Remortgage grandparents house?

Bubblesr

Not sure if this is the right forum for this but any positive responses are welcome!

Last year I moved from London to the southwest to live with my grandmother who has dementia, she's very active but needs company and reminding to take her meds. I wrk part time in a secure and reasonably well paid job.

Her house is fully paid off and a few outbuildings and some land. However the house was a self build in the 50s and its beginning to need a lot of repair....roof leaking, damp everywhere, single panes, cold and draughty with a tiny kitchen. My grandma has some savings and a good pension but wouldn't be enough plus that's for her future care.

I was wondering whether it would be possible to take out a mortgage or loan to fund the renovations?
There's also potential to build in the outbuildings or even build another house which could be let. Any ideas on how I could finance this?

I'm not trying to swindle my nana out of any money and want to do it as transparently as possible and protect everybody's intersts

da_rule

If your nan owns the house herself (i.e. you're not on the title document) then you may find it difficult to get a mortgage based on her age and income (this is an assumption for which I apologise in advance if it is wrong).

Also, you mention she has dementia so she may not be mentally competent enough to be able to enter into any agreements. Depending how far advanced it is.

Do you have a power of attorney?

Bubblesr

Thanks for the reply. I didn't think it was going to be straight forward.
Yes I have power of attorney. I've talked about the renovations inc kitchen extension alot lot with my gran and she is keen, I wouldn't want to do anything I wasn't sure she would be happy with.

da_rule

Depending how much money you need, could you get an unsecured loan and then buy a share of the property off of your nan? You may also be able to secure a mortgage to buy a share of the property.

Your nan could then use the proceeds of the sale to improve the house (you'd probably have to contribute to this cost as well as she'll be improving your share too).

You'd need to contact the Office of the Public Guardian first as they would need to check it was in your nan's best interest. However, you are buying a share in her property (at market value) and giving her funds that she can use to improve her living conditions and you are contributing to the improvements on a pro rata basis so she isn't artificially increasing the value of your share.

This MAY help protect your interest in the property and secure your occupation of the house should your nan need to go into care.

spidereyes

Is an equity release lifetime mortgage something youve considered which you could do with power of attorney.

The mortgage would be secured against the home and is repaid with interest in death, although I'm not really sure what happens if she needs to go into care etc. But it would allow her to stay in her own home.

Maybe worth speaking with a broker - there was an advert TV for company called age partnership the other day offering advice etc although I'm sure there are plenty of others: