Buying my Grandmothers home.

AdrianC

maccaz21 wrote: »

Im annyoyed at the council.

You have no grounds. It sounds like they've done nothing wrong.

When it was valued at £40k mother wanted to sell it to the family at the going rate. They were told by the council that it doesnt work like that and it must go to auction for the highest bidder. I wasnt really into this at the time.

That explains why there's some Chinese Whispers there.
What the council were saying was that there is a requirement to sell the property at the full market value. That's really only easily established through an auction - especially for a low-value property in poor condition.

But since they received £40k bill. Im looking and cant see how they have the right to do that.

Your grandmother has sufficient assets that she needs to pay for her own residential care. The council have said "Well, OK, we'll subsidise for a bit, but you need to pay us back." There's no way that a £40k property is generating enough rent to cover her costs, so the outstanding tab must be ramping up substantially. There's no reason NOT to sell the property.

M+A are POA

Which means they must act in her best interests, bearing in mind what she would do if she had capacity.

Depriving her of assets by selling the property below market value through sentiment is not in her best interests.

I make no bones about it. At this stage, the less the council get the better.
£700 a week is an unbelievable cost..

That's what residential care costs. If you don't like that, then she can move in with you, and you can look after her instead.

Gran had £15k in the bank, that went years ago. Pension, rent and another allowance goes straight to care home and it atill eats away at the house. If she knew this she would be furious the house isnt going to her daughters.

She had £55k in assets - £15k cash + £40k property.
The threshold for paying fully for your own care is £23,250. I'm doing the paperwork for my own father's financial assessment at the moment.

An inheritance is what's left of a person's assets AFTER they die. Not years before. If their assets are needed to pay for their care during their lifetime, then they simply aren't there after death.

these sort of costs were unheard of in her day. You sign over the deeds and that was it.

And the council tax payers of your local area subsidised your free house. Adult social care is a MASSIVE portion of every local authority's budget - around a third in my area.

I know I cant buy the house for £2. The thoughts is to pay around £60k, M+A get there money for renovating and the council get their money.

There's a strong argument that your relatives loaned money to your grandmother to renovate the property, so that money should be repaid first, yes.

Going forward its a case of Gran being financed by the council like all the other people who didnt have a bought home.
Albeit, the got around £50k from her first

Yes, once she can no longer afford to pay for her own care.

elsien

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Interesting ethical point there. Suppose its in Nans best interests NOT to get the best price but to get her granddaughter the house at the lowest possible price. Thats what she'd have wanted, yes? After all the attorneys dont have any obligation to the council

Only kidding .... sorta but yes i agree the council will come after them if they dont get what seems like a reasonably fair price.

I'm failing to see how the POA spending 10k of her money on renovations that she didn't need because she was no longer living there then flogging the house to family at a reduced rate could be argued to be in her best interests.
Renovating to rent is one thing. Renovating to get family a better deal is another issue.

AnotherJoe

AdrianC wrote: »

Depriving her of assets by selling the property below market value through sentiment is not in her best interests.

Just to be pedantic, it makes no odds to GM as long as house is sold for more than £38,500 since she won't see those assets so she won't be derived of them ;-)

Anyway I think we are all agreed that best plan is to deduct the £20k loan after selling at a price determined by several sales agents and let the council argue it wasn't a loan.

maccaz21

silvercar wrote: »

Why have the council sent a bill that equates to the value of the property? The bill from the council should be for the costs of care. Even then Gran is allowed to keep some savings.

It's not exactly £40k bill, something £41,500 and something. The two amounts are coincidental.

maccaz21

elsien wrote: »

I'm failing to see how the POA spending 10k of her money on renovations that she didn't need because she was no longer living there then flogging the house to family at a reduced rate could be argued to be in her best interests.
Renovating to rent is one thing. Renovating to get family a better deal is another issue.

Renovating makes it a worse deal as the house increased in price.
The renovations were done so the house was in rent-able state so the rent could be forwarded to the care home.

need_an_answer

Who is living in the house at the moment?
tenants or is it empty?

my understanding is that a council would not force a sale in the way you suggest unless the house was no longer in use.

Presumably I read it that after the renovations took place tenants were installed to contribute their rental monies towards the care fees (poorly worded but I hope you get the jist)

If tenants are in situ have they been given notice and are social services aware that part of the care home funding is being met this way.

McKneff

Where is this house that is only worth £40k, it seems awful cheap.

maccaz21

need_an_answer wrote: »

Who is living in the house at the moment?
tenants or is it empty?

my understanding is that a council would not force a sale in the way you suggest unless the house was no longer in use.

Presumably I read it that after the renovations took place tenants were installed to contribute their rental monies towards the care fees (poorly worded but I hope you get the jist)

If tenants are in situ have they been given notice and are social services aware that part of the care home funding is being met this way.

It has tenants at the moment, and yes, the house renovated for the rent income that is paid into care.

There is no notice given yet, but there may be soon if we sell. The council know the place is rented.

maccaz21

McKneff wrote: »

Where is this house that is only worth £40k, it seems awful cheap.

I know. It should of been bought years ago.
It's in the North East. The place was upside down.
It hadn't any work done to it in my lifetime.

need_an_answer

maccaz21 wrote: »

It has tenants at the moment, and yes, the house renovated for the rent income that is paid into care.

There is no notice given yet, but there may be soon if we sell. The council know the place is rented.

May I ask how much rental income actually gets paid towards care fees?

I am still of the opinion that the council cannot force the sale if there are tenants who in effect provide some of the fees that support your grandmother,although I wonder if they judge the amount from rent to be of too low level.

She is also entitled to retain a portion of savings.
Presumably she self funded until her assets reached the circa £25k mark and then will be fully funded once assets fall below around £15k.