A limited family guarantee lets your parents use a slice of their home equity to back part of your loan — not the whole thing. You get into a place sooner. They don't hand over a cent. We map the exit before we structure the entry.
If you can comfortably make the repayments but you can't crack a 20% deposit in any reasonable timeframe, you're in the same spot as most first home buyers in WA. A typical $650K Perth home needs around $130K saved before you walk in — plus stamp duty, plus legal costs. Even on a strong combined income, that's years of saving while rent does the opposite.
A family guarantee changes the maths. Your parents don't give you cash. They don't make your repayments. They use a defined slice of their own home's equity as additional security on your loan, just enough to lift the overall position to 80% loan-to-value ratio (LVR) — the threshold below which most lenders waive Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI). You buy now, your parents stay in their home, and we plan the release of the guarantee from the first conversation — usually within three to five years.
The old-style "guarantee the whole loan" structure is obsolete. Today's family guarantees are limited — your parents back a defined dollar amount (usually the gap to get the loan to 80% LVR), not every cent you owe. The mortgage placed over their property covers only that limited amount. We won't structure a loan any other way, and we'll explain it to your parents in plain English before any paperwork moves.
The goal of a family guarantee is to remove it. Once your loan drops to 80% LVR on your own property — through repayments, value growth, or both — the guarantee comes off your parents' home. We model the trajectory from day one: how long it'll likely take, what triggers an early release, when to ask for a revaluation. Your parents need a release plan before they sign anything.
This is a family decision, not just a borrower decision. We're happy to run the conversation with all of you on the same call — we'll walk through the structure, the dollar amount of the guarantee, the obligations, the exit. Your parents will need independent legal advice before they sign, and we'll point them to a solicitor who actually understands family guarantees.
Not all family guarantees are the same. Some lenders cap the guarantee strictly at 20% of the purchase price; others allow more. Some accept siblings, grandparents, even adult children as guarantors; others only parents. Some allow partial release as you build equity; others require full release. We match the structure to your situation across our 60+ panel.
We don't sign anything without the whole family understanding what's going on.
We sit down with you (and your parents, if they want) to map the deposit gap, the equity available, and what a limited guarantee would look like. No commitment.
We pick the right lender, draft the structure, and your parents get independent legal advice on what they're agreeing to. Their solicitor signs off before we move.
We settle on your home, manage the loan through to your 80% LVR milestone, then we apply to release the guarantee from your parents' property. Done properly.
Tell us the property price, your deposit, and your parents' situation. We'll show you how the loan splits, how much parent equity is held as security, and the LMI you avoid.
Purchase price and the cash you've got — including for stamp duty & legals.
FHB exemptions can wipe out stamp duty entirely on WA properties under $500k.
Estimated stamp duty: $0. WA general or first-home-buyer rates depending on your selection. Plus ~$3,000 in legals/fees on top.
The parent property used as additional security — the value, and what they still owe on it.
Available equity: $640,000 — calculated as 80% of parent property value minus their existing mortgage. Lenders take a portion of this as security for your guarantee loan.
Faster split = faster parent guarantee release. The parent's property is held as security only for the guarantee portion (Loan B) — once that's paid down, they're off the hook.
Loan A (80% on your property, no LMI) runs over 30 years on a standard principal and interest (P&I) repayment basis. Loan B (guarantee portion) is on a separate split with a shorter term — paying it down faster releases your parents from the guarantee sooner.
Loan A on a 30-year P&I term; Loan B on a faster split to release the guarantee. Both at the chosen rate.
Same Loan A (80% on your property, 30-year P&I) and same Loan B principal — only the Loan B repayment term changes. Faster splits mean higher monthly outflow now but your parents are released from the guarantee sooner.
Have a quick chat with a Pilbara Finance broker. We'll match your situation to a lender comfortable with family guarantees, structure the splits to release your parents fast, and walk both sides through what they're signing.
Estimates only. This calculator does not assess credit and is not a credit offer. Stamp duty uses the WA general or first-home-buyer schedule. The 80% LVR on your property is the standard "no LMI" threshold most lenders use; some lenders allow more. Parent equity available is calculated as 80% of parent property value minus their existing mortgage — exact policy varies by lender. Confirm legal implications with your solicitor; family guarantees are real legal obligations on the parents' property. Pilbara Equities Pty Ltd, Credit Representative Number (CRN) 478535, of Mortgage Specialists Pty Ltd, Australian Credit Licence (ACL) 387025.
The bank wants to see you at 80% LVR or better to skip Lenders Mortgage Insurance. On a $650K home, that means $130K of "deposit equivalent" needs to sit somewhere — either as cash from you, or as additional security from someone else. The limited guarantee fills the gap.
Say you've saved $32K in cash. The deposit shortfall is roughly $98K. Your parents' guarantee covers exactly that $98K — no more, no less — by placing a mortgage over a corresponding slice of their home equity. Their property isn't on the line for your full $585K loan; it's only on the line for the defined $98K guarantee.
Most lenders accept parents as the standard guarantor. A growing number now accept siblings, grandparents, and adult children (Westpac, St.George, Bank of Queensland all extend beyond parents). Lender requirements typically include: Australian permanent resident or citizen, sufficient equity in their home, stable income (the guarantor needs to be able to afford the guaranteed amount if it ever came to that), and willingness to obtain independent legal advice before signing.
Most lenders require the guarantor to attend a meeting with their own solicitor — not the borrower's solicitor — before they sign the guarantee.
Be straight about this with your parents. Their home is being placed under a mortgage for the limited guarantee amount only. If you defaulted on your loan, the lender would first sell your property to recover the debt. The guarantee only kicks in if the sale of your home falls short of the loan amount — and even then, your parents are only liable for up to the guaranteed amount, not the full debt.
In practice, the more meaningful day-to-day impact is on your parents' own borrowing capacity: until the guarantee is released, they may not be able to refinance, sell, or use that portion of equity for their own purposes. We model that impact upfront.
The guarantee is released when your loan-to-value ratio drops to 80% on your own property. Three things move you toward that: paying down the loan (regular repayments + extra contributions where possible), property value growth (Perth's seen sustained growth recently — eligible for revaluation after 12+ months), and partial loan paydowns if you receive a windfall (tax return, bonus, inheritance).
Most family guarantees release in three to five years, sometimes sooner if the property revalues strongly. We handle the application to the lender for the release — your parents don't need to chase it.
Jess teaches at a primary school in Bayswater, Tom's a project officer at a mining services firm. Combined income around $185K — strong on paper. But after years of Perth rent at $580 a week, they'd only managed to save $32K. They'd found a $650K home in Bayswater they wanted to buy. Their existing bank quoted them a $48K LMI premium on a 10% deposit loan. Jess's parents, who own their Mt Lawley home outright, asked the question: can we help, without giving them money?
We worked through the structure with all four of them on the same call. Jess's parents would provide a limited guarantee of $98K — exactly the gap between Jess and Tom's $32K cash deposit and the $130K needed to hit 80% LVR. Their parents' home wasn't on the line for the full $585K loan, only for the defined $98K. We matched the file to a lender that accepts limited family guarantees structured this way, organised independent legal advice for the parents, and modelled the release timeline — likely 3–4 years on Jess and Tom's repayment trajectory and conservative property growth. They settled six weeks after we first sat down.
Composite scenario built from multiple real Pilbara Finance family guarantee transactions. Names, locations and identifying details are illustrative; the timeline, structure and pricing reflect the kind of outcomes our residential lender panel produces in 2026.
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A no-obligation chat with a broker who knows family guarantees inside out. We'll explain it to everyone in plain English — buyers, parents, anyone in the room — so the family decision is an informed one.
Buying your first home with or without a guarantee? Grants, schemes, low-deposit pathways — we'll show you every dollar you're owed.
Learn moreBuilding from scratch with a family guarantee? Progress payments and the First Home Owner Grant (FHOG) drawdown — we handle every stage.
Learn moreOnce the guarantee is released, refinancing to a sharper deal often makes sense. We're with you for that conversation too.
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