Buying house from parents - tips/tricks?

[Niximus]

My fiancée's parents have told us that they're planning to downsize to a small unit or retirement village in about two years. We were planning to upsize from our townhouse approximately around then, and as we quite like their house have spoken to them about selling it to us.

They are really keen on the idea and happy to help us out where they can. Two years is a little sooner than we were expecting to be moving, so we won't be quite financially ready to do it. They are debt free and have a good income though and have said they'd be happy to take out a loan themselves for their new unit, allowing us to move in and rent out our townhouse (obviously paying it to them to cover their repayments) until we are ready to buy it.

I definitely intend to speak with a professional, but are there any ways that you might know to best take advantage of the situation and avoid unnecessarily paying certain fees (e.g. obviously not needing to pay an agent's commission to advertise and sell their house is a good one)?

 

[MarcusP2]

I imagine this would be looked at by the tax office as you renting the house....this has pretty big tax implications for them. Once they've moved out and you're living in it, they could be liable for capital gains once they sell it to you (because it's no longer their primary place of residence). It would also effect their entitlements.

However there are exceptions to this and whatnot. I would definitely speak to an accountant and possibly a lawyer as to the best way to do it.