Subject to this Act, on and after the 1st day of November 1976 any person may open in his own name and for his own purpose (but not jointly or in common with any other person) a Special Home Ownership Account and the provisions of the Land and Income Tax Act 1954 relating to special accounts shall apply to that Account in accordance with their tenor.

No person who has, in relation to an Ordinary Home Ownership Account, been paid either solely or jointly with any other depositor any benefit or who has, in relation to a Special Home Ownership Account, withdrawn any amount from that Account pursuant to a withdrawal certificate (not being an amount which has subsequently been redeposited in full and in respect of which the withdrawal certificate has been cancelled pursuant to section 14f(4) of this Act) shall open a Special Home Ownership Account.

No person who is a depositor in relation to a Special Home Ownership Account or who has withdrawn any amount from a Special Home Ownership Account pursuant to a withdrawal certificate (not being an amount which has subsequently been redeposited in full and in respect of which the withdrawal certificate has been cancelled pursuant to section 14f(4) of this Act) shall open an Ordinary Home Ownership Account.

No person who is a depositor in relation to an Ordinary Home Ownership Account with any authorised savings institution shall open a Special Home Ownership Account with any other authorised savings institution.

Where any person is a depositor in relation to an Ordinary Home Ownership Account jointly with any other person, he shall not open a Special Home Ownership Account unless the other person has given up his interest in the joint Account or the joint Account is severed into separate Ordinary Home Ownership Accounts:

“Provided that where any Ordinary Home Ownership Account is so dealt with, the qualifying date (if any) of the sole Account or Accounts so created shall not, by reason thereof, be changed.

Except for interest which may from time to time accrue, no deposits shall, for the purposes of this Act, be made in any Special Home Ownership Account after the end of the qualifying year ending with the fifth anniversary of the qualifying date of the Account.

Where at the time a depositor opens a Special Home Ownership Account he is also a depositor in relation to an Ordinary Home Ownership Account—

Subject to this Act, balances in a Special Farm Ownership Account with an authorised savings institution may be transferred to a Special Home Ownership Account with the same authorised savings institution:

“Provided that this subsection shall not apply unless the whole of the balance in the Special Farm Ownership Account is transferred and that Account is closed.

Where the balance in any Special Farm Ownership Account is transferred pursuant to subsection (1) of this section, the authorised savings institution shall forthwith inform the Commissioner accordingly.

Balances in a Special Home Ownership Account with any authorised savings institution may be transferred to a Special Home Ownership Account with any other authorised savings institution in the same manner, with any necessary modifications, as an Ordinary Home Ownership Account may be transferred pursuant to subsections (2) and (3) of section 12 of this Act.

Subject to this section and section 14c of this Act and section 14c of the Farm Ownership Savings Act 1974, no money shall be withdrawn or transferred from a Special Home Ownership Account.

A depositor may at any time withdraw or transfer any amount from his Special Home Ownership Account if, after the amount is withdrawn or transferred, the balance of the Account is not reduced to an amount less than the closing balance of the Account at the 31st day of March immediately preceding the date of that withdrawal or transfer.

In any case where subsection (2) of this section does not apply—

Where any Special Home Ownership Account is closed pursuant to subsection (3) of this section, the authorised savings institution with which the Account is held shall forthwith notify the Commissioner and the Corporation in writing, stating—

“Provided that the authorised savings institution shall not notify the Corporation if the withdrawal was made otherwise than pursuant to a withdrawal certificate.

Where—

the Corporation may determine that the Account shall be reopened, subject to the depositor paying into the Account the whole of the amount withdrawn or such part as the Corporation determines, and the Corporation shall notify the authorised savings institution and the Commissioner accordingly.

Where—

the Corporation may determine that the Account shall be reopened subject to the depositor paying into the Account the whole of the proceeds of sale or such part as the Corporation determines, and the Corporation shall notify the authorised savings institution and the Commissioner accordingly.

Where any Special Home Ownership Account is reopened pursuant to subsection (1) or subsection (2) of this section, the authorised savings institution shall notify the Corporation and the Commissioner accordingly.

Subject to this Act, the Corporation shall, on application made to it in writing by any depositor in relation to a Special Home Ownership Account not earlier than 3 years after the qualifying date of the Account, issue to him a withdrawal certificate for the balance of the Account or a specified amount to be stated in the certificate if it is satisfied that that balance or that amount is to be used by the depositor for housing purposes.

Subject to this Act and notwithstanding subsection (1) of this section, the Corporation may, on application made to it in writing by any depositor in relation to a Special Home Ownership Account not earlier than 1 year after the qualifying date of the Account, issue to him a withdrawal certificate for the balance of the Account or a specified amount to be stated in the certificate if it is satisfied that that balance or that amount is to be used by the depositor in the acquisition of land (not being land to be purchased by instalments) on which to erect a dwelling for his occupation:

“Provided that this subsection shall not apply in respect of any land which has any building erected thereon unless the Corporation is satisfied that the building is to be demolished or removed within 3 months after the date on which the land is acquired, or the Corporation in its discretion permits the building or any part of it to be retained on the land.

Any withdrawal certificate may be issued subject to such terms and conditions as are set forth in the certificate and which the Corporation considers it necessary or desirable to impose to ensure that any amount withdrawn from a Special Home Ownership Account pursuant to the certificate is used by the depositor for the purposes for which the certificate was issued.

Where any depositor has, pursuant to a withdrawal certificate, withdrawn any amount from his Special Home Ownership Account, and redeposits the whole or part of that amount in his Account, the withdrawal certificate shall be cancelled to the extent of the amount redeposited.

Where a depositor dies before the depositor has been issued with a withdrawal certificate, the personal representatives of the depositor may apply to the Corporation for a withdrawal certificate for such amount as is to be used to provide a dwelling for the widow or widower or any dependant of the depositor, and the Corporation may deal with the application in the same manner, with any necessary modification, as if the depositor had made the application, and the other provisions of this Act shall apply accordingly.

Any withdrawal certificate shall cease to have any force or effect on or after any date that may be specified therein in that behalf or, if no such date is specified therein, on the expiration of 3 months after the date of the certificate.

Every withdrawal certificate shall require the authorised savings institution to close the Special Home Ownership Account of the depositor unless, in the case of a withdrawal certificate issued under subsection (2) of this section, the Corporation specifies that the Account may remain open.

Notwithstanding anything in this Act, no depositor shall be eligible to obtain a withdrawal certificate in respect of a Special Home Ownership Account where, in the opinion of the Corporation, the depositor would not be eligible for any benefits under Part I of this Act if the Special Home Ownership Account were an Ordinary Home Ownership Account:

“Provided that, having regard to the special circumstances of any case, the Corporation may, in its discretion issue a withdrawal certificate, either in respect of the whole or part of the balance in the Account, and conditionally or unconditionally, to any depositor.

Where the Corporation at any time knows or has reason to believe or suspect that a depositor who has been issued a withdrawal certificate has failed to fulfil any home ownership requirements to which he may be or may become subject, the Corporation shall forthwith in writing inform the Commissioner accordingly.”

For the purposes of this Act, but subject to subsection (2) of this section, the amount of the available savings in relation to any Home Ownership Account shall be the lesser of:

Notwithstanding subsection (1) of this section, there shall be no available savings in relation to any Home Ownership Account—

Where a depositor has, or has had, a Home Ownership Account with an authorised savings institution and intends to borrow any amount from that institution for the purposes of acquiring or erecting a dwelling in New Zealand for his occupation, the Corporation may, in its discretion and subject to this Act, advance to that institution, and that institution may borrow from the Corporation, an equivalent amount, not exceeding the amount of the depositor’s available savings, for the purpose of lending it to the depositor.

Sections 26, 27, 28, and 29 of the Housing Corporation Act 1974 shall apply to any amount to be advanced, pursuant to subsection (1) of this section, by the Corporation to any authorised savings institution:

“Provided that, and notwithstanding section 25(1) of that Act, the Corporation may, pursuant to the foregoing provisions of this section and in its discretion, make any advance to any authorised savings institution without taking any security for the amount of the advance.

Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section, the Governor-General may from time to time, by Order in Council, specify the terms and conditions subject to which,—

Notwithstanding subsection (3) of this section:

Every advance made, pursuant to the foregoing provisions of this section, by the Corporation to an authorised savings institution, and all costs, charges, legal expenses and other expenses incurred by the Corporation with regard to the making of the advance shall be deemed to be guaranteed, under section 24 of the Housing Corporation Act 1974, by the Minister of Finance in favour of the Corporation in respect of any loss arising out of the advance or with regard to such interest, costs, charges or expenses.

For the purposes of this Act the term ‘restriction period’ means—

No depositor shall, without on each occasion the prior written consent of the Corporation, sell, lease, sublease, part with the possession of, mortgage, encumber or otherwise alienate or dispose of (at law or in equity) the whole or any part of any dwelling or of any land referred to in subsection (1) of this section prior to the expiration, in relation to that dwelling or that land, of the restriction period:

“Provided that the foregoing provisions of this subsection shall not apply to—

If a depositor, contrary to section 14k of this Act, and within the restriction period, sells, leases, subleases, parts with the possession of, mortgages, encumbers or otherwise alienates or disposes of (at law or in equity) the whole or any part of the dwelling or land referred to in that section the depositor shall forthwith—

To secure any money which may, pursuant to this Act, or Part VIId of the Land and Income Tax Act 1954, be payable or become in the future payable to the Corporation or to the Commissioner by a depositor and otherwise to secure the due performance by the depositor of all obligations which are or may be imposed upon the depositor by or pursuant to this Act, the Corporation may either—

To register any such charge or to lodge any such caveat it shall not be necessary to produce to a District Land Registrar any duplicate or copy of the certificate of title or of any other instrument of title to the land concerned.

Where any such charge is so registered or any such caveat is so lodged, it shall be the duty of the District Land Registrar to enter a memorial on the certificate of title or other instrument of title to the land concerned, (and in addition to any other memorial which, pursuant to the Land Transfer Act 1952 or any other Act, he is required to enter thereon), that the land concerned is subject to this Act.

Subject to section 14k of this Act, while any such charge or caveat is so registered, lodged, or recorded on or against the title to the land concerned, no dealing with such land shall, to the extent to which such land is comprised in such title, be registered by the District Land Registrar without, on each occasion, the Corporation’s prior written consent, which consent may be given either unconditionally or subject to such conditions which the Corporation may deem fit to impose.

No such charge or caveat shall be discharged, released, modified, or varied except by the Corporation or pursuant to an Order of the Supreme Court of New Zealand.

No stamp duty or registration fee shall be payable under any Act in respect of the execution or registration of any such charge or caveat or in respect of any discharge, release, modification, or variation thereof.”