Mortgage bailout question

Annisele

I think it's very unlikely that anybody would be prosecuted for lack of a gas safety certificate unless something goes wrong. And if something has gone wrong - either in your family relationships (brother thinks dobbing mother in so she gets a criminal conviction is a great idea) or with physics (brother has been blown up due to mother's negligence/lack of maintence of gas system) - then the prosecution would likely be the least of your mother's worries.

If your mother does create a tenancy, then there's some stuff that might be her responsibility whatever the contract says. It isn't always possible for landlords to contract out of doing particular tasks, and there are good public policy reasons for making landlords responsible for gas safety certificates regardless of what they put in their contracts. A lot of the legislation is aimed at protecting tenants from slum landlords - and whilst I'm not remoting suggesting that your mum would be a slum landlord, she'd still be bound by the same legislation that binds them.

However, I don't think you've really given enough information to let us be very helpful here. It's entirely understandable that you don't want to post the full situation on a public forum, but you've only really given us your proposed solution without really explaining the problem. We can certainly tell you about pitfalls with the proposed solution - including criminal convictions for lack of gas safety cert - but we don't have the background to suggest alternatives.

For example, if the problem is simply that brother is struggling to pay the mortgage right now, then by far the easiest solution is likely to be for mother to just pay his mortgage for him for a few months.

But maybe the problem is that mother wants to make sure that brother is suitably housed for the rest of his life - in which case some sort of trust might be a good plan.

Or perhaps brother wants to hide his assets from the official receiver - in which case he's very likely too late (the OR has seen all sorts of creativity, and almost all of it has been legislated against).

We also don't know what brother wants - maybe he hates his house, and would much prefer to downsize and live somewhere cheaper.

waveyjane

Annisele said:

However, I don't think you've really given enough information to let us be very helpful here. It's entirely understandable that you don't want to post the full situation on a public forum, but you've only really given us your proposed solution without really explaining the problem. We can certainly tell you about pitfalls with the proposed solution - including criminal convictions for lack of gas safety cert - but we don't have the background to suggest alternatives.

You're right - their situation is likely complex and there are factors I've probably not given that would affect things. Prior to meeting the solicitor later, I was merely curious why my mother would have to do "landlord duties" if she bought her son's house and chose to allow him to live there rent free on the understanding he looked after it. Is it some immutable principle in law that if you don't live in a house you own you have to be a landlord? What does that even mean if no money is changing hands? Just seems a bit odd is all.

 But no matter - I'll be finding out what's what with the lawyers soon enough I think.

sheramber

waveyjane said:

Annisele said:

However, I don't think you've really given enough information to let us be very helpful here. It's entirely understandable that you don't want to post the full situation on a public forum, but you've only really given us your proposed solution without really explaining the problem. We can certainly tell you about pitfalls with the proposed solution - including criminal convictions for lack of gas safety cert - but we don't have the background to suggest alternatives.

You're right - their situation is likely complex and there are factors I've probably not given that would affect things. Prior to meeting the solicitor later, I was merely curious why my mother would have to do "landlord duties" if she bought her son's house and chose to allow him to live there rent free on the understanding he looked after it. Is it some immutable principle in law that if you don't live in a house you own you have to be a landlord? What does that even mean if no money is changing hands? Just seems a bit odd is all.

 But no matter - I'll be finding out what's what with the lawyers soon enough I think.

But you didn't ask in terms of him not paying rent so people answered on these terms.

waveyjane

sheramber said:

But you didn't ask in terms of him not paying rent so people answered on these terms.

Perhaps, but I originally said for £1 in rent, as I thought there might need to be some consideration for the contract.

Just as there is a skill in posing questions, there is also a skill in answering them in the knowledge that perhaps the person who asks them might well not know what they're talking about :-)