google for 'tenants union' in your state and you will find a lot of free info on tenants rights. That will help you know what they can do and if you can get them out somehow.

No. Deductibility is determined by what the funds borrowed for a used for.

In this case you will be withdrawing equity = borrowing to buy a new owner occupied house. So the interest on these funds will not be deductible.

There are options to help you increase deductions though and this includes borrowing for all expneses on the old PPOR (eg rates, insurance etc) and even capitalising the interest on this – ie borrowing to pay interest. This needs to be carefully planning with a tax expert, or may not pass muster with the ATO.

This reminds me, i had a loan from ANZ once with the settlment dragging out. They ended up doing another credit check just before settlement. I guess this could have alerted them to changes in my circumstances, eg. getting a default, which could have lead them to start asking questions. So be aware of this.

I also had a friend who had a client with a unconditional approval from a certain lender starting with H. They then started adding conditions after it went unconditional!.

The lender probably won't know if you don't tell them – as long as the mortgage documents have been issued. But, be aware that sometimes if it drags on too long the bank may want to reassess the application and do some more checks. There are probably also conditions in the offer that you notify the bank of 'any changes in your circumstances'.

Depends on the figures. If you can rent somewhere cheaper than you would have been paying in interest it may be best to rent.

But also other factors to come into consideration such as not being able to do the same things in your rental as you could in your home. eg paint, pins in the walls!. And you could be asked to move out after the lease expires etc.

And, just because it is cashflow positive doesn't mean it is a good buy. You would want capital growth too. if the value doesn't up there is no point.

You should put a caveat as various things can happen between signing the contract and settlement. There was a case about 2 years ago where someone signed a contract and then at the last minute, 2 hours before settlement, some other party registered a writ for a debt owed. It was deemed the other person had priority as they registered their interest in the property first.

So now all lawyer would be covering themselves by advising you about the need to caveat. whether you do or not is up to you. The risks may be low, but it could happen. The case was a High Court case called Black v Garnock. Do a google and you can read some analysis.

That means if you sign you are locked in. You are waiving the cooling off period – which is very dangerous, get legal advice before signing.

What happens if you sign the contract and cannot get finance? You are stuck then. Don;t exchange before finance as too risky.

Centrelink has been onto trusts for a number of years. They treat trust assets as your own if you are control a trust, are appointor, trustee or beneficiary.

So you must be careful. Maybe a child or grandchild could set up a trust which excludes the grandparents as beneficiaries and the grand parents could rent the place from the trust – and maybe get rental assistance.

Also need to be careful about the disposure of assets, I think they look at any disposal up to 2 years prior. Some if the grandparents sell their house and gift the money to someone and then apply for the pension they will probably be treated as if they still had that asset.

But all this could be over come with careful planning.