Transferring the house into your name will result in stamp duty in NSW. This will be assessed on the value of the transferred amount at market value.

This won't result in much asset protection at all. Have a look at the Bankruptcy Act sections 120 and 121. If you transfer it without consideration for asset protection purposes it can be clawed back indefinitely. If you transfer it for full market value with money changing hands then it could be 5.5 years depending on the circumstances.

You would be crazy to sell and rent in my opinion. Your main residence will be the only CGT free asset you can get so why not have one. You will also be paying rent where you otherwise wouldn't.

I don't want to give you legal advice as I know nothing about easements. Run it by your solicitor.

With regards to 3 the developer would just be a company which will cease to exist once this project is completed. So this is unlikely to be effective even if they agree.

You won't have a contract until the point of exchange. Before that time you could have an oral agreement but it wouldn't be binding. This means they could sell to someone else, even if you have put down a 'holding deposit'.

There is nothing illegal about working on the property before settlement, but this carries a bit of risk as if the property doesn't settle then you may have wasted your time and money.

Subject to finance clauses are pretty rare in NSW. Usually people just extend the cooling off period to 10 days so they can get finance organsed. You could do it subject to valuation but you would need to be specific.

Vendor finance wouldn't work if the vendor has finance on the property as they would have to discharge the mortgage. They could probably give you early possession with you paying in installments with title in the vendor's name. Or you could borrow a deposit off them – say pay 80% now an the remainder in x years. But a bank is unlikely to want to lend to you if this is in place.

If you ha used a IO loan with 100% offset you could have saved the same interest but had your cash available for the new purchase. This would mean the old loan would have a high balance so more deductions.

You could sell to each other, but would have to sell a half share to one and then the one coul sell a half share to the other. If the property is in VIC you could save heaps on stamp duty.

If you are developing then CGT will generally not apply and therefore no 50% discount.

But if it did apply the time period is calculated from the dates of contracts.

Land tax could be exempt:
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/lta200590/s54.html

54. Principal place of residence exemption    (1) Subject to this Division, the following land is exempt land-     (a)  land owned by a natural person that is used and occupied as the         principal place of residence of that person;     (ab) land owned by a person that is used and occupied as the principal         place of residence of a natural person who has a right to reside on         that land;     (b)  land owned by a trustee of a trust that is used and occupied as the         principal place of residence of a natural person who is a beneficiary         of the trust. 

hi Q

For stronger asset protection you would have to plan how you set things up. There are ways a trust can be attacked. Gifts to a trust can be clawed back for example. A trustee acting for the trust without remuneration could also be attacked under the bankruptcy act. as can uncommercial transactions designed to defeat creditors.

If you are the trustee you should probably lodge a caveat as soon as settlement occurs to show you own as trustee. This will help distinguish it from your personal assets. Make sure the trust has a separate bank account and don't use it as if it was your personal bank account. All your wages for example shouldn't go in the trust account but into your personal account. You could gift money to the trust but don't keep taking it back to use personally.

Also don't declare the house as your own asset on future loan applications etc – because it won't be yours.

There are no CGT exemptions for a trust house (unless from a deceased estate in some cases).

Don't know about land tax in VIC. You could look thru the Duties Act and see what you can find..

Ideally if you could move into initially you could then move out and claim it as your main residence and maintain it CGT exempt under the absence from main residence rules. But you cannot claim it as a main residence until you actually live in it first.

Once it is rented you could claim all expenses associated with the property including interest, full body coporate, borrowing costs (over 5 years) and depreciation etc.

You could do it that way But you need to consider splitting the tax and finance as well.