Use this guide alongside the official service
Read the steps here first and keep the relevant documents or questions ready. Outside websites open in a new tab, so this guide stays here. To continue, return to the Pension Path tab or close the new tab.
If online steps are difficult, find phone, paper or in-person help.
The home exemption has conditions
Your principal home is usually exempt from the assets test, subject to land and other rules. Investment, holiday or family-occupied property may be assessable.
Sale proceeds intended for a replacement principal home can have a time-limited assets exemption and special deeming treatment. The reserved amount, surplus money, intended use and timing matter. Ask Centrelink about the exemption and any extension before relying on it.
An assets exemption does not necessarily remove deemed income. Moving money into super or another product also does not automatically preserve pension.
Different accommodation arrangements
Retirement villages, lifestyle parks, board and living with family have different rules. An entry contribution can change homeowner status, asset assessment and Rent Assistance.
A granny-flat interest is a lifetime accommodation right, not simply a separate building. Giving family money or transferring a property may raise gifting and legal-rights issues.
Moving into care can change home treatment. A partner still living there matters; ask about your household's actual arrangement.
Before signing
- List selling, purchase, moving, ongoing fees and likely accessibility/care needs.
- Ask Centrelink or FIS about pension, home-sale proceeds and the proposed accommodation.
- Obtain independent legal advice about contracts, family accommodation rights and ownership.
- Check super contribution and tax rules with the fund or qualified adviser if relevant.
After moving
Report the address, rent/accommodation, asset and household changes through Centrelink's official route. Keep contracts, settlement records and the intended replacement-home information.
Update utility, council, transport and local card details. A concession may need registration again, especially after moving interstate or into an embedded electricity network.
Assisted access
FIS provides free education about the interactions, rather than choosing a property or investment strategy. Ask the agency or provider for phone, paper or in-person assistance if forms are difficult.
Your next-step checklist
For your own notes. Ticks do not submit a claim or notify an agency.
Print or write down your steps if you prefer.
Official sources for this page
Guidance reviewed 5 October 2026. Source checks and content reviews are different: a successful download does not confirm that every rule is unchanged.
- Real estate assets (opens in a new tab)Services Australia · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- Granny flat interests (opens in a new tab)Services Australia · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- How gifting can affect your payment (opens in a new tab)Services Australia · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- Downsizing in retirement (opens in a new tab)ASIC Moneysmart · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- Rent and accommodation types for Rent Assistance (opens in a new tab)Services Australia · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- Change of circumstances on Age Pension (opens in a new tab)Services Australia · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- Financial services when thinking about retirement (opens in a new tab)Services Australia · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
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