwelling entered in the Project Summary worksheet so I have been unable to determine the cause of the conflict... I have enabled all macros on the spreadsheet and saved it as a macro enabled worksheet.
Answer: This error only appears where the number of dwellings on the Dwelling Breakdown sheet does not equal the Number of NRAS dwellings on the Project Summary sheet. Note it must align with the NRAS dwelling numbers not total dwelling numbers.
Question: In the dwelling schedule, it requires us to put in ‘Project Number’. I’m just wondering what number should we put in. We only have 1 project in the application. Should we put in ‘1’?
Answer: Yes projects should just be numbered in order. If you only have one project it will just be “1”.
Question: It is our understanding that the Dwelling Schedule is to be attached when submitting the electronic application. The problem, however, is that we do not have a receipt confirmation number (which is required in the naming conventions as outlined in the Application Guidelines).
My question therefore is as follows - How do we go about naming the attached Dwelling Schedule and in which format? Could you please provide an example of a correctly named Dwelling Schedule?
Answer: Where the dwelling schedule is attached to the Application Form linkage to the application does not require the Receipt Confirmation Number. In this case the schedule should be titled, Applicant Legal Name – Dwelling Schedule.
Question: Unfortunately, the only 'drop down box' in the Dwelling Schedule that works is the one from which you select the State (top LH corner) I cannot activate any 'drop down boxes' amongst the column headings.
Answer: Once you have downloaded the dwelling schedule from the web site, please ensure you have saved the Excel workbook as an Excel macro-enabled workbook. This will ensure that the drop-down boxes function as intended.
Question: In relation to the Dwelling Schedule, some of the column headings have references such as (2c), (2e) (iiii), however, there is no comments box or indication of what these numbers are referring to?
Answer: The references are where the questions relate to the assessment criteria at Set 6 of the National Rental Affordability Scheme Regulations 2008 which can be found through the NRAS website.
Financial Viability Assessment Tools
Question: My company has an innovative financial model to deliver dwellings that I don’t think will be adequately covered by the financial modelling tool. Do I have to complete the modelling tool?
Answer: Yes, all applicants must complete the financial modelling tool if they want to have the application assessed. Incomplete applications may not be assessed and therefore no offer of incentives will be made.
Question: We have an application with several projects, some being 100% held and some being 100% sold. Can I please confirm that this means you want one viability tool per project/development or one viability tool per application?
Answer: Please use the appropriate modelling tool for each project that you are submitting in your application (e.g. Construct and Sell or Construct and Hold). You can enter up to 10 projects into each modelling tool.
Please also note that we require that a separate application to be lodged for each state or territory where you are intending to locate dwellings.
State and Territory Governments have also provided guidance to potential applicants about the priorities likely to lead to their support under Criteria 1c on their websites. It will be important to read that information in developing your application.
For example, the Queensland Government has indicated “it is preferred that a separate application be lodged for each developer or joint venture”.
Question: In an apartment building whereby only a component of the total project dwellings will be allocated as NRAS,in the project viability model/tool should the development costs associated with the project in its entirety be included or just the pro-rata costs as they relate to the NRAS dwellings?