Care Home Top Up Fees

davemacdonald

lisyloo wrote: »

bridging loans are very expensive.
How long has the property been on the market?
When did it go on the market? (just asking for time of year).
Have you discussed with EA what you can do to get a quicker sale? (odds-on the answer is going to be drop the price).


Our buyer was very keen to buy our flat.
She dropped the price of her house £20K on the advice of the EA and got a sale very quickly.


Ask your EA how much you need to drop the price to get a quick sale, then you could compare with the costs of a loan or going to auction.
Have you considered putting the property up for auction?

Can none of her family look at increasing their mortgages?

That would be a much cheaper loan and they could look to secure a charge on her property so it's literally safe as houses.


If you are dropping the price I'd talk to the LA.
If she runs out of money she may need to be LA funded one day so you wouldn't (well I wouldn't) want to be accused of making bad decisions.

The house was put on the market in August. We don't mind dropping slightly but we don't want to seem desperate and lose lots of money in a quick sale or auction.

lisyloo

The house was put on the market in August.

Have you had any viewings?
What was the feedback from the viewings?
What was the feedback from the agent?

We don't mind dropping slightly but we don't want to seem desperate and lose lots of money in a quick sale or auction.

It seems to me the alternative are
1) loan
2) Move her somewhere within LA rates
3) drop the price


I would be getting the agents advice on 3) and comparing with the cost of 1).

lisyloo

Under a DPA the council will pay the ENTIRE cost of the care home.

I have jsut checked what martin1959 said as this is something I would investigate in your shoes.
The information I found
http://www.proceduresonline.com/resources/careact/p_deferred_payment.html


was that

If a person has chosen to live in a care home that costs more than the personal budget amount the Local Authority does not have to defer the ‘top-up’ amount payable, although it has the power to do so if it wishes to. If the Local Authority does not decide to defer the top-up amount then top-up remains payable.

davemacdonald

I've private messaged Martin asking him a couple of questions.

Have you had any viewings? Yes about 12
What was the feedback from the viewings? All pretty good, 2 offers, but nowhere near the asking price
What was the feedback from the agent? All ok, but I'm sure they will be asking to drop price in the New Year.

lisyloo

Sorry to say, but it would appear that the asking price is too high especially if you are looking for a quick sale.


I received good advice from our agent who was discussing dropping the price within weeks/months (not massively) and we're not in a particular rush, but I did factor in that the property costs £80 per week in ground rent/service charge.


Unfortunately you're going to find a very slow market right now because of the Brexit uncertainty.


I have my fingers crossed that none of the buyers in our chain pulls out due to brexit.

pimento

Lloyd90 wrote: »

Why do you want to keep the house, it sounds like the best solution without putting yourself into a very deep hole is to sell the house.

According to the OP's first post, the house is for sale.

lisyloo

I've private messaged Martin asking him a couple of questions.

Apologies for bluntness but you appear to be in denial.
Martin gave you an answer you wanted but I have shown it's not true with the back up of a reference to the law.
Messaging Martin won't change the law which is that your LA don't have to lend the top-up.


I'm not sure what they delay was in putting the house on the market (maybe there wasn't one and I understand some delay is inevitable as we spend 5 months emptying and cleaning our flat post bereavement and it take some time when there's a lifetimes worth of possessions and everyone is doing it in their spare time), but this appears to have been left until the last minute with little action over the past 4 months and now unfortunately you're hitting brexit uncertainty.


You need to look at the reality of the situation, listen to the estate agents advice, get other EAs opinion if necessary and quantify the options i.e.compare loan, auction, price drop.


Aplogies if you don't like the message which is written with best intentions.

martin1959

lisyloo wrote: »

Apologies for bluntness but you appear to be in denial.
Martin gave you an answer you wanted but I have shown it's not true with the back up of a reference to the law.
Messaging Martin won't change the law which is that your LA don't have to lend the top-up.

As I have replied in my PM, most councils will allow the top up to be included. If they won’t there will probably be a reason, and I am sure if asked they will say why. My guess is that the property may be low value and they are concerned that a high home fee would run down the equity too quickly which means they will have to pick up the whole cost.

What I do not understand is why the council will pay £800 if this does not include a top up, as most councils limit for a funded place for residents with no means is around £500 per week for residential care.

If there is a high available equity in the property and no good reason can be given, I would speak with your local ward councillors who can take up your case, or contact you local MP. I have found both can very often overturn a council decision!

lisyloo

No Martin sorry but in post #13 you said “will” and that is incorrect information.

You advice about pursuing it is good advice but I would advise the OP not to rely on this as the only option because if it doesn’t work they need a fall back plan.

We have battled the LA twice and won although in both cases the parent was in hospital bed blocking and the LA had a motivation not to delay as they can be fined for bed blocking.