Defence home loans, and the scheme that helps pay the interest

Each guide answers one question, and wears its own ribbon so you can tell where you are. They can be read in any order, though the first three follow the scheme’s own path from qualifying to holding a certificate.

• 01

  What DHOAS is

  Who runs it, how the monthly subsidy is worked out, and the 2026–27 loan limits.

• 02

  Who is eligible

  The qualifying period, service credit, warlike service, Reserve rules and breaks in service.

• 03

  The subsidy certificate

  Applying, the service records to attach, the 12-month life of a certificate, and asking for a review.

• 04

  Buying with the scheme

  The loan, the 12-month occupancy rule, when payments start, the lump sum, and what stops the subsidy.

• 05

  Housing assistance while serving

  How a home bought with the scheme meets Service residences, rent allowance and postings.

• 06

  After leaving the ADF

  The one certificate left after separating, tier levels, medical separation and surviving partners.

The scheme’s site lays the path out in eight steps. Put plainly:

1. Serve the qualifying period

   You must have served on or after 1 July 2008, and have completed at least two years of consecutive Permanent service or four years of effective Reserve service.

2. Build up a service credit

   Service after the qualifying period earns credit, and the credit sets how long the subsidy can be paid.

3. Apply to DVA for a subsidy certificate

   It is the scheme’s proof that you are eligible.

4. Take out a DHOAS home loan

   Only with one of the three Home Loan Providers Defence has appointed, and only if that lender approves the loan.

5. Meet the conditions, then the payments start

   Including living in the home for 12 months. DVA then pays the subsidy into the loan each month for as long as there is service credit left, the DHOAS loan stays open and the conditions are kept.

The rules themselves are in the Defence Home Ownership Assistance Scheme Act 2008 and the Defence Home Ownership Assistance Scheme Regulations 2018.

The scheme has its own vocabulary, and the same word can carry a narrower meaning than it does in everyday speech.

Effective service

For a Reservist, at least 20 days of paid service in a financial year. A Reservist who falls short is treated as separated from the ADF for the scheme’s purposes.

Qualifying period

The service that must be done before anything accrues. The Act calls it the qualifying service period: 2 years of effective service for a member of the Permanent Forces and 4 years for a member of the Reserves.

Service credit

The length of time the subsidy can be paid, built up by service after the qualifying period, to at most 20 years, or 25 years with warlike service.

Subsidy certificate

The scheme’s proof of eligibility, which you take to a Home Loan Provider. It lasts 12 months and cannot be extended.

Subsidy tier and subsidised loan limit

There are three tiers, set by years of service. Each tier has a subsidised loan limit, the most of a loan that can attract the subsidy.

Subsidy Authorisation Request Form

The form, sent to DVA and not to the lender, in which you confirm you are meeting the scheme’s conditions. No subsidy is paid until it has been lodged.

Change of Circumstances form

How DVA is told about a change in service, the loan, the property or personal life, such as separating, moving to the Reserves or adding a person to the loan.