Complex Right To By / Ownership Situation

Norman_Castle

'Look, I had a lovely supper, and I all I said to my wife was that that piece of halibut was good enough for Jehovah.'

csgohan4

Norman_Castle wrote: »

'Look, I had a lovely supper, and I all I said to my wife was that that piece of halibut was good enough for Jehovah.'

Sacrilege, you should be stoned by bearded women

Computer_Beginner

OP,

Who owns the house your grandmother (and now your mother too) are living in?
Is it rented?
Does it have a mortgage on it?
Is your gran widowed?

If your gran owns the house in her name entirely, then the biggest issue coming up is likely to be care home fees for your gran.
As your gran is already needing care in her home, the council will have a very close look at any 'deprivation of assets' relating to your gran's house.

Beware any kind of companies setting up 'trusts' or even 'insurance bonds' etc.
It's highly likely the council will ignore these 'shelters' and you will have paid a company for nothing.
If you go to BBC iplayer and look at the 'Moneybox' episodes, they have covered this a few times.

So what to do?
Well, the best advice usually is to try and make sure that the house in question (where your gran lives) is not entirely owned by your gran. That means having someone else (eg your mum) put down as a joint owner (either tenant in common, or joint tenant - I can't recall which is best - look into that).

That means that when the council look to sell the house, they will only assess the 'half' of the house that is owned by your gran. As someone else owns the other half, the 'market value' of the house is very low, because who would want to buy 'half' a house on the 'open market'?

This is what typically happens when you have an elderly couple and one (eg the man) needs to go into a nursing home. The house doesn't have to be sold, because the man's wife's share is 'protected' by the rules. ie the council can't force the wife to sell 'her share' of the house.

Now, in this situation, the council does not class the 'joint ownership' of the house as 'deprivation of assets' because that was likely the set up for many years prior so there is no INTENT to deprive an asset.

In your situation, were your gran to 'gift' your mother 'half' her house, then the council COULD POSSIBLY view this as deprivation.

If your gran doesn't need to go into a home and is ok with care delivered at home, then only your gran's savings will be taken into account. I believe the limit allowed is about £20k (check this - different in England, to Scotland etc).

Now, regards the house you currently live in:
How urgent are the repairs required?
Could you just wait until the five year RTB limit is up and then just sell the house and move? Maybe closer to your gran's house? If your mother was assessed by the council in the future, this would probably look less suspicious than an 'equity transfer' ie your mother signing 'her' half of the house over to you, for 'nothing' (or her repaying you for buying her half of the house for her).
But as you say, your mother is only 58, so you're PROBABLY ok to leave this alone for a few years (But you never know for certain, obviously).

Were you to leave your mother on the 'deeds' as 'owning half' the house, then if she did need care home assessment in the future, you'd likely be looking at the situation I described of the elderly married couple - ie a pre-existing set-up, with no intent to deprive an asset. That could well be preferable to your mother 'giving away' 'her half' of the house, prior to needing care home.

This is just my advice - I'm not an expert, but look into it closely. Ask Age UK, CAB etc.

I don't really want to discuss the morality of the govt's rules on care home fees, RTB, tax, inheritance, inequality etc, etc.
The rules are what they are and none of us can change them. Some people are born healthy and wealthy, others are born poor and sick. Everyone is entitled to their own view, but ultimately the govt decides. However, things do change.
The key is to be honest, above board, seek sensible advice and plan ahead.