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Elderly parents
Original poster

Selling home under LPA

32 replies

CandidLurker · 11/02/2026 16:21

I hold LPA with another person for my uncle. We have been through all the stages- diagnosis of dementia at memory clinic, care needs assessment with adult social services. Uncle is now resident in a care home and we need to sell his property to continue to fund the fees. We checked with adult social services as to whether another capacity assessment is needed with them before we proceeded to sell the property and they said no.

Property has sold very quickly and solicitor is now saying we need a letter from the Doctor to confirm he has lost capacity. GP is saying this isn’t a service they
provide.

Has anyone else come across this or been asked for a Dr’s letter in this situation. In one sense I’m reluctant to put relative through yet another assessment as it could be stressful for him.

i have written to the solicitor to ask him to confirm why exactly such a letter is required when there is an NHS diagnosis on medical records etc. but he hasn’t replied as yet.

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PermanentTemporary · 11/02/2026 23:43

Yes the records should be available to the new practice.

Id start with the solicitor though. Ask what question they want answered for which they need evidence of lack of capacity.

Original poster
CandidLurker · 11/02/2026 23:38

@PermanentTemporary yes we have both types of LPA and the practice have copies. The care home is not in the same area as relative’s property so there is new gp practice that covers the care home. I assume all records have been handed over.

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Original poster
CandidLurker · 11/02/2026 23:34

@FiniteSagacity yes this is exactly our situation and broadly the same sequence of events. I do understand the point @Ticktockwatchclock is making to an extent. But once decision (a) has been made - residential care being the only valid option. Then effectively decision (b) has also been made as a result. We have to fund his care which means we have to sell his property to do so.

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PermanentTemporary · 11/02/2026 23:32

I think I would ask them to be more specific about what the question is. As the holder of a registered lasting power of attorney for financial affairs set up in the least restrictive way, your loved one’s mental capacity is not legally an issue - you have the legal power to make financial decisions and sign paperwork as required.

What they may mean is that they want to be sure that your loved one can’t make a capacitous decision to object to the sale, and that they aren’t considered likely to recover mental capacity in the future. Do you have LPA for health and have the GP practice seen it? It might be that you could get copies of discharge letters from hospital which describe capacity assessments.

FiniteSagacity · 11/02/2026 23:08

Ticktockwatchclock · 11/02/2026 20:31

It may be the solicitor is requesting a see mental capacity assessment because capacity is question specific. Just because your uncle has had a capacity assessment previously, that will have been regarding his ability to make an informed choice about his care. Selling a home is different so a capacity assessment regarding his ability to manage his financial affairs will be needed to show he is unable to retain information and use that information to make an informed choice.

I think the solicitors are doing unnecessary arse covering @CandidLurker, I hope it doesn’t jeopardise the sale. The council requested the nursing home do regular capacity assessments as part of the DoLS and if the Safeguard has been agreed by the local authority, that report may help you but I guess the solicitor might feel the home have a conflict of interest.

@Ticktockwatchclock the difficulty we had was that if you didn’t know our relative and chatted for 20 minutes at that time he’d have said he managed all his affairs (hadn’t for years) and wanted to go home (dilapidated and unsuitable for needs) quite convincingly. Over a longer hospital stay, the doctors recognised his lack of insight and told us to talk him into 24 hour care but very little was put in writing that we could use as evidence.

I know the MCA is there to protect people but dementia is sadly a one way journey and as LPA we’ve had to make hard decisions to keep our relative safe.

Original poster
CandidLurker · 11/02/2026 20:58

PropertyD · 11/02/2026 20:23

Did your POA state the financial one is only if he lost capacity hence the question. It’s very limiting to set it up like this but a relative wanted me to be POA but only if he lost capacity but I refused,

no they are not set up like that. They are set up in the least restrictive way.

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Ticktockwatchclock · 11/02/2026 20:31

It may be the solicitor is requesting a see mental capacity assessment because capacity is question specific. Just because your uncle has had a capacity assessment previously, that will have been regarding his ability to make an informed choice about his care. Selling a home is different so a capacity assessment regarding his ability to manage his financial affairs will be needed to show he is unable to retain information and use that information to make an informed choice.

PropertyD · 11/02/2026 20:23

Did your POA state the financial one is only if he lost capacity hence the question. It’s very limiting to set it up like this but a relative wanted me to be POA but only if he lost capacity but I refused,

OhDear111 · 11/02/2026 20:17

As far as I’m aware, with POA you can just sell. You don’t need an assessment.

Original poster
CandidLurker · 11/02/2026 20:10

It’s interesting that people have had different experiences. It’s probably useful for people to be aware that this may come up and be prepared if it does.

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MissMoneyFairy · 11/02/2026 19:58

I may be wrong but a best interest meeting and decision is for people who lack capacity and if you have health lpa you should have been involved and able to make the decision of where he was moved to

Original poster
CandidLurker · 11/02/2026 19:52

MissMoneyFairy · 11/02/2026 19:40

Surely someone carried out an assessment to apply for the dols

social services paid for a 4 week assessment in a care home (after relative came out of a long hospital stay) at the end of which it was decided residential care was in his best interests but he has to self fund. I believe the care home applied for the DoLs. There’s obviously a lot of issues and events that led up to this situation over probably the previous year

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MissMoneyFairy · 11/02/2026 19:49

Our visiting GP charged £150 for the assessment

AnneElliotfanclub · 11/02/2026 19:45

Sold my mother's house using POA, as she had gone into a rest home and needed the money from the sale to pay her fees. It was totally straightforward and I was not asked for such a letter. Registration of the POA was sufficient.

Original poster
CandidLurker · 11/02/2026 19:45

Soontobe60 · 11/02/2026 19:36

I would go ahead with a private assessment asap, the cost of which can be taken out of the proceeds of the house sale.

Show quote history

Yes we are going to have to do it I think. We will wait until the Doctor has visited the care home next week and see whether the GP says something different to the Care home manager than I’ve been told by the admin team at the practice (but suppose they must have checked with a Gp first before saying it’s not something they do). If not we will have to pursue the private route.

But yes it’s something that will need to be done relatively quickly

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MissMoneyFairy · 11/02/2026 19:40

Surely someone carried out an assessment to apply for the dols

Soontobe60 · 11/02/2026 19:36

CandidLurker · 11/02/2026 18:04

Ok. Yes I see there could be a difference between the dementia diagnosis and loss of capacity. We will have to have the assessment done in any event. Solicitor said in his initial email that it can be done privately. We will just have to pursue that avenue. Just wondered whether anyone else had come across the requirement.

I would go ahead with a private assessment asap, the cost of which can be taken out of the proceeds of the house sale.

MissMoneyFairy · 11/02/2026 19:21

FoamShrimps · 11/02/2026 19:13

Solicitor is chatting shit. Any competent adult with knowledge of what capacity assessment entails can do the assessment (I.e the solicitor can do it).

I know, so can the social worker or registered nurse

MissMoneyFairy · 11/02/2026 19:15

Do you have both lpa, the capacity test is needed for the health and welfare, you don't need it for the financial one unless the donor has specified,it in the paperwork, it can be used as soon as it's registered. Who agreed to the carehome placement if he is on a dols it might suggest he may not have capacity. Who signed the contract and got him moved there.

FoamShrimps · 11/02/2026 19:13

Solicitor is chatting shit. Any competent adult with knowledge of what capacity assessment entails can do the assessment (I.e the solicitor can do it).

Usernamenotfound1 · 11/02/2026 19:11

Although I do think there should be checks around POA being able to do things like sell houses- they can actually be invoked now without the donor’s knowledge.

i recently saw a POA revoked (am social worker) as an attorney attempted to put the house up for sale without the donor’s consent. Fortunately another relative spotted what was going on and intervened.

Original poster
CandidLurker · 11/02/2026 19:10

Rictasmorticia · 11/02/2026 19:06

I would ask the care home manager if they would do it, or the GP attached to the care home, they might charge.@

It’s the GP practice attached to the care home who have said “it’s not a service they provide”. Other LPA has spoken to care home manager who says the Dr is due to visit uncle in a week or so and she will ask him to do it when he visit. So we will see. I don’t mind paying the GP a fee. Solicitor said the private providers who do this work normally charge about £500.

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Original poster
CandidLurker · 11/02/2026 19:08

@FiniteSagacity the situation is exactly as you describe. We are also using the same solicitors who did the LPA’s to do the conveyancing. There is a DoLs in place. This was done straightaway. So thanks. It might be worth us looking at that.

@Marmaladegin the LPA’s are definitely registered.

As the GP practice is saying they don’t do it, I guess we need to look at a private provider in some form. Solicitor has already said it has to be a Doctor.

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Rictasmorticia · 11/02/2026 19:06

I would ask the care home manager if they would do it, or the GP attached to the care home, they might charge.@

wobbegong · 11/02/2026 19:04

I am in the process of selling a house using POA and have not been asked for this. I did have to provide ID docs for the elderly person, and show the POA doc obviously.

I absolutely agree with you about not causing distress by putting someone through an unnecessary assessment- I would be thinking the same.

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