Looking to assist elderly parent

Hi,

I have an elderly parent who has made some rash decisions with respect to finance. Specifically, she recently sold her modest town-house and has moved in with my sister. This was against my suggestion to her to sell the home to me and then she could rent it back from me.

Now, in hindsight she realises she may have made an error. In recent conversation, she indicated that she would like to get another house and asked me if I would consider buying one and she rent it from me.

She has around $140,000 in the bank as a contribution to support this - but that would not be enough to purchase a home by herself.

I am curious as to what would be the best way forward. As I start to consider what my objectives are here, I would suggest they would be:

1. Be able to provide a home to my mother,
2. Only require modest rent (ie, nuetrally geared), and
3. Be able to utilise the $140,000 as a contribution towards the property purchase without being impacted by tax implications.

Would a form of "Trust" be the most effective way to establish this? My own limited research here indicates that should my mother put such an amount of money into a trust then the government would 'deem' that it was earning 3% interest per annum and that would lead to pension limiting implications.

Anyone have any other suggestions or credible people I can discuss this with! We are located in Melbourne.

I am not sure of your present situation but if you live on a suburban block then maybe you will have the opportunity to build a flat or some sort of extension to your house that would provide a separate space for your mother. $140,000 could build between 50 to 70 sqm extension or flat. In this situation you  will not need to charge rent therefore no tax hassles or capital gains complications. The extension/flat would increase the value of you place putting you in a better position to borrow against your property to make another investment in the future. Of course it may complicat your family relationships. All the best to you and your mother.