Transferring House to Children

gadger999

I Need Help with the following,
Myself and my wife are both 65 years old with no mortgage and would like to know if we can transfer the ownership of our house (worth about 200k ) to our 2 daughters without any tax implications.
Also would like to know what the max amount of money you are allowed to gift to someone each year.
Thanks............

Mrs_pbradley936

If you mean can you give it to them, still live in it and thus have the local authority pay any bills if you or your wife go into care then no you cannot. You can give away money about £3000 per year. You can give money to a child or grandchild upon marriage without penalty (I think it is £5000 for a child less for a grandchild). If you do give any large sums away and die before 7 years is up whoever you give it to will have to pay tax.

At your age you could do an equity release scheme and give some money away. That would mean that when you die the house is worth less and depending on what other assets you have may not reach the Inheritance Tax threshold. If you do look into that be sure to get expert advice as it is not something to undertake lightly.

Mrs_pbradley936

Click here for lots of info on the topic:-

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1090960720,2158,

Ted_Hutchinson

Age Concern Deprivation of Capital to avoid Care home costs leaflet

A similar discussion has arisen in this Help the Aged thread

While I am certain that at the moment there is absolutely no doubt in your mind about the way your children will react you cannot predict the future. It has happened that once ownership has been transferred excessive rent is charged and moves made to evict the current tenant or make life uncomfortable for them. I hear you saying my children would never do that, I would say the same but IT DOES HAPPEN and there would be nothing you could do in that situation except grin and bear it.
this article summarises the options quite well. but I still think you need to get a proper legal opinion before you go ahead.

Mrs_Optimist

I agree with the above posts. What happens if your daughters marry and then divorce? Their husbands could legitimately claim a share of your home. Or if, god forbid, you survive one or both of them? The house would form part of their estate. You would have no protections. As well as the obvious comments regarding tax avoidance, nursing fee avoidance etc.