By ALESHA CAPONE
A ST ALBANS woman has been fined $1000 after VCAT decided she was not entitled to receive the First Home Owner’s Grant.
The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal recently heard a case between St Albans resident Sarah Louise Gravina and the Commissioner of State Revenue.
The court heard Ms Gravina purchased a unit in Sunshine Ave for $221,000, in 2007.
Ms Gravina’s parents, and a $10,000 first home owner’s grant and bonus from the State Government, provided her with 20 per cent of the purchase price.
VCAT senior member Robert Davis said a first home owner’s grant required the applicant to live at the property for “a continuous period of at least six months” immediately after buying a home.
The court heard Ms Gravina believed she had lived in the home for six months and two days, because she sometimes slept at the unit.
Mr Davis said Ms Gravina slept most nights at the premises – but she also spent some evenings with friends or at her parents’ house, located around 500 metres from her Sunshine Ave home.
Mr Davis said during the six months and two days she “allegedly” occupied the home, Ms Gravina did all her bathing, clothes washing and eating at her parent’s home.
In addition, the only furniture Ms Gravina kept at the home was a “bed which converted into a couch or a couch which converted into a bed”.
Mr Davis said he did not believe Ms Gravina had lived at the home for six months, as required by the first home owner’s grant.
He said legislation required Ms Gravina to repay the first home owner’s grant within 14 days of purchasing the home, if she could not comply with these requirements.
Mr David said Ms Gravina had failed to repay the grant “when it was clear that the residency component was not complied with”.
Mr Davis said imposing a penalty of $1000 on Ms Gravina would help deter other people from “applying for grants and bonuses that they are not entitled to”.
