Renting house to fund care without LPA

jehangir

Hi .

Asking for some advice on behalf of my cousins.

My elderly Aunt who suffers from the onset of dementia and various other ailments
took a fall at her home a couple of weeks and was taken into a rehab centre.

After discussion with her sons, doctor and social worker they decided the best course of action would be a nursing home .

As she owns a property she is only entitled to the basic help which means
a lower end care home so her children wish to self finance to something " better".

Her children have not got the lasting power of attorney but wish the rent out her house to help pay towards the fees and top of the rest themselves.

The issue is that due to her condition the mention of care homes and not going back to her
home is very distressing .

If she is unable to fully comprehend will the house just have to sit empty .

As you can imagine it is a very stressful time so any advice would be
much appreciated.

elsien

If she lacks capacity her children could look at applying to the court of protection for a deputyship for her finances. And with regards to renting they would need to check who the landlord would be and how that would work as it won't be mum if she's not able to enter into legal agreements.
When you say it's been decided she can't go home, was that a best interests decision? Because if she understands the options and can weigh up the risks, even with early onset dementia, she has the right to make an unwise decision to return home
Of course, the other option to leaving it empty is to sell it.

Torry_Quine

As she is in the early stages of Dementia it may not be too late for someone to get power of attorney.

jehangir

Thanks for taking the time out to reply . Yes she had a best interest meeting with the social worker and doctor .

It seems as though the fall and the change of environment has brought on her symptoms with her going slightly into her own world and sometimes does not where she is .

She now struggles to walk more than a few feet without
assistance and to be honest it would not be safe for her to be at home .



Next week she will transferred into another centre for a couple of weeks to
allow the family to either arrange or choose an nursing home .

The children were told that all of her pension would go to nursing home and the council
would top it up to the basic level which will be then be eventually charged against
the value of the house but this amount is limited .

They are looking at a shortfall of around £400 a week from the council run to private home which they will have to self fund .

Not too sure if they can sell the house as it is solely her name and for the same reason
they are unable to rent.

I think if they ask my Aunt if they could sell the home I have a feeling she would say no, not because she wants to go back but not realising the situation she is in .

I will mention court of protection to them, they just want the best for their mother but have no experience in this sector.

Thanks again

teddysmum

Letting the council put a charge could end up more expensive than selling the house to fund the care, as they will add interest.

elsien

They're going to need the deputyship anyway with regards to all her financial affairs if she lacks capacity around these, to pay the bills on the house etc.

The information they need is here.

https://www.gov.uk/become-deputy/overview