Mother wants to sell house but son is living in it...

elsien

The_Walker said:

elsien said:

He is probably thinking of the property disregard when it comes to local authority funding for care homes. 

If your mother is self funding, then that is irrelevant and doesn’t give him the right to stay there forever more. She still has the right to tell him to leave if she wants to regardless of his age.

I wonder if he was thinking along the lines of if she dies when he's over 60 and we inherited the property jointly, I couldn't get him out.

That's just inaccurate. If that's what he thinks then he's completely got the wrong end of the stick.

stripling

The_Walker said:

Thanks guys. She is funded in the nursing home primarily by the council along with her pension, but of course now she owns the house they will have some interest in it of course. I'm not sure what kind of powers they have though.

My brother and I do not have power of attorney over her, she is deemed to have mental capacity currently. I didn't realise a solicitor could use power of attorney to deal with the house sale, that sounds interesting.

I guess my concern is what happens if my brother, who has spent zero of his own money on the house, literally refuses to move out? Squatters rights and all that?

"We jointly have power of attorney should that be needed. Their care is currently funded partly by the council and partly by their pensions and savings etc. " This is from a previous post a year ago. But it referred to 'a sister.... '   

A solicitor can't 'use' anything unless the house owner consents but it sounds like your mother is perfectly capable of making her own decisions. 

Meanwhile, it is her house, her choice if one of her adult children lives there, and ultimately she will probably be forced to fund her care out of it anyway.  It's not really your business if your mum has mental capacity.   She may have her own reasons for your sibling/her offspring living in her house. I'm not sure members of a forum can say much here. 

Keep_pedalling

stripling said:

The_Walker said:

Thanks guys. She is funded in the nursing home primarily by the council along with her pension, but of course now she owns the house they will have some interest in it of course. I'm not sure what kind of powers they have though.

My brother and I do not have power of attorney over her, she is deemed to have mental capacity currently. I didn't realise a solicitor could use power of attorney to deal with the house sale, that sounds interesting.

I guess my concern is what happens if my brother, who has spent zero of his own money on the house, literally refuses to move out? Squatters rights and all that?

"We jointly have power of attorney should that be needed. Their care is currently funded partly by the council and partly by their pensions and savings etc. " This is from a previous post a year ago. But it referred to 'a sister.... '   

A solicitor can't 'use' anything unless the house owner consents but it sounds like your mother is perfectly capable of making her own decisions. 

Meanwhile, it is her house, her choice if one of her adult children lives there, and ultimately she will probably be forced to fund her care out of it anyway.  It's not really your business if your mum has mental capacity.   She may have her own reasons for your sibling/her offspring living in her house. I'm not sure members of a forum can say much here. 

In the opening post the OP clearly states that their mother does want to sell the house. The only problem is the freeloading brother is likely to make difficulties, so it is certainly the OPs business if what their mother wants is being thwarted by their brother for his own selfish reasons. 

marcia_

The_Walker said:

I should add my brother mentioned in passing that if someone reaches the age of 60, apparently they can't be evicted? I'm not sure how true that is or whether we'll reach that stage!

 That is not true. 

RHemmings

As a parent I can't imagine evicting a child, even an adult child in their 50s. If the son doesn't play ball, then it looks to me as if this will be a very difficult situation, and it's quite possible that the OP will watch the situation playing out but not be able to do anything if the mother can't bring herself to evict. 

I'm only a random person on the internet, but I agree that the son is a lodger (can't be an AST as no rent is paid), and eviction upon written 'reasonable notice' is feasible. But, will the mother bite the bullet and evict if the son just tries to continue occupying the property? 

artyboy

To that last point, and leaving aside the son's attitude, is he financially able to support himself/find a new place, or is he potless and in anger of ending up homeless as a result? 

It sounds like there's going to be emotional blackmail either way, but the prospect of a child genuinely being out on the street might be the tipping point for any parent...

MEM62

RHemmings said:

As a parent I can't imagine evicting a child, even an adult child in their 50s. If the son doesn't play ball, then it looks to me as if this will be a very difficult situation, and it's quite possible that the OP will watch the situation playing out but not be able to do anything if the mother can't bring herself to evict. 

The mother does not have to evict her son - he has no rights.  He just gets told to leave.  And as for not being emotionally able to kick him out, let's remember that he is not a child.  he is an adult that has enjoyed free or cheap accommodation and its now he stood on his own two feet.  

RHemmings

MEM62 said:

RHemmings said:

As a parent I can't imagine evicting a child, even an adult child in their 50s. If the son doesn't play ball, then it looks to me as if this will be a very difficult situation, and it's quite possible that the OP will watch the situation playing out but not be able to do anything if the mother can't bring herself to evict. 

The mother does not have to evict her son - he has no rights.  He just gets told to leave.  And as for not being emotionally able to kick him out, let's remember that he is not a child.  he is an adult that has enjoyed free or cheap accommodation and its now he stood on his own two feet.  

I believe that the son is a lodger. Even if he doesn't pay rent. I did a quick search and what I found seems to back that up. E.g. https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/renting-a-home/lodging-index/landlords-of-lodgers/taking-in-a-lodger-what-you-need-to-think-about-first/#:~:text=A lodger is someone who,someone you don't know.

Personally, even as an adult, I would have extreme difficulty evicting a child of mine. Other people might not, but I can see how it might be difficult. 

There's another situation in my family (don't want to give details) where something vaguely similar to this happened.

Keep_pedalling

Who is currently baying the CT and energy bills?

Keep_pedalling

artyboy said:

To that last point, and leaving aside the son's attitude, is he financially able to support himself/find a new place, or is he potless and in anger of ending up homeless as a result? 

It sounds like there's going to be emotional blackmail either way, but the prospect of a child genuinely being out on the street might be the tipping point for any parent...

The son is going to have to be made aware that sooner or later he is going to have no choice. If he stays put for now then he won’t be able to do this once his mother dies. The house will have to be sold to pay any deferred care costs and to enable the OP to obtain their share of their mother’s estate.