Recording and maintaining property data - guidance

Property data list

Registered community housing providers are required to provide and maintain a list of all community housing assets. This is also referred to as the property data list.

Under Section 15(i) of the National Law a community housing provider must keep a list of all of the provider’s community housing assets in a form approved by the primary Registrar and must make the list available to the primary Registrar on request. This information is collected and stored in the Community Housing Regulatory Information System (CHRIS).

For each property owned or managed providers are required to submit information outlined in the succeeding pages Table 1-Property data list. Some data such as year of construction, class of assets owned and managed and maintenance liability of assets are used to generate a populated Community Housing Asset Performance Report (CHAPR) when a return is completed.

Property data is used to improve Registrars’ understanding of the risks present in the sector. The collection of geospatial data aids in facilitating an improved understanding of the challenges, risks and opportunities faced by community housing providers. This is critical to understanding the differences between metropolitan, regional and remote social and affordable housing provision costs and drivers, and the implications that those cost drivers present for regulatory risks for providers.

What is a community housing asset?

Under the National Law a community housing asset of a community housing provider means:

1. land vested in the provider by or under the community housing legislation of a participating jurisdiction, or
2. land acquired by the provider wholly or partly with funding provided by a Housing Agency of a participating jurisdiction, or
3. land vested in the provider on which the Housing Agency of a participating jurisdiction has constructed housing or made other improvements, or
4. funds provided to the provider by a Housing Agency of a participating jurisdiction for the purposes of community housing, or
5. any other asset of the provider that is of a class of assets declared by the community housing participating jurisdiction as community housing assets for the purpose of this Law.

Typically community housing assets will include:

• affordable housing such as NRAS and other Government funded affordable housing initiatives
• decommissioned properties, for example, decommissioned and vacant properties due for demolition or redevelopment  
• properties on the market for sale or properties currently held for disposal
• land vested by Government and local councils
• secure properties such as Crisis, DV Shelters should be included however these and any other properties that require the address to be held securely and not disclosed should be marked in the asset list as Confidential
• non-residential properties but not commercial properties.

The definition of a community housing asset may vary across some states and territories.  

The Community Housing Assets - calculations (PDF, 331.5 KB) document explains how jurisdictions define and calculate community housing assets based on the property data list supplied by providers. 

Non-residential v’s commercial properties

Commercial properties are of or pertaining to commerce or a business venture.  A commercial property is usually used solely for business purposes and is intended to generate profit, for example, a leased office space.

Non-residential properties may include properties funded by the housing agency but used for office or community purposes. They are not used for people to live in.

Zero base at Application for Registration

It is recognised that providers seeking registration may initially have a zero base but a specific plan to operate at a certain scale. Providers with a zero base will not complete the property list but will be required to update the information following the acquisition of properties.

Updating property information

Providers are encouraged to keep their property data up to date. At a minimum, property data must be updated at the time of compliance or, as a guide, within 5 working days of:

• acquiring or receiving a property through development, purchasing, management or management transfer
• a change to the purpose or program type of an existing property
• disposal of a property.

Details of community housing assets for registered providers are displayed on the National Register for Community Housing Providers and include:

• total owned properties (community housing assets only)
• total managed properties (community housing assets only)
• community housing assets by program type.

Property data displayed on the National Register is updated in real time.