Guide
KiwiSaver first-home withdrawal: rules, timing and your lawyer
Updated
The withdrawal is administered by your scheme provider, not by your lawyer, but it lands in your lawyer's trust account, and the timing is what catches first-home buyers out.
The core rules
- Three years of membership
- Inland Revenue states "You must be in KiwiSaver for at least 3 years before you withdraw funds for your first home" (IRD).
- What you can take out
- Your contributions, your employer's contributions, the government contribution, interest you have earned and fee subsidies if you got them.
- What must stay
- "You must leave $1,000 in your account." Funds transferred from an Australian complying superannuation scheme cannot be withdrawn.
- It must be a home to live in
- Kainga Ora notes that if you currently own a home, land or a share in a property you are not eligible, other than Maori land.
Who does what
- You apply through your KiwiSaver scheme provider, not through Kainga Ora. Kainga Ora is explicit: "If you are a first-home buyer, please contact your KiwiSaver provider or complying fund provider to apply."
- Previous home owners go through Kainga Ora first. Kainga Ora determines whether you are a qualifying person, and its letter then goes to your scheme provider to support the withdrawal.
- Your provider administers the withdrawal. Kainga Ora states that "if approved the payments of the funds will be paid to your solicitor on or before settlement day".
- Your lawyer holds and applies the money at settlement. Which is why the firm needs to know at the start, not the week before.
The timing trap
Because the money is paid to your lawyer on or before settlement day, the withdrawal application has to be lodged and approved well before that date. Providers have their own processing times and their own evidence requirements, including a solicitor's undertaking. Tell your lawyer you are using a KiwiSaver withdrawal at the first meeting so the undertaking and the provider's forms are dealt with alongside the title work rather than after it.
Proving your income to Kainga Ora
IRD notes you can use myIR to "create a PDF document of your income and KiwiSaver deductions to support your application through Kainga Ora", which you can print or save. It is the fastest way to satisfy the evidence step.
Eligibility, the previous home owner test and complying fund rules are decided by Inland Revenue, Kainga Ora and your scheme provider, not by us or your lawyer. This page summarises their published rules and is not financial or legal advice.