Care Home Fees (again)

dhj

My mother has just moved out of her house into sheltered accommodation. She is adamant that she wants to give her house to my sister and myself but we want to make sure that she is adequately financially secure in case her situation deteriorates. My question is , is it best to leave her house empty and continue to pay gas/electric and insurance with a view to selling should the need arise or would it be better to sell the house now and put the money straight into my mums bank account. We did toy with the idea of renting the house but she would be unlikely to get much rent because of the area she lives in.

Biggles

Leaving the house empty is always difficult. Her household insurance won't cover the premises if it's unoccupied for over 30 days. We used to spend a night or two at Mum's each month just to make sure we could certify it was 'occupied' (we called it our 'holiday home'!). And you also have to have a certain amount of heating running during the winter to avoid frozen pipes etc. And, when the house starts to look 'empty', it's more likely to be burgled.

I'd be inclined to sell and get her money invested.

Savvy_Sue

You're quite right to consider your mother's future needs. You need to be aware (even if she doesn't want to know!) that even if she gives all her money to you and her sister, if she then needs to go into residential care then she could still be assessed as having that money - if you do a quick search of this board for 'intentional deprivation of assets' you should get a handle on it.

If you really can't rent the house, then selling would be my choice too: leaving a house empty makes no financial sense.

paddedjohn

In todays market it could take months to sell, maybe more if its not in a nice area as you say. Put it on the market now and you will be worrying less about break-ins and deterioration.

Biggles

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

You need to be aware (even if she doesn't want to know!) that even if she gives all her money to you and her sister, if she then needs to go into residential care then she could still be assessed as having that money

Absolutely. Just to clarify, when I said, ".. get her money invested", I meant invested in her name for her future benefit.

monkeyspanner

Houses if left empty deteriorate particularly over the winter period. I am not sure what the insurance conditions for long term unoccupancy would be at present. When in a similar position with my mother's house the insurers insisted that the electricity and water were turned off and the central heating system drained if left empty for more than 30 days. Which made the condition of the house deteriorate more quickly and depressed the value when we did finally sell. I think that insurers would be likely to refuse claims if they discovered that there were no permanent occupants even if relatives were making occasional overnight visits in the same way that they view parents claiming to be main drivers for insuring their childrens cars is deemed fraudulent.

My view would be to sell over the spring/summer or failing that rent it out to cover running expenses.

dhj

Thanks everybody for the replies. I think we have plumped for trying to sell.

Thanks again

ladylouise62

If yuo can't sell for a while, how about looking into "live-in guardians"/house-sitters - some companies organise that. You get the security and someone gets a cheap place to live