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James Coyle
James has over 35 years experience in financial services with particular expertise in two of the key components of retirement finance - Superannuation and the Age Pension. He is passionate about providing the guidance and support that can help older Australians enjoy their best possible retirement. He lives in regional Victoria surrounded by dogs and chooks.
I have recently gone on a part aged pension (I aslo have a serious health problem) and my wife is on a carers pension and allowance. We own our house and have a second house with a second house with a $256000 mortgage against it that our son rents off us to pay the mortgage, at the moment it is rated at $500000. We also have a vacant block of land with a loan of $44000 against it and I valued it at $100000. Unbeknown to us Centrelink recently uped the value to $150000 and reduced our pensions. I am worried that they will do the same with the rental property and we will loose our pensions entirely. I have two questions. What do Centrelink use to arrive at their figure and what can we do to prepare for it, if they revalue the rental?
Ask them to buy the block for $150K…
Our aged pension has stopped because we’re just over the asset threshold. However, we’re considering helping our son to buy his first unit by contributing some funds. If our assets are then reduced below the threshold, how long would we need to wait before we could receive the pension again?
Hi John, sorry to hear you lost the pension but you definitely can get it back! In terms of timeframe there is no minimum period you must wait. You can re-apply as soon as your assets are back under the applicable threshold. You do have to reapply though, this means new claim forms along with all supporting documents for all income and assets. It is not as simple as just showing a reduced bank/super balance and then getting the payments started again.
Having said that, I recommend you review our article on GIFTING as it sounds like that is how you intend to reduce your assets and if so the reduction may not be as high as you think.