money given as a gift

hannah29_2

hi
we are in a situation we are unsure about and wonder if anyone has any thoughts.
3 years ago my mums husband died, she was left the house which was a little tumbledown and needed money spending on it. she decided she wanted out but knew she could not buy anywhere herself.
we also could not afford to buy somewhere for her
we went through financial advisors and solicitors and came up with a plan.
she sold the house and wrote a letter to the solicitor dealing with the sale stating she wanted x putting into her bank and xx paid to myself and my husband.
with the xx we put a deposit on a house and we got a mortgage for the rest. my mum then moved into the house alone rent free and has lived there ever since.
she has recently met a guy and now wants out so she can move in with him.
the mortgage is in mine and my husbands sole names.
she is asking for her equity out the house. we are reluctant to sell as we will lose alot of money with houses going the way they are. we cannot take equity out of the house and we can not live in it as its 150 miles from where we are, its also not big enough. we also cannot afford ourselves to buy her out. she is saying we can not let it and that she has a say in what we do.

i am not sure of the legal implications here but basically she gave us some money as written in a letter to a solicitor by her, we bought a house which she has lived in for the last few years and we have sole ownership on the house.
any thoughts on what we can do?

newcook

is there anyway he could move in with her?

hannah29_2

he has for a while but has decided due to their age and the fact he has money to burn he wanted to buy somewhere so if mum goes before him he would have his own place rather than relying on us

McKneff

If she GAVe you money and you bought a house in your name with that money it has absolutely nothign to do with her and you owe her a big fat zero. She does not have a say in what you do. The house is yours, full stop.
She has had rent free accommodation for 3 years, what makes her think she is owed anything, it beats me.

hannah29_2

we think the same just not sure how we stand legally, we may have to get a solicitor involved

jackomdj

It depends upon how much you want to fall out with your Mum!

How much did she give you? How much would you owe her if:

you took the value she gave you less the amount she should have given you for rent...
took this value as a % of the cost of the price you paid for the house
took this % based on the current price less a proportion of selling costs etc.

ie say house was £150k & she gave you £25k
rent £400 per month x 36 months £14k
ie value she has left in house £11k
11/150% is 7.3%
if house is now worth £125k less fees £3k = £122 x 7.3% = £9k

this may be an easier value to pay back to her!

I am sure some may disagree with my assumptions!

NAR

You need to check the solicitor's letter that was drawn up whereby you received xx. Is xx stated as a gift? If yes then she has no comeback on what you spent it on. But if there were stipulations associated . . . . then different story perhaps.

hannah29_2

it says nothing about gift and no stipulations.....it just says from the equity of my house sale please pay xx into my personal account and xx into my daughter and sons account

NAR

Therefore a gift without reservation.

claretmatt

I can't see any legal comeback on this as its a gift, not a loan and was used to buy an asset in your name, which she had use of for free.

Are you looking for a possible resolution or to find out if you have to give the money back at all?

hannah29_2

basically we dont want to sell it, we would like to rent it out to cover the mortgage payments, that house was not bought for us to ever live in. it was bought as an investment for our childrens future and a place for their granny to live till she died. if we sell now just to keep the peace we will definately lose the money we have paid into it and there certainly wouldnt be enough in the equity at the moment to give her anywhere near the amount she gave us.
we would be mad to sell it at the moment but we cant make her see this
she just seems to want her money back now as she has a new life with a new man