It would be extremely rare for this to happen in Australia. A council could take action against a person to recover monies, get a judgment and then an order to sell property – but even if it did you would not necessarliy be getting it cheaply. The property would probably be auctioned.

What about one for doctors that rebate the medicare fee?

That book is written by Julia Hartman, with a bit of Noel on the side. Julia is excellent on the tax aspects.
But, with the boarders, this may not be the case. You would be only renting out part of the house – so would only partially lose the CGT exemption.

And, if they were boarders, paying money for food and expenses, then maybe not CGT or income tax consequences.
see http://law.ato.gov.au/atolaw/view.htm?docid=ITR/IT2167/NAT/ATO/00001 paragraph 17 and 18 – but also 19 which cautions.

Richard, Richard is in SA = South Africa. I took at as South Australia on first glance too.

A contract for land is not enforceable unless you have it in writing – so if you have their signed copy they are locked in and vice versa.  You could both get together and sign 2 copies – one for you and one for them.

s 126-5 ITAA 1997 covers CGT and marriage breakdowns
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/itaa1997240/s126.5.html

s 68 Duties Act (NSW) covers the stamp duty and marriage breakdowns
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/da199793/s68.html

If the property has been your main residence for the whole period it will probably be CGT exempt.
If you don't have a court order, you may still apply for an exemption from the stamp duty.

I see you said you moved out at one stage, so you may be able to apply the '6 year'' rule and still class it as your main residence under some conditions – such as not owning another property during the same time – abd ve CGT exempt.
see s118–145 of the ITAA 1997.
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/itaa1997240/s118.145.html

Look at the latest flash at http://www.bantacs.com.au. They have a private ruling on capitalising interest

I have written a few posts about this.

Once a lender give you a LOC you can use it as you please. But you had better be careful about the ATO considering this is a scheme set up to avoid tax. You need a good accountant to set it up for you and you need to be doing it for a reason other than saving tax. probabaly best to get a private ruling.

Look at the website of the Tenants Union in your states – these are for tenants, but are a good source of info on what you can and can't do.

Maybe you could increase the rent by $50 pw every 6 months until it catches up. Do it slowly (so they won't notice!).

yes, a trust needs an ABN as well as a separate TFN. not exactly sure why, but the ABN needs to be listed on tax return etc.