I understand all that, and understand your concerns.
We have just gone through exactly this when our son bought his first PPOR. After reading on this forum, it appears to be the "accepted wisdom" that by having a friend live with him, sharing "expenses" as opposed to "paying rent", then he should be okay.
And his school friend is moving out on Saturday after they just didn't get along, so had our son claimed interest, declared rent, risked repaying his stamp duty execption and having to lose some of his CGT free position, he would have done all that and then find he is living on his own after only three months.
If it was clear cut then I would never have suggested he do the wrong thing by the ATO, the OSR or any other department. But it seems that this situation is one of those grey areas that is either "overlooked" or "allowed".
I don't know how many young people starting out who have a friend stay for a few months or a year whilst they get on their feet are audited, checked or get into trouble. Would be an interesting thing to know.
I just know that because it is a grey area, the advice I read was that the ATO was okay with the "friend sharing costs" set up. Of course, if my son didn't move in, or was doing something dodgy, or was deliberately trying to gain a benefit without following the rules, I would feel very differently.
We have just gone through exactly this when our son bought his first PPOR. After reading on this forum, it appears to be the "accepted wisdom" that by having a friend live with him, sharing "expenses" as opposed to "paying rent", then he should be okay.
And his school friend is moving out on Saturday after they just didn't get along, so had our son claimed interest, declared rent, risked repaying his stamp duty execption and having to lose some of his CGT free position, he would have done all that and then find he is living on his own after only three months.
If it was clear cut then I would never have suggested he do the wrong thing by the ATO, the OSR or any other department. But it seems that this situation is one of those grey areas that is either "overlooked" or "allowed".
I don't know how many young people starting out who have a friend stay for a few months or a year whilst they get on their feet are audited, checked or get into trouble. Would be an interesting thing to know.
I just know that because it is a grey area, the advice I read was that the ATO was okay with the "friend sharing costs" set up. Of course, if my son didn't move in, or was doing something dodgy, or was deliberately trying to gain a benefit without following the rules, I would feel very differently.
