You're still looking at it wrong. The fact he gets rent free is irrelevant. The fact it would rent for $700 pw is irrelevant. If he gets a pension of $300 pw, that's $15,600 pa. That is the figure vs the $43,000 pa I put forward earlier as required income. Both are cash spending money that you don't have to take money out of to spend on rent or a mortgage. What you are saying in effect is that you would rather $15,600 pa to live on than $43,000 pa because you would rather have more security than a private tenant.
