Selling Dad's Property

Beancounter

Looking at his finances tonight, it appears there will be a shortfall of about £200 a month for the rent and care costs.

Can he use some of the proceeds of a house sale for this and any other expenses he may face in the future?


Also, if he does rent the flat out, would the rental income be his to treat as monthly income or would that have to be added to he value of his house sale for care costs down the line?

G_M

Beancounter wrote: »

Looking at his finances tonight, it appears there will be a shortfall of about £200 a month for the rent and care costs.

Can he use some of the proceeds of a house sale for this and any other expenses he may face in the future?
If he sells the house he will have money. He can use it for whatever he likes. If he wants to use it for rent, care costs, other costs, of course he can. It's his money!

Also, if he does rent the flat out, would the rental income be his to treat as monthly income
Of course.

He would have to pay any costs associated with the letting business (agents fees, annual gas inspection, repairs etc) as well as declare it for income tax. (see link below)
or would that have to be added to he value of his house sale for care costs down the line?

Any income would be his (after costs/tax). Just as the money from a sale would be his.

All his money and other assets would be taken into account (as already explained) in assessing eleigibility for Local Authority funding.

Any of his money and other assets could be used for care funding, or other costs.



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martin1959

This is a difficult area.


Deprivation of assets is subjective. If it is within 6 months of someone going in to care it is very easy to prove. If the assets were given away over 6 months it is harder for the LA to prove. They have to show that the person (or relatives) knew that it was likely the person would have to go into care.


If you sell the property and the cash is in an account, and your father gives some of it away over the next few years (to you, or grandchildren), and it was not intentionally done to deprive assets ie he had no knowledge he would need to go into a home, then my thoughts are this would be hard for a LA to prove

Beancounter

martin1959 wrote: »

This is a difficult area.


Deprivation of assets is subjective. If it is within 6 months of someone going in to care it is very easy to prove. If the assets were given away over 6 months it is harder for the LA to prove. They have to show that the person (or relatives) knew that it was likely the person would have to go into care.


If you sell the property and the cash is in an account, and your father gives some of it away over the next few years (to you, or grandchildren), and it was not intentionally done to deprive assets ie he had no knowledge he would need to go into a home, then my thoughts are this would be hard for a LA to prove

Obviously getting this offer of a Very Sheltered flat has made us hope that he will be able to live the rest of his time there. It breaks my heart thinking he will have to go into care at some point. We are going to have a look around the place today and will be able to ask the questions we need to know the answers to.

My only concern about the proceeds of any sale is that we can use some of that to make his life as comfortable as possible.

I would hate to think that he would spend say 10K of it over a period of time only to have the LA come after him for it should the need for a care home stay arise.

Mojisola

Beancounter wrote: »

My 73 year old dad has just been offered a flat in a very sheltered housing complex, his health has been poor for a while and his care needs have increased so this is just what he needs, getting more care but keeping his independence.

martin1959 wrote: »

This is a difficult area.

Deprivation of assets is subjective. If it is within 6 months of someone going in to care it is very easy to prove. If the assets were given away over 6 months it is harder for the LA to prove. They have to show that the person (or relatives) knew that it was likely the person would have to go into care.

If you sell the property and the cash is in an account, and your father gives some of it away over the next few years (to you, or grandchildren), and it was not intentionally done to deprive assets ie he had no knowledge he would need to go into a home, then my thoughts are this would be hard for a LA to prove

Given the evidence that he is going into sheltered accommodation because his care needs have increased, how could anyone argue that there was no expectation of a care home being needed in the future?

Beancounter

G_M wrote: »

Any income would be his (after costs/tax). Just as the money from a sale would be his.

All his money and other assets would be taken into account (as already explained) in assessing eleigibility for Local Authority funding.

Any of his money and other assets could be used for care funding, or other costs.



New Landlords (information for new or prospective landlords)

Letting Agents (Tips for selecting, and tips for sacking them)

Thanks for the very informative post. So in summary he can use the money from his house sale for his own use, paying rent and other living costs without worry of deprivation of assets?

We were discussing the unfairness of the system last night with dads neighbours where a man works hard all his life to buy his own property, hoping he can leave everything for family then still has to pay for a care home at the end of his life and then there's the scroungers who live on the state all thier lives and then will get this care free at the end too.

It's so unfair really. The law is the law though.

Mojisola

Beancounter wrote: »

We were discussing the unfairness of the system last night with dads neighbours where a man works hard all his life to buy his own property, hoping he can leave everything for family then still has to pay for a care home at the end of his life and then there's the scroungers who live on the state all thier lives and then will get this care free at the end too.

But your father will have the choice of where he lives for the last years of his life (if he does need residential care) whereas those unable to pay will be put in the cheapest home.

Most elderly people do not go into residential care. Of those who do, the average stay is less than two years.

The family can do a lot to keep an elderly parent at home if they make time to visit and help, make sure all benefits are being claimed and monitor any care staff who are employed.

AdrianC

Beancounter wrote: »

We were discussing the unfairness of the system last night with dads neighbours where a man works hard all his life to buy his own property, hoping he can leave everything for family then still has to pay for a care home at the end of his life and then there's the scroungers who live on the state all thier lives and then will get this care free at the end too.

It's so unfair really.

If you really want to spend your entire life living hand-to-mouth and never having any financial comfort zone, just so that you have the satisfaction of knowing that somebody else will pay if you need care, then you feel free...

Personally, and speaking as a taxpayer, I'd far rather NOT pay for the care home for somebody who can afford it easily, just so their offspring get a bigger inheritance.

Beancounter

Mojisola wrote: »

But your father will have the choice of where he lives for the last years of his life (if he does need residential care) whereas those unable to pay will be put in the cheapest home.

Most elderly people do not go into residential care. Of those who do, the average stay is less than two years.

The family can do a lot to keep an elderly parent at home if they make time to visit and help, make sure all benefits are being claimed and monitor any care staff who are employed.

This is why we are hoping the very sheltered place will be good for him and he can live there the rest of his days. We do visit as much as we can, my wife works in a related field so knows the people to talk to and has manged to get good care in place.

Quite a stark statistic that the average stay in a care home i less than 2 years.:(

Beancounter

AdrianC wrote: »

If you really want to spend your entire life living hand-to-mouth and never having any financial comfort zone, just so that you have the satisfaction of knowing that somebody else will pay if you need care, then you feel free...

Personally, and speaking as a taxpayer, I'd far rather NOT pay for the care home for somebody who can afford it easily, just so their offspring get a bigger inheritance.

Not sure if you were having a pop at me there but...

The flat my Dad has is very modest, it will barely cover fees for 3 years I would think, we are not talking hundreds of thousands of pounds here.

My point here was he has been on a modest wage all his working life and decided not to rely on the council for housing and sacrificed a lot to buy his own modest little flat yet gets penalised at the end of his life.

I couldn't care less about any inheritance, as already stated I just want dad to be comfortable for the rest of his life.