any suggestions for my mum?

triplefin

My mother lent (at no interest) my brother 60K to build an extension on the house they both live in. He had some strange ideas and the property now has 5 bedrooms but no garage.
Being over 80 her needs have changed over the last couple of years and she wishes to move to more appropriate accommodation.
Under the orginal agreement my brother has 1yr to return the 60K which has now been formally requested back.
The property is also now worth a mint of money and my brother has profitted very nicely from this, however as you can see from the description it will prove difficult to sell in the current climate.
My brother is currently unemployed but would he be able to take out a loan or mortgage using the house as collateral? Failing this would his partner (who is working) be able to do this with him standing guarantor.
Any advice would be appreciated as we feel he is going to drag this out and make things as difficult as possible.

chalkie99

Is "the original agreement" written down, drawn up and checked by a solicitor, etc.?

If your brother is unemployed he cannot take out a mortgage as he will have no means of making the repayments.

What are his partners earnings?

Is there a mortgage on the property at the moment?

If so, in whose name(s)?

triplefin

yes the original agreement was drawn up legally
there is no mortgage on the property
I dont know how much his partner earns probably in the region of 20-25k

Tixy

Do mum, brother and his partner all live in this house currently?
Which of them legally owns the property? just brother?

What has brother proposed to do to pay off the money? has selling the house been discussed? Why do you think it will be difficult to sell? just because it has no garage? Has brother/mum talked to an estate agent to get a feel for what the house is worth and how much they may get for it if they wanted a quick sale?

dancingfairy

What did the solicitor/lawyer have to say about this? I presume that given your mothers age considerations such as Inheritance planning issues, care needs, benefit considerations, issues surrounding your brother not wanting to sell/not being able to sell etc should have been flagged up or at least pointed you in the direction of a qualified financial planner?
At the moment your mum appears to have been left in a very precarious position. Who was the money given to - your brother? or a partnership? I presume you mean partner as in girlfriend/wife rather than business partner?
Your mother may struggle regarding getting help from benefits due to the fact that it looks like she has given her capital away with no interest being repaid and noway to get it repaid at the moment.
I really, really hope something can be sorted out but if not your mother needs to start assuming that she can't have access to the money right now and plan accordingly - she may have to be prepared to take your brother to court/force a sale if needs be which is a horrible situation and won't neccessarily guarantee she will get her money back - at least not any time soon.
If something can't be sorted I suggested that she gets some advice regarding inheritance tax/capital gains tax that may need to be paid on her estate if she were unfortunately to die and also regarding the fact that she has perhaps in effect left money to your brother and not you via the house and a proper agreement regarding what should happen regarding the house in the unfortunate event of her death - ie she needs to get a will drawn up to reflect the current situation.
I wish you the best of luck getting this sorted.
df