Deployed and Still Paying Off Your Mortgage: Renting Out Your House While You’re Away

If you’re an active member in the ADF and frequently get relocated, spend months on exercise, or get deployed, there’s a strategy sitting right in front of you that most members never use: your own house.

Turn Your Empty House Into an Investment Property

Instead of leaving your house sitting empty while you’re away, consider renting it out as an investment property, or even as an Airbnb, to collect rent during the time you’re not there. You’ll then also be able to claim all your property expenses on your tax return for that period.

On top of that, you can apply for assistance from the ADF in the form of service residences, rental allowance, or Living-in Accommodation (LIA) to reduce your own accommodation costs while you’re relocated. That means you could potentially be earning rental income on your own house at the same time as Defence is helping cover your accommodation elsewhere.

Why This Works Specifically for ADF Members

Most homeowners don’t have the option to simply relocate for months at a time with housing assistance already built into their role. ADF life creates exactly that opportunity — postings, exercises, and deployments all involve periods where your own home would otherwise sit unused. Turning that into working, rent-generating time rather than dead time is a genuinely ADF-specific advantage most members overlook.

Once you’re generating rental income, the surplus left over after expenses can be directed straight at your own mortgage principal — a strategy that compounds the longer and more consistently you apply it.

If You Don’t Already Own an Investment Property

If your own home isn’t currently set up this way, or you don’t yet own a property at all, this is worth a conversation before your next posting or deployment comes around, rather than after.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I rent out my house on Airbnb while I’m deployed? Yes — the ADF Guide specifically identifies renting your home out as either a standard investment property or an Airbnb during relocations, exercises, or deployments as a legitimate strategy to generate income while you’re away.

Can I claim ADF accommodation assistance and rent out my own house at the same time? Yes, potentially. You can apply for service residences, rental allowance, or Living-in Accommodation (LIA) to cover your own costs while relocated, while separately renting out your own home and claiming the associated property expenses on your tax return.

What happens to the rental income I earn while deployed? Any surplus left over after covering property expenses can be applied directly to your home mortgage principal, accelerating your loan payoff — the same mechanism covered in our earlier article on directing surplus rental income toward your mortgage.

Do I need to already own an investment property for this to work? No — this strategy applies to your own home as much as a separate investment property. If you’re due for a posting, exercise, or deployment and haven’t set this up yet, it’s worth arranging before you go rather than leaving the property vacant.

Download Your Free ADF Mortgage Strategy Guides

📘 ADF & Veterans’ Guide to Paying Your Home Off FAST — the full strategy this article is drawn from, plus 20 more ADF-specific mortgage methods 👉 www.integritypropertyinvestment.com.au/adf-guide-pay-home-off-fast/

📗 The Unofficial ADF Property Guide — how ADF entitlements and property investment work together 👉 www.integritypropertyinvestment.com.au/the-unofficial-adf-property-guide/

📞 Have an upcoming posting or deployment? Book your free chat to set this up before you go: www.integritypropertyinvestment.com.au/free-discovery-call/

🎯 Want to see how this fits into a broader mortgage payoff strategy? Join our free ADF & Veterans Property Masterclass: www.integritypropertyinvestment.com.au/property-investing-for-adf/

-The Integrity Team