My parents house - suggestions please

amnesia91

I could do with some opinions on what to do with my parents family home, so all thoughts gratefully received.

My mother recently died and my father is moving to sheltered housing as he cant cope with the house.

My parents struggled to maintain the house in the last few years, and it has become quite dilapidated both inside and out, and is at present uninhabitable - please dont judge me or them - leaving her home would have killed my mother even sooner.

The house is still being cleared, and the garden is over grown and unruly, and needs lots of work to get it to a saleable point.

Anyway, the house in A1 condition would worth maybe £600k plus - it is very old (17th century), in a very desirable area. It is grade 2 listed.However it probably needs £100k+ spending on it to get to this point.

My first question is: do I put it up for auction, or sell it through an estate agent?
Is putting it up for auction a risk? Which would get the best price?

It also comes with a small amount of land - Im not sure how much, but told it could be half an acre - it has been suggested I should try and get planning permission on this and then sell it as two plots - is this worthwhile?

I dont know if PP would be given - the village and villagers can be a bit funny, so it could be a waste of time & money - does anybody know how much time and money it might take to apply for PP?

We could do with the money, so I dont want to sit on it for too long and am worried that if we do, it will just bleed me dry.

Are there any options I havent considered?

Thanks in advance.

DandelionPatrol

Have you sorted out probate and all that? Do you have power of attorney for your father? Or is he capable to sign up to what you are doing on his behalf?

Without the above, you are not going to go very far

missbiggles1

The fact that you need money doesn't give you the right to sell your father's house/land and pocket the cash. Even if you have poa, the money has to be used for his benefit and there are laws to ensure that you do so.

What you're discussing doing is very close to theft.

DandelionPatrol

missbiggles1 wrote: »

The fact that you need money doesn't give you the right to sell your father's house/land and pocket the cash. Even if you have poa, the money has to be used for his benefit and there are laws to ensure that you do so.

What you're discussing doing is very close to theft.

I think that this is naivety, not malice. OP is worried about being bled dry by the situation, suggesting to me that they are weighed down by mistaken feelings of responsibility for the situation and some ignorance about who is responsible for waht rather than by any desire to profit from it

amnesia91

Probate is all fine - my mum left very little money.

I don't have poa but we are meeting with a solicitor this week - he just wants the house sold.

Missbiggles you seem to misunderstand - I am selling the property on behalf of my father in order to fund his long term care - jumping to conclusions and accusing me of theft aren't helpful comments.

cattermole

Your father is alive - so probate does not apply.

Until your father dies you have to act in the best interests of his affairs and if there is no POA in place and even if he signs one now this will not change a thing.

Any assets/money belonging to your father are not yours and they will not be until he passes away, assuming he has named you in his will or it will be yours/any other siblings without.

If he needs more care than sheltered housing then again all his assets will be needed towards care costs. Again even gifting will not avoid this as this is deemed "deprivation of assets".

I have amended my post but I can understand Missbiggles statement as you used the phrase "we could do with the money". If he is in sheltered accommodation surely that is not an immediate concern as the care costs cannot be immediately pressing?

amnesia91

Can I re-iterate, I am not selling the property for my personal gain, but am keen to maximise the money my father gets in order to support him and his needs in the long term.

DandelionPatrol

amnesia91 wrote: »

Probate is all fine - my mum left very little money.

I don't have poa but we are meeting with a solicitor this week - he just wants the house sold.

Missbiggles you seem to misunderstand - I am selling the property on behalf of my father in order to fund his long term care - jumping to conclusions and accusing me of theft aren't helpful comments.

If he is your solicitor, his role is to advise you on the legals and on the likely consequences of your decisions.

If he is your father's solicitor, you should defer to him, but otherwise, it is you who tells him what to do, not the other way around.

missbiggles1

DandelionPatrol wrote: »

I think that this is naivety, not malice. OP is worried about being bled dry by the situation, suggesting to me that they are weighed down by mistaken feelings of responsibility for the situation and some ignorance about who is responsible for waht rather than by any desire to profit from it

That may well be true but there doesn't seem to me to be anything wrong with pointing out the reality of what is being suggested.

ETA

Apologies to the OP but your first post was very misleading.

Ms_Chocaholic

Could you contact the planning office and get their view on whether it would be likely that PP would be granted for the land.

cattermole

In answer to your original request if you need the "money" for his needs
then the best option is to try the house for a short time with an Agent see if it sells at a price that reflects it's condition.

If it does not then maybe consider auction with a reserve that is acceptable.