Who can get it

You can get Rent Assistance if you pay rent and you're getting:

• Age Pension, Carer Payment or Disability Support Pension
• ABSTUDY Living Allowance, Austudy or Youth Allowance
• Widow Allowance
• Partner Allowance or Special Benefit 
• Family Tax Benefit – Part A at more than the base rate
• Parenting Payment partnered and single
• JobSeeker Payment or Farm Household Allowance.

You must also pay 1 of the following:

• rent
• fees in a retirement village
• lodging
• board and lodging
• site or mooring fees if your main home is a caravan, relocatable home or a boat.

You must pay more than a certain amount of rent each fortnight. How much Rent Assistance you can get depends on how much rent you pay.

Special rules for people living in a retirement village

Using the amount you paid when you entered the retirement village we assess if you’re either, a:

• home owner
• non-home owner.

If you’re assessed as a non-home owner you may get Rent Assistance. We base the assistance on your ongoing fees in the retirement village.

Find out how we assess retirement villages as assets.

Special rules for young people

Special rules apply for some young people to get Rent Assistance with some payments.

These depend on both:

• your payment type
• if you live with a parent or guardian.

We consider that you live with a parent or guardian if you live in the same home with them.

We don’t consider that you live with them if you live in an investment property or self-contained area without them. Fully self-contained areas may include things like granny flats and caravans. Your fully self-contained area may be on the same block of land that their home is on. Read more about special rules to get Rent Assistance with:

• ABSTUDY Living Allowance
• Disability Support Pension
• JobSeeker Payment
• Youth Allowance.

Who can’t get it

You won’t get Rent Assistance if:

• you're leasing from a state or territory housing authority
• you own or are buying the home you live in, except relocatable homes
• you’re travelling away from the home you own for less than 12 months
• the Australian Government pays a subsidy to the approved residential aged care facility where you live
• your partner gets Rent Assistance with Family Tax Benefit
• you get an allowance and your partner gets Rent Assistance with their pension.

Next: How much you can get

The amount of Rent Assistance you can get depends on how much rent you pay.