Power of Attorney / Court of Protection - Buying a house from a relative!

benje2

Hello All,

I'm seeking a little bit of advice if possible.

My Nan has recently gone into a care home as she is suffering from dementia. Unfortunately nothing was signed over to my Mother before the dementia had kicked in.

However this is where it starts to get complciated. I am interested in buying my Nans property as my first time buy. The house was valued at £110K however my Mom has said I could buy it for £105K as we would avoid the need to go through an estate agent, and associated fees. Firstly are there any issues with this? Can anyone forsee any problems?

Now my understanding is, that as she is now sufferening from dementia, you can no longer apply for "Power of Attorney", and as such, my Mother has to go through the court of protection to obtain the power to sell me the house. Can anyone confirm this is correct? Rightly or wrongly, someone has told her that she can still get Power of Attorney if she gets my Nan to sign the documents with a solicitor present, I assume this is incorrect?!

Anyway, how do we proceed with this? I have been speaking to Natwest regarding a Mortgage and I have an agreement in principle, however I have a meeting with the advisor tomorrow, and he mentioned I need to bring details of my Solicitor along (which I haven't appointed)

Regarding Solicitors, I am correct in thinking I need to appoint a different one to the one my Mother uses?

How long does Court of protection take? Am I correct in thinking its about £900 in fees etc?

Any help on this would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Ben

Thrugelmir

Find your own solicitor.

You should obtain 3 seperate independent valuations of the property. This will avoid any issues with the HMRC (taxman).

Best to take legal advice on the other issues you mentioned.

Nosht

benje2 wrote: »

Hello All,

I'm seeking a little bit of advice if possible.

My Nan has recently gone into a care home as she is suffering from dementia. Unfortunately nothing was signed over to my Mother before the dementia had kicked in.

However this is where it starts to get complciated. I am interested in buying my Nans property as my first time buy. The house was valued at £110K however my Mom has said I could buy it for £105K as we would avoid the need to go through an estate agent, and associated fees. Firstly are there any issues with this? Can anyone forsee any problems?

Now my understanding is, that as she is now sufferening from dementia, you can no longer apply for "Power of Attorney", and as such, my Mother has to go through the court of protection to obtain the power to sell me the house. Can anyone confirm this is correct? Rightly or wrongly, someone has told her that she can still get Power of Attorney if she gets my Nan to sign the documents with a solicitor present, I assume this is incorrect?!

Anyway, how do we proceed with this? I have been speaking to Natwest regarding a Mortgage and I have an agreement in principle, however I have a meeting with the advisor tomorrow, and he mentioned I need to bring details of my Solicitor along (which I haven't appointed)

Regarding Solicitors, I am correct in thinking I need to appoint a different one to the one my Mother uses?

How long does Court of protection take? Am I correct in thinking its about £900 in fees etc?

Any help on this would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Ben

Too late now for Power of Attorney as this can only be authorised through a doctor who must state that the person can understand what this involves. Even if it had been granted it is debatable whether the person holding this Power could sell a property at a reduced rate as that could be seen to be an abuse of the Power.
Court of Protection I do not know about.
The purchaser & vendor must use different solicitors.



Regards,




N.

Richard_Webster

If she has dementia then a solicitor is highly unlikely to be able to certify that she understands enough to sign a power of attorney so you can forget that one.

The Court is likely only to allow a sale at market value in order to protect the interests of your Nan. A saving in estate agents' fees etc could justify some reduction int he price but you may have to pay more than you thought.

benje2

Thanks all

Richard_Webster wrote: »

If she has dementia then a solicitor is highly unlikely to be able to certify that she understands enough to sign a power of attoreny so you cna forget that one.

The Court is likely only to allow a sale at market value in order to protect the interests of your Nan. A saving in estate agents' fees etc could justify some reduction int he price but you may have to pay more than you thought.

The house has had three individual valuations, these being £110K - £115K / £120K to £125K and one of £135K.

In that case then, should I hold off with any mortgage applications, as the cost of the house may change when the court of protection is granted?

Thanks again

Ben

00ec25

the person appointed under the Court of Protection may also have to watch out for the deprivation of assets rules - if a person in care sells assets to a family member at below market value then that is depriving the person of funds which could be used to fund their care costs, and so the sale may be required to be made at market rate not the discount rate

age concern publish a basic fact sheet explaining it here:

http://www.ageconcern.org.uk/AgeConcern/Documents/TRANSFEROFASSETSFS40JUN07.pdf