Moving to assisted living flat

tyllwyd

My MIL is becoming very frail, and the house where she is living isn't really suitable any more. She has an open invitation to move in with a family member, but she would rather move to an assisted living type apartment where she can be more independent.


Like most elderly people, all her capital is tied up in her current property and cash is limited. Her house is run down but in a good area, so it is likely to be easy to sell to a developer, and should cover the cost of a retirement flat plus money to pay for ongoing care.


We want to make the move as low stress as possible for her. I wondered if anyone has experience of this kind of move? Are there any schemes where she might be able to move and rent until her house is sold?

Jagraf

tyllwyd wrote: »

My MIL is becoming very frail, and the house where she is living isn't really suitable any more. She has an open invitation to move in with a family member, but she would rather move to an assisted living type apartment where she can be more independent.


Like most elderly people, all her capital is tied up in her current property and cash is limited. Her house is run down but in a good area, so it is likely to be easy to sell to a developer, and should cover the cost of a retirement flat plus money to pay for ongoing care.


We want to make the move as low stress as possible for her. I wondered if anyone has experience of this kind of move? Are there any schemes where she might be able to move and rent until her house is sold?

Hello, my MIL bought an assisted living flat to be closer to us. All was done and dusted them she decided she didn't want to move. Pease make sure she definitely wants to move before going ahead xx older people, like everyone else, find it hard to move especially if she's been in her house a while.

My MIL was lucky she has enough money and thankfully hasn't sold her house. But it caused more than a little bit of a rift for a while as we had done everything for her and then she blamed is for pushing her too quickly.

She now has a lodger which seems to be working, against our better judgment.

kingfisherblue

My daughter works for a charity called Extracare. They have retirement villages mainly in the Midlands with a couple in the North West. Residents can rent or buy. On the site, there is a pub, restaurant, library, gym, craft room, village hall, small grocery shop, and more. Residents can be independent, although some have care packages and carers go into the flats or bungalows. There is always someone available if needed. Day trips and other events are planned with residents, and they can, of course, go into town, visit friends, etc as they like.

I think it is a lovely place. My daughter's village has a very friendly atmosphere and residents who need care have regular staff where possible. Obviously, staffing sometimes changes due to holidays, illness, etc, but I know my daughter has her regular clients. Flats have wet rooms and are individual homes with residents having their own front door, kitchen, living room, etc.

They also pay a reasonable, but not excessive wage for the staff.

If you have Extracare or something similar nearby, it's worth a look round. The residents have the chance to continue to be independent, but there is support for those who need it.

Ms_Chocaholic

Do the Council have any warden controlled sheltered housing complexes near where she wants to live. She could rent a flat/bungalow in the complex and keep all her cash when the property is sold. She would have to find the funds to pay for the rent whilst the house was sold though as she wouldn't be entitled to housing benefit to cover this.

My mother in law lived in one of these complexes and loved it, she had her own self contained flat and used to say that once the bed was made her housework was done. The complex was warden controlled so there was someone available to call in if she needed that, there were also social functions (bingo, singers, coffee mornings etc) and days out arranged too.

tyllwyd

Jagraf wrote: »

Hello, my MIL bought an assisted living flat to be closer to us. All was done and dusted them she decided she didn't want to move. Pease make sure she definitely wants to move before going ahead xx older people, like everyone else, find it hard to move especially if she's been in her house a while.

I feel for you! Yes, this is a real problem, and it's basically the reason my MIL is still where she is even though it stopped being suitable a few years ago. All we can do is try.

kingfisherblue wrote: »

If you have Extracare or something similar nearby, it's worth a look round. The residents have the chance to continue to be independent, but there is support for those who need it.

Yes, this is the kind of thing we are hoping to find.

tyllwyd

Ms_Chocaholic wrote: »

Do the Council have any warden controlled sheltered housing complexes near where she wants to live. She could rent a flat/bungalow in the complex and keep all her cash when the property is sold. She would have to find the funds to pay for the rent whilst the house was sold though as she wouldn't be entitled to housing benefit to cover this.

That sounds interesting - I'll have a look to see if there might be anything suitable in her area.

Jagraf

Ms_Chocaholic wrote: »

Do the Council have any warden controlled sheltered housing complexes near where she wants to live. She could rent a flat/bungalow in the complex and keep all her cash when the property is sold. She would have to find the funds to pay for the rent whilst the house was sold though as she wouldn't be entitled to housing benefit to cover this.

My mother in law lived in one of these complexes and loved it, she had her own self contained flat and used to say that once the bed was made her housework was done. The complex was warden controlled so there was someone available to call in if she needed that, there were also social functions (bingo, singers, coffee mornings etc) and days out arranged too.

I could be wrong but I believe council sheltered housing generally has a waiting list and priority, like council houses. Could be wrong though.

Ms_Chocaholic

Jagraf wrote: »

I could be wrong but I believe council sheltered housing generally has a waiting list and priority, like council houses. Could be wrong though.

I guess it differs from area to area. Where my MIL lived the complex always had empty flats available.

Ms_Chocaholic

tyllwyd wrote: »

That sounds interesting - I'll have a look to see if there might be anything suitable in her area.

If you need any more info please let me know.