Buying 'granny flat' with mum's savings

Dudljo

We're considering all possibilities.

What was pushing us to move in the first place, was 'schooling'. I'm 50-ish, mum nearly 90, but I also have a 7 year old - and we want to be somewhere with better schools than the area we are in (which is going down-hill education-wise).

And the 'annex' idea sounded better, because (and this is a difficult subject), having a 7yr old grow up, with someone in the house who's health is failing, is a difficult emotional thing too for him.

Like I say, just looking at all the options, and working out what's best for everyone

Out,_Vile_Jelly

What about wardened accommodation? My Nan lives in a flat with her own furnishings so is independent, but has a panic button and someone checking on her every day. It's also quite sociable, with communal tea & cake every afternoon so there's always someone to chat to.

macca1974

As has been said, the problem that you have to be aware of is of your mother potentially going into a nursing home and because of her savings this would need to be self funding. IHT isn't an issue as her estate is well below the IHT threshold of £325K, so you can discard that as an issue. The scenario that you have is that if your mother did gift you the £50K to buy a bigger house with an annex, then if she did go into a nursing home then this would potentially be treated as deprivation of assets and would be taken into account when the local authority assessed her for self funding.

So potentially, if your Mum was in a home for 5 or 6 years (say £30K per year plus state pension), then this would eat through all of her savings. If you had received a gift shortly before her going into care then this might be taken into account and you'd need to potentially raise the money somehow to pay back the LA.

The other issue to consider is that if your mother did go into a care home, the average stay is 29 months according to Google. This is likely to cost her say £60K, which would mean that you'd end up with an estate to split between you and your sibling of £10K (just for example). This might cause some bad blood between you and your sibling if you had received a gift of £50K for a new house.

carefullycautious

I don't think people think about the implications of nursing someone at home. Are you prepared to deal with toileting issues, lifting and handling correctly and all the other problems that occur with the ageing process day and night.


Even if your mum does not go into care you will probably have to pay for nursing care at home. What will happen to your work when mum needs care 24/7?


It is exhausting when you want to sleep and they are awake. I could go on and on.


I briefly thought about caring for my dad at home but realised that there was no way I could deliver any adequate care 24/7 he went into a nursing home where the care was brilliant and I could see him refreshed and not worn out from trying to do everything.


So do think things through carefully.

teddysmum

Hoploz wrote: »

But if she has 120k and you are only talking about using 50k of it. The remaining 70k would pay for quite a long time of care fees.

It wouldn't last very long at all in some areas and costs also vary according to the level of care required.