Grant or loan?

Mrsmch349

Hi folks

My mother was given an Improvement Grant (of £4300) for a stairlift. The house she lived in was mine & my husband’s - long story but we were forced into taking out a second mortgage as my brother took his half of the inheritance whilst my mum was still alive (she’d put it in trust for us).

As my mother’s health deteriorated she had to get a stairlift. She got a grant. My mum died before Xmas and the house is going through conveyancing at the moment. I phoned the council to ask if they wanted the stairlift back, but they declined. However, the guy said that we had to repay the £4300! Is this right? I thought a grant was a gift, not a loan. We’ve saved the council a fortune by providing my mother with a home, and by caring for her ourselves! We had to take an interest only loan, and spent a fortune doing up the house in the first place - so we’re not making anything on the sale.

Talk about kick you when you’re down!

Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks

pmlindyloo

Was this a disabled facilities grant?

According to everything I have read if you sell the house within 10 years then you may have to repay some of the grant. However, it appears that grants below £5000 do not have to be repaid.

Read this:

https://www.luton.gov.uk/Health_and_social_care/Lists/LutonDocuments/PDF/Leaflets%20on%20Line/Paying%20back%20a%20disabled%20facilities%20grant.pdf

I don't know whether this is a national thing or whether individual councils can use different regs.

Have your tried googling 'paying back disabled facilities grant + name of your council'?

Could be the person you spoke to gave you the wrong information. Google and then try telephoning again.

Mrsmch349

Hi, thanks for the response.

Yes, it was a disabled facilities grant.

I did Google it for my council but there was nothing about repaying.

She got the stairlift 6yrs ago so we are within the 10yrs. So galling after all the money we will have saved them!

50Twuncle

National ruling - so covers you....

When might I have to pay back the money?
If your grant was over £5,000 we can reclaim money up to a maximum of £10,000. This only applies if
your house is sold within 10 years of the work having been finished. If you sell it after that date you
usually wont have to pay anything back.
Each case will be unique but the following broad guidelines should help;
1. Disabled Facilities Grant below £5,000
You wont have to pay anything back. Most adaptations will be below this value.

Mrsmch349

Really? I hope you are right! Just had a thought though ... I wonder if it is the same in Scotland?

I have got everything crossed!

Thank you for the info.

w06

Worth checking as well though, was the grant paid to you or your mother?

If the £5k limit doesn't apply to you that might make a difference, selling a house after someone's death is different to selling it and moving elsewhere.

Mrsmch349

The grant was paid to my mother but we had to attach the grant paperwork to the deeds of the house, which is in our names, not my mother!!!8217;s.

posiepye

If the council did force someone to pay back part of a grant. Whats to stop the person selling say, the stairlift (if the council say they dont want it back) and use the money from that to go towards paying some of the grant back. So some of it not coming out of your own pocket

Mrsmch349

Have tried that, too. There is no market for the stairlift as it has a curved rail. To be honest, I!!!8217;d rather give it to someone who could use it - the most I would get is about £200.

mrcol1000

I would go over the paperwork that was signed when the grant was issued. Mine was very clear over repayment if the house was sold in a certain amount of time. Councils have a duty to protect their money. Especially now, they can't just dish it out and write it off.

If the grant was attached to the deeds of the house then it sounds like they put a charge on the property. It will sit there until the house is put up for sale, at which point no-one will want to buy the house till the charge is removed (the money owed is paid back to the council)

Mrsmch349

That!!!8217;s what I thought. However, it!!!8217;s galling to think that they make no effort to recycle the chair, and, if we hadn!!!8217;t stepped in to buy a home for my mother then they would have had to provide accommodation for her for 10yrs, too!