Advice on Sale of my elderly mothers house

ACG

I bought my house off a 92 year old man. His son who was late 60s dealt with it all and he did not drive.

He basically called a few charities to come down and take what they wanted. He cleared what he could over a few weeks by putting it in the bin but it was agreed if I bought the house I would have to get rid of everything else. I did not mind as I was getting the house for a bargain as it needed loads of work doing to it and I would be getting a skip anyway.

So you can agree things will be left there, just make sure the buyers are aware beforehand. I am sure the agents will be quite happy to explain the situation to any potential buyers and most people will understand...whether or not they will want to buy it is another matter.

old_fogey

Some more really helpful replies, thank you.
I do have a LPA, but havent needed to use it as she has her marbles - so she can make decisions, sign documents. But organising the disposal of everything would be too much for her. I'm sure the house was registered with the land registry a couple of decades ago - good point I will check

All her papers and personal affects I'm planning to take back to my house so she can go through it in her own time...doubt there is a swiss bank account but you never know !
LOL and the commodes have to go!

I will talk to the estate agents when they come round next week to see what they think too. i will get rid of a lot before they come.

Good point about the gas safety report and electrical report - i will look into that
Thanks

bouicca21

When we sold my mum's house we decluttered and left enough furniture to make it look like a home. We (the various children) took items we wanted. Then called in a house clearance company so that it was vacant on completion.

By contrast when I was looking to buy a couple of years ago I saw a house that looked as though it had been untouched since about 1935 with furniture to match. If I'd succeeded in buying it I'd have wanted the furniture too - really stylish good quality antiques in the making.

walwyn1978

Consider a local auction house for the house clearance. They'll take anything of value and sell it through their auction, and use this to cover their costs for removing the 'junk'. Whatever's left after costs covered is split between you/your mum and them.

Another vote here for leaving some big furniture in place to act as room dressing and to guide buyers as to the usefulness of a room.

Good luck - it's not an easy thing to do in terms of the emotional side for you and her.

ThemeOne

With regard to the clearing, it all depends on how much time you've got and if you've got any help.

If you're doing it on your own, and have a short timescale, definitely get a house clearance company otherwise you'll never get through it all.

Otherwise you can often sell items on gumtree but only if you're happy to deal with questions from purchasers, and then people not turning up when they say etc. Other stuff can be taken to charity shops.

Once you have a buyer you can enquire through the estate agent if they would like anything included in the sale, or added to the price. The solicitor will give you a contents form, where you give details of anything included in the sale.

I believe that if you leave stuff that wasn't on the form, technically the new owners could try and charge you for disposing of it, so you have to be a bit careful.

When I sold my father's house, I included all the white goods, just to avoid having to get rid of them myself, only to discover from his neighbours that the new owners took them all to the tip they day they moved in. Had I known they didn't want them I could have probably got £50 a piece, so somewhat annoying.

martindow

knightstyle wrote: »

Assuming al is in order with them get an electrical report and get the gas appliances serviced with a safety test.

You don't have to do this. It may be helpful to smooth the sale to say that the boiler has been serviced recently. But generally if buyers want to check gas or electrical systems they pay for them. If this house is likely to be a project for someone they could well be be rewiring in any case.