Short answer is no.

Business related travel is generally deductible but not private travel. Although you are moving to improve your employment, this relocation is not a requirement of you current position nor an expense in deriving your existing income – i.e. you're basically moving to take up a better offer of employment.

As a result the move is private in nature and not deductible.

You could try and ask your employer to subsidise your move however….

What about the property trust structures espoused by Ed Chan?

I only have an basic understanding of what he promotes but it's where you loan the purchase price to the trust & the trust buys the property. As the $ you have loaned are for investment purposes the interest component is deductible. Other expenses (i.e. rates, maintenance, etc.) remain within the trust helping to offset the income received via rent.

Although this sounds like the logical approach, my understanding is you can only claim the part of the property that is rented exclusively for the use of your tenant (i.e. their bedroom).

As you yourself use the bathroom, kitchen, etc. you are unable to claim for these areas. So if the room you rent is 10sqm of a 100sqm flat you can claim 10% of your interest payments, however you must also declare all the income you receive from letting the room. Also, you can only claim repairs for damage to that one room only, not to areas shared by both of you.

Although, I'm sure someone else on the forum can give you a much better explanation than I have!

Hi guys,

I'm also interested in any recommendations – either lawyer or conveyancey.

Additionally, can anyone give an indication of the approximate fees of either a conveyancer or lawyer in Sydney?

DJ