Helping parents with their mortgage/debt?

FelicityCH

Hi,
I hope that you can give me some advice please. My parents are struggling to pay their mortgage and although my sister and I have offered to help with these payments other circumstances mean that we would like to find a more long term solution, that helps with the debt and also allows my parents to move closer to where we live.

For many and various reasons my sister is going to inherit the home my parents currently live in, as the property would be hers she suggested that she could take a mortgage/loan for the remaining amount which is about 15k, pay off the debt, have the home in her name and sell the property. She would then use the proceeds to pay the loan off and buy a suitable property where she wants to live and either share with parents or help them with their own rent for example.

I should also make clear that my sister and I live over 200 miles from my parents and we all want my parents to move closer to us.

Does this sound like a doable thing? I don't want anyone to make knee jerk reactions but equally want to help my parents and ensure that we can achieve our goals. If it sounds like we are evil daughters trying to evict our parents, then I haven't explained properly- we really want to help clear their debt to take the worry from them and ensure that they get their wish of living close to us.

Any advice on how to start the ball rolling or what I may have forgotten about/need to consider or anything would be really good to know.

Thanks

Flick

beecher2

The part about taking on the mortgage and paying it off sounds overly complicated - why not just sell the house, and buy a cheaper house with the proceeds nearer yourselves?

FelicityCH

I suppose it is mainly trying to lift the pressure quickly whilst giving time for the necessary moving arrangements to be made. Also, I am not sure how it would affect my parents' pension by having the house sold while in their name even though they would want to buy/rent. The house is not hugely valuable so unlikely to be troubling the IHT boundaries.

whitewing

Why are your parents struggling to pay the mortgage?

The trouble with trying to provide solutions for other people sometimes is that there is no incentive to not get into trouble again.

Has your sister actually lived in your parents' current house? Wonder if there would be capital gans tax implications?

Maybe you/your sister could take your parents to the CAB and talk through some solutions there.

I have a feeling that there could be other, better solutions for you all that still allows you to achieve your goals of being closer together and not having worries.

ILW

Moving house should not affect a pension. Sell up and move does sound by far the best solution though.

catfish50

Isn't there a risk that if your parents needed state support, for example for residential care, they might be regarded as having deprived themselves of income/assets?

If there's no concern on that score, they should just sell the property and buy cheaper. Or you and your sister could help them with their mortgage difficulties. Much simpler.

nearlyrich

Do the parents actually want to move? 200 miles away from their current home is a big upheaval, I know someone who retired to a place they loved for holidays but they missed their friends and found it hard to regain a social life in the new place.

beecher2

FelicityCH wrote: »

I suppose it is mainly trying to lift the pressure quickly whilst giving time for the necessary moving arrangements to be made. Also, I am not sure how it would affect my parents' pension by having the house sold while in their name even though they would want to buy/rent. The house is not hugely valuable so unlikely to be troubling the IHT boundaries.

You could pay them mortgage until it has been sold. Maybe it would be possible to go onto interest only payments until the move is made.

fiesta04

The easiest solution must be, your parents sell the house and find a place to rent nearer to both of you. Then take from there. Good luck.

SouthCoast

A simple solution.

Sell up, clear debts, and downsize.

Why make it complicated?

Advice here:

http://www.ageuk.org.uk/

hcb42

your parents might not want to move...what do they want to have happen?