My parents house - suggestions please

cattermole

DandelionPatrol wrote: »

Of course probate [or administration] has to be taken into account. OP's mother has died and without probate being addressed [words chosen carefully], mother's estate remains in limbo

Sorry yes you are completely correct.

Can I also make another point here a Lasting Power of Attorney for Financial Matters and presumably for Care as well until that happens nothing can be done with the property.

Assuming your father has capacity, given the circumstances as he is already in sheltered care. I think it is very unlikely any Solicitor will agree to do the above without another Attorney also being named, in case something should happen to you in the future. One Attorney is not normally recommended by a Solicitor regardless.

If a Solicitor will not agree to a Lasting Power of Attorney then the only other route will be the Court of Protection and you may be appointed a Deputy in order to Act on your father's behalf.

If you are granted a LPofA you will need to keep accurate records of all your father's assets/financial affairs.

In light of the above when you have authority to deal with your father's affiars, then you can plan accordingly and in line with your legal duties as Attorney or Joint Attorney.

iammumtoone

have you thought about selling the house less the land (leaving enough for a decent garden in keeping with the house). Once the house has sold you will have some money to apply for planing permission, if that falls through you could always sell the land separately, although I am told that if you are persistent planning permission is normally achievable, this might cost hence why you might need to sell the house first or treat the house and land separately.

Not sure if this is possible in your situation but I know someone who did just that, put their house up for sale and at the same time applied for planning permission for houses in the old garden. They got it and sold the land with the planning already in place. This did not sell until well after the sale of the house as they had to apply a couple of times with amendments.

agrinnall

amnesia91 wrote: »

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.

I agree, a very misjudged post by...

missbiggles1 wrote: »

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.

No it really wasn't. You could at a stretch interpret it in the way you did but it was much easier to assume that what the OP actually meant was true. I think for some reason you were looking for the worst and of course found it.

DandelionPatrol

SmlSave wrote: »

Not if they owned as joint tenants dandelionpatrol

without probate being addressed [words chosen carefully]

It has to be addressed, even if it is not required. Words were chosen carefully.

iammumtoone

I did not read anything wrong in the OPs post.

I read 'we could do with the money' as meaning op and their father, I interpreted it as including op as op would be the one helping to arrange and pay for the fathers care.

I read 'it will just bleed me dry' as the father doesn't have any cash assets spare (he will be paying for his care) so any money needed to be spent would have to come out of op's pocket.

When_the_going_gets_tough

Op I think you need to search out a firm of Chartered Surveyors who are also estate agents and auctioneers. A reputable firm will give you advice as to the likelihood of obtaining planning permission, and may be able to assist you in applying, and the pros and cons of offering the property for auction. If auction they will help dyou decide how many lots the property should be offerred as. This is a non standard property and you dont need a bog standard estarte agent but a firm that offers the sorts of things I mentioned. They are very different from high st agents and have more of a professional standing. Look up the chartereds surveyors in your area and talk to a few. You may get some good advice this way.

amnesia91

Thank you iammumtoone - you've read it exactly as I had intended it.

When the going - that's good advice thank you - as you say, it definitely isn't a "standard property" and I think a CS is a good idea

edwink

amnesia91 wrote: »

.

Deleted my post.
I am sorry if I misread your post. I was not the only one that maybe misread it. I believe the negative comments you have received were because of the way you worded your first post. To me it honestly read as though you were just interested in your financial gain. I know others have read it differently and more positively but we are all different. Tbh your first post shocked me when I first read it, that was the reason I had to read it several times before posting myself.


I wish you all the best.

LittleMax

edwink wrote: »

I read through your 1st post several times and felt so sad and sorry for your parents I felt I had to comment as above.


I do hope you manage to get everything sorted and your plans work out. It is going to be a difficult time not just for you but your father also.

Why did you feel you had to comment? It is very difficult in a forum such as this to put everything down that has happened; there is a need to be succinct. I am sure there is very good reason as to how this situation has come about but it is irrelevant. The OP asked a question about how best to sell the property, yet you have not even vaguely tried to answer that. Your comments are not helpful to the OP nor to anyone else reading this thread; they are completely unnecessary. OP also said please don't judge - but it seems you have conveniently edited that out of your quote!

lessonlearned

We've just had a similar situation.

Mum died, dad is currently in sheltered accommodation. I do have POA which has been registered with the office of guardianship but so far have not had to use it because dad can still sign documents etc and is quite capable of making decisions.

We have just sold the family home, it had fallen into rack and ruin, so we had to sell it at a price which reflected its condition. It's a very old very quaint cottage, although not listed. The new owners love it and will restore it to its former glory.

It had a separate parcel of land. We have separated this from the deeds and it has been gifted in half shares to my sister and I to dispose of or keep as we see fit.

There is sufficient capital from the house sale to fund nursing home fees should this be necessary at a later date.

It took some time to,sort out and during this time dad had to pay rent for sheltered accommodation, plus the usual bills and council tax for both properties. He had only a modest pension and of course all his capital was tied up in the family home, plus he was also paying top up fees for mums nursing home out of savings.

Given the situation I requested a benefits check. The DWP were very prompt and efficient and they ensured that he received all the help he needed. I also requested a full assessment from Social Services so that he could get any help,and equipment to help him stay in sheltered accommodation and keep him independent.

Amnesia - I understand you and your father's predicament because it echoes our own experience. Your father may be sitting on considerable assets but they cannot be released until the house is sold, in the meantime he will be paying rent and trying to run two properties. He is probably confused and anxious.

First of all - Please contact Adult Social Services and get them to organise a benefits check for him and also a full assessment of his needs. He should be entitled to council tax benefit on the property he currently lives in and they might give him a "free" period on the family home. They gave my father 1 year and after that he had to pay 50 per cent.

If you father is in receipt of guaranteed pension credit, then he will be able to claim housing benefit for part of the rent on the sheltered accommodation.

Try not to panic. If the worst comes to the worst and your father has to go into care before the house is sold then you can arrange for a deferred payment of nursing home fees until funds are available. Social Services will,simply place a charge in the property.

Good luck, the system can be a difficult to navigate - it will be a bit like wading through treacle - but there is plenty of help available for you. Start with Social Services, if you need a referral to access them, then your father's GP will get the ball rolling.

Your fathers solicitor will guide you both through all the legal niceties, re POA, house sale etc.

My father's solicitor was brilliant, she offered to do a house call but in the end that wasn't necessary because dad is still reasonably mobile and we managed with him only having to attend her office once, with me ferrying him door to door. The rest of the time I acted as a go between, delivering documents for dad to sign, registering his ID etc.

Our next step, now that mums name has been removed from their joint bank accounts, is for me to take him into a new bank and arrange for switching accounts to a bank which has a branch nearer to where he now lives. At the same time I will be taking in the POA so we can set up internet banking for him which my sister will operate on his behalf.

I have also arranged to send the POA to the DWP so that I can now be dads appointed representative. Although he is still fully compus mentis, he just wants to hand everyhting over to my sister and I to deal with. He is very hard of hearing and just can't be bothered with it all any more.

Just take it one step at a time. There will be a fair bit of running about and some organising for you to do, but just go through it systematically and you will be fine.