eventual care home

dunstonh

I honestly don't know, the solicitor we used for the conveyancing has since gone out of business and the only thing I can find in my paperwork is the mention of a trust declaration in the conveyance papers, but i'm not sure if thats active, cheers for any help!

When you employed the solicitor, did you employ them to just do the conveyancing or did you use them to provide legal advice? Many years ago, they did the latter. Nowadays, people tend to skip that option to save money.

Is it too late to act now?

Yes. However, you need to verify the current position first. Things like joint ownership or tenants in common will make a big difference and you may find there is nothing to be concerned with.

jamesd

ragga wrote: »

As an investment, I bought my mum and dads council house back in 1997, with a joint 3 way mortgage.

Who owns the house according to the Land Registry? Weren't they required to own part of it and not sell for a while as a condition of being allowed to buy it?

ragga wrote: »

there are three names on the deeds, and is there any way I can stop from losing my investment?

It's unclear what your investment is. What is the split of property according to the deeds and Land Registry?

Were they paying any part of the mortgage? Living rent free in the property? Paying their old rent but to you?

The position depends on who owns the property. If nothing special was done your investment would appear to be one third of the value of the property based on normal ownership rules if a split between joint owners isn't described in some way.

The evidence of who was making the payments might change that. The council might fight an attempt to change things.

Get personal legal advice based on the exact facts. You need it. It may be too late to salvage losing one third of the property value when it's eventually sold. Or not, depends on the fine details of what was done and how.

ragga wrote: »

had to put that debt onto my new mortgage as i'm not allowed two mortgages.

NatWest is one of many lenders who will provide a mortgage for a second property in this sort of situation, provided it meets the appropriate affordability tests.

ragga_2

Hi James D, All three names are on the land registry, there is no mention of a split so i'm presuming it's in thirds. There was a clause that we couldn't sell the property for three years, and after that I did bring it up about putting the house solely in my name because of this care home position, but I don't think mum liked the idea of me mentioning that as they were both healthy at the time, (who wants to think of that!) so, I didn't like to bring it up again. plus her sister had trouble with the same problem as her sons exwife tried to take his mums house!!
I was paying the whole mortgage and also paying my keep to mum whilst living there, so they were rent free, that was my original idea, they get to live rent free for the rest of there lives and I get the house when the eventual happens.
I am getting legal advice now and will let you know what happens, thanks for all help!

Cook_County

Being legal owners is different from being beneficial owners. Your solicitor will want to tell you who s/he thinks beneficially owns the property.

Someone hopefully has an LPA for your father. Whoever has that LPA will him or herself want to instruct a solicitor to make certain s/he is acting in your father's best interest.

If there is no LPA (or EPA) the Court of Protection would want to step in soonest.

Your solicitor might be willing to act for your mother, but your father's attorney will need his or her legal advice.

The different firms will then need to speak; make sure you can afford all of this advice as failure to plan properly is likely to prove expensive at this stage.

jamesd

To possibly clarify a little of what Cook_County wrote: you, your father and your mother have different financial interests. Your father's LPA holder could be obliged to take legal action against you to get part of the property value - if entitled to it - so that the money can be spent on better care for your father than provided by whatever the council offers. Or in addition to it.

The possibly positive aspect here is your earlier mention of a trust. That suggests that the solicitor originally involved put at least some thought into protecting the interests of the various people involved. It might not protect your interests as you may like but it may help to cheaply clarify the situation without a legal fight.

Good luck and yes please do let us know how it goes.

Old_Git

coolsteel wrote: »

What are the pitfalls of signing over my house to my offspring,

Obviously if I ever have to go into care way in the future I don't want the government make my kin sell my house to fund my care.
There must be a criteria to do this so i stay within the law.
Also what about my savings? can i do the same?

thanks for your thoughts :cool:

personally I am in favour off signing a property over to family ,however let me tell you a story .
A guy in work moved in with his girlfriend and her father .
He then married the girlfriend and offered to buy his FIL a flat if he signed over the house .
FIL signed over the house ,the flat fell through at the last minute but the FIL didnt receive any money for the flat .Three years later FIL is chucked out and now rents the house next door .

If you sign your property away make sure you get to remain there .

ragga_2

Hi all, well, I took the deeds to a local solicitor, and as I thought the house is owned jointly by myself and mum and dad. She says that if dad does go into a home then there could be a possibility that the council could seek his third but she says that would be unusual in her opinion. I asked what I could do in case and she seemed to think that if I changed names on thee deeds then the council would see through that as me trying to do them out of money and most definately taking it back. So i'm thinking that the best course would be to let it be and hope......????? ps whats LPA, EPA?

jamesd

LPA and EPA are Lasting Power of Attorney and Enduring Power of Attorney. If you're not mentally capable of handling your affairs they specify who can handle things for you.

That person has a legal obligation to act in the best interests of the person so that could include taking legal action to secure the sale of a property to get money if that's needed for care. It's part of why you and others involved need the legal advice, so you all know your legal rights and responsibilities and don't end up getting caught out breaking the law.