Division 2: Sale of home or subsequent purchase – general

HPSEA works in a sell-purchase cycle, providing benefits to members who have been posted and sell in their former location and buy in the new location.

A posting order means an officially approved posting. This can’t be an intent or a verbal instruction around posting, but the official notice.

In the total workforce system, continuous full-time service may be described as service in Service category 6 or 7. A member who is in Service category 3, 4 or 5 and Service option C is also on continuous full-time service.

1. This does not mean that a home must be sold or purchased following each posting.

   Example: A member gets HPSEA for the purchase of a home in Melbourne while this is within their housing benefit location. The member is then posted to Brisbane, occupies a Service residence there and keeps the home in Melbourne. After that, the member is posted to Sydney. They then sell the home in Melbourne and purchase in Sydney. If the sale and purchase are within the specified time limits, the member maintains continuity of the sale-purchase cycle.

2. Continuity of the sale-purchase cycle is broken if all the actions shown in this table happen. This table shows the effect on a member's HPSEA benefit.

   Step	Action	Effect on the sale-purchase cycle	Effect on HPSEA
   1.	A member gets HPSEA for the purchase of a home in a former housing benefit location. The member relocates. The former home is not sold within two years of official written notification of posting to a new primary service location.	The sale-purchase cycle is broken.	The sale does not qualify for HPSEA. It is outside the two‑year time limit for sale. Further, the member is excluded from HPSEA for purchasing a home in the new location – Step 2.
   2.	The member then purchases a home in the new housing benefit location.	The sale-purchase cycle has been broken.	The purchase does not qualify for HPSEA. If the member had sold their former home within the specified time limit, the purchase would have qualified for HPSEA.
   3.	The member then sells the last home because of posting to another location. The sale takes place within two years of official written notice of posting to the new location.	The sale-purchase cycle is re-established.	The sale of this home qualifies for HPSEA. The member also qualifies for HPSEA if they purchase a home in the new housing benefit location within the specified time limit.

An exchange of contracts is considered to have taken place once both parties have signed the contract. It doesn’t need settlement. 

If a member was partially through the 2-year period for their previous posting, the member’s time limit will start again.