A first home buyer in Blacktown was given $90,000 by her parents toward a $780,000 house.
Usually not, if it is documented. Lenders accept a gift with a signed letter and a clear transfer trail; the question is genuine savings.
Some lenders accept 12 months of rent paid through an agent instead, and many do not ask for genuine savings once the deposit reaches 10 per cent.
Part of the first home buyer loans guide.
A steady salary and a clean credit file, with the deposit coming from the parents.
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How a parent’s equity can stand in for the deposit, often with no LMI.
With a family guarantee covering that portion, you could potentially buy with your $30,000 and no LMI. Costs assume NSW first home buyer duty.
Limited to this portion, secured against the guarantor’s property, released once you reach 20% equity, subject to lender approval. Indicative only, not credit advice.
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As a first home buyer, I was pretty overwhelmed at the start, but Charles made everything much easier. He explained the process step by step and helped me understand my borrowing options. His professionalism and responsiveness were excellent.
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The instinct is to wait three months for the funds to season, which works but costs a buying season. The better question is which lenders accept what. Some treat funds held for a defined period as seasoned regardless of origin.
Some accept a documented rental ledger as a direct substitute for savings, exactly the case here. Some apply no genuine savings requirement at all above a certain deposit percentage. The genuine savings guide sets out how those rules differ, and the deposit checker on that page gives an early read.
The gift paperwork first, a signed letter from the parents stating the funds are a gift and not repayable, and a clean transfer trail from their account to hers. Then the deposit percentage against price, because the requirement itself softens as the deposit grows.
Then the rental ledger: agent-managed, six years, no arrears, which is the strongest form of the substitute. And finally whether waiting eight weeks to season the funds opens a materially better rate, priced rather than assumed.
Mainly the gift letter’s wording: a letter describing the money as a loan, or as repayable on sale, turns it into a liability rather than a deposit and changes the assessment entirely.
Parents also deserve their own advice here: gifting is not the same as guaranteeing, and the two have very different consequences if things go wrong later.
Where the parents would rather keep the money and lend their security instead, a family guarantee is the structure that does that, and it usually removes lenders mortgage insurance as well.
A gifted deposit is not a weakness in an application, it is a documentation exercise. Start the paperwork before you start inspecting: the letter signed, the transfer traceable, the rental ledger requested from the agent. The delays we see almost never come from eligibility.
They come from evidence assembled the week the application is due.
Yes, routinely, with paperwork: a signed letter confirming the money is a gift and not repayable, plus a clean trail of the transfer. Gifted deposits covers the documentation.
Some lenders want a history of savings on top of the gift, others accept a rental history instead, and some policies need neither. Genuine savings explains who asks for what.
Yes, earlier is cleaner: money that has sat in your account for a while reads as savings at more lenders, and a last-minute transfer needs more explaining.
Thirty minutes with Charles: what your lender will need to see, which policies accept a gift as it stands, and how to document it before you offer.
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This is an illustrative example scenario, not a description of a specific client and not a testimonial. The figures are realistic but rounded, no lender is named, and no outcome is promised, every application is assessed on its own facts. General information only, not credit or financial advice.
Official sources for the figures on this page: Revenue NSW, First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme. Scheme rules change; the official pages are the final word. Checked against these sources on 12 October 2026.
