Council right to buy-would you do it?

Bwoofie

Hi, will try to keep this as simple as possible.
My family has gone through a lot of heartbreak over the years (Dad died in an accident when I was a little lad)so I became the 'man' of the family aged 9
Even so, I had a good and happy upbringing (regardless of the crap hand that life stuffed us with)My mum has been an angel and deserved better,she never had any money and struggled to pay the rent and bills, she never got over losing dad and never re-married.Seeing her struggle I vowed one day,one thing that I would do for her would be to buy her council house for her because we still had brilliant memories attached to the house and she always said that she would hate anyone else to have it if anything should happen to her (Her mum died recently and the council gave the family 2 weeks to clear the house of 50 yrs of memories and belongings,anyone thats been through that knows how hard it is to go through that and never be able to do the daily/weekly visits to a parent that they have done for years),anyway,thats just a bit of background to give you the jist of what I did next.
If I could have bought mums council house years ago (before good old Labour did away with the maximum 60 percent discount)I would have done,but I just couldnt afford it.
I recently came into an amount of money,and finally reached my lifetimes ambition and bought her house for her (wrote a cheque out for the full amount, which has nearly cleared me out) but to me, memories are worth more than money.
The right to buy has gone through now and she owns the property on the understanding that it will remain in her name until she dies, where upon it will be left to me in her will.You cant imagine how happy what I have done makes me feel, to know that all that i have done to the house although minimal, decorating, garden etc the house wont go to anyone less deserving (we all know who we mean) upon the eventual happening.As you can imagine ive put a lot of thought into what ive done and made sure everythig is legal and above board and also made sure that she will still be eligible for council tax rebate although ofcourse housing benefit has stopped.She recieves pension credit and nothing else ( she is 64).The property is in her name.What I want to know is, can she get help with housing costs? and could she sign over the property to me so i would be her 'landlord' thus claiming rent from the DSS.I know how horrible that sounds, and i dont want to be greedy,but any monies coming in would help with repairs etc and keep her mind at rest.If anyone reads this and sends a helpful reply I will be over the moon, If not, Ive realised a lifetimes ambition anyway and will have to pay for the upkeep of the house (which i dont mind doing).If i ever win the lottery i will make sure everyone can help their parents gain a little pride back!!!, would you do it?

Xbigman

So she used her right to buy and bought the house in her name but you paid for it. In that case she owns the house (which I think you realise).

Did you check all that with a solicitor? I think I would have liked to see a bit more protection in writing if it was me. At the least make sure there is a will already drawn up with you getting the house. Also keep clear documentary evidence that it was you that paid for the house. If the will is challenged then you can show why you are getting it.
Regards


X

chirpy007

I think years ago you could have claimed HB but l believe family members cant be paid anymore, l do have to say go for the RTB but you shouldnt push your luck with HB, after all that would be the rest of us paying for your house. You could argue that benefits would be paying it anyway but at the least the council would have the house back at the end of it.

The 60% discount still exisits so you would have recieved that.

Also l would be a little worried about when the house is passed to you when your mum dies, how much inheritence tax etc will you be hit with.

Bossyboots

I don't think you have put as much thought into this as you believe you have. A will can be changed at any time. It is simply not a 100% guarantee that you will get the house. You just do not know what happen in the meantime, your mum could even fall victim to a conman. I wouldn't be happy with the position as it stands. You should have loaned her the money as a charge of the property or had a Deed of Trust drawn up to protect your interest. This needs to be looked into again. As it stands, you have given her an unconditional gift with no security. What if your mum was to remarry? Don't say it won't happen. She is still young enough to marry again and someone may come along to sweep her off her feet. You will then have lost everything.

As for signing the house over to you, surely the discount becomes repayable if she does that.

chugalug

Hi, technically it is possible for you to 'rent' the house to your mum and have her claim HB. The stipulation about renting from close family only comes into play if you are sharing a property with family as a lodger. The problem you will have with this is different. The property is in your mothers name. If that property was signed over to you in order for you to charge your mother rent via HB the tenancy would be 'contrived' ie created to take advantage of the HB scheme so I don't think you'd be successful in that claim.

Another thing I thought of is what if your mother needs care? No-one knows whats round the corner and if the worst happens and your mother had to go into residential care the house would be sold to pay for this regardless of any will.

Also, as others have already said, if she remarries the property might not be left to you.

I think you've done a lovely thing for your mother. As long as you're both happy with that and she can stay in the family home, just enjoy it. Its done now.

Robert_Sterling

Your mother got a house for nothing.
She is unlikely to get housing benefit as well.
In the long run you may inherit the full value of the house having originally paid for only 40% of it. You will also get 100% of the capital appreciation, if any, on 100% of the house. It looks like a win win situation to me.

lowis

it's wonderful what you have done for your mum - well done.

not sure why you have enquired about trying to procure state benefits though as she doesn't have any rent or mortgage to pay. as for upkeep of the house, the owner and tenant of the property is liable for those costs and not the benefits sytem...is your mum still capable of working? if things get a little tricky she could find herself some sort of part time work. my dad works a couple of days a week and he is 74.

seven-day-weekend

We did exactly the same for my Mother-in-law. She signed the house over to my husband as soon as the 'tie-in' period was finished.

As to the Housing Benefit: We bought a flat to use as an investment property. After it had been marketed for rent, our son asked if he could live in it, we said yes. Then he became unemployed, so he applied for HB. He was told that as his landlord was also his mum he could only have it if we could prove that the flat had been bought originally as an investment property (luckily we could....Buy-to-Let mortgae and rental advertising). So he was allowed the HB. If he'd have just been living in a house we owned, that wasn't bought as a business venture, then he wouldn't have got it.

seven-day-weekend

Forgot to say, my Mother-in-law then lived there rent-free although she did claim a small amount of Council Tax Benefit.

Triker

Hi just wanted to add that some council areas have 'capped' the discount to varying amounts. My old Council had it capped at 30% of the value. Cheers

Bwoofie

A big big thanks to everyone who took the time out (and it is precious)to reply.The advice has been read and read again! The solicitor advised us that a condition of trust should be set up just to clarify that the money i provided was in fact a loan which would be paid back in the form of the house in the event of mums death.I admit that she got a bit upset (so did i) because the solicitor said that in years to come certain ppl and their heirs could come out of the woodwork to make a claim on the property (nothing is ever straight forward is it?)Anyway the solicitor said that he wouldnt be doing his job properly if he didnt draw up a condition of trust(free of charge i might add!)to prove where the money came from in the event of her death.
The thread is right about what is done and we will enjoy it, also, and I dont want to sound mean, but regarding any future partners,mum suffers from arthritis of the spine,has had 2 total knee operations and has trouble getting about (although i call her Bionic supergran) so I would spot a golddigger a mile off!
I feel so guilty about the HB thing,but then again It doesnt matter because she was always going to live there rent free if I bought it anyway.
The house was valued at £97000, Labour capped the discount rates in '05 so that even though she had been a tennant for over 45 yrs the max discount she would get is £24000 ( in our area) plus (and you can check this out) if you sell within 5 yrs you have to pay some or all of the discount back ( on a sliding scale) ....And, if you want to sell within 10 yrs, you have to give the council first refusal on the property.Good old Labour eh lol. So you see the reason I bought the house was not to make a quick pound or two, the house is only a two bedroom semi, but it is furnished in gold encrusted memories that no amount of money can replace.Big Big thanks again and I will keep you updated.X
Live a little, Spend a lot.:T