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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.

OP posts:
Marmaladegin · 11/02/2026 18:34

I have pOA for 2 people and recently sold both their houses. I was not asked for this. As long as the POA is registered, it can be used

FiniteSagacity · 11/02/2026 18:28

Like @Usernamenotfound1 we used their solicitor (who had done the LPA) so I dreaded this question but didn’t actually have to deal with it. I’m sure the solicitor is trying to cover themselves if the sale is ever challenged by the LPA donor (your uncle).

Has there been a DoLS? The social worker who completed the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguarding clearly documented that our relative had no insight into his needs, fluctuating capacity but not in respect of where he needed to live to have the 24 hour care and support he needs.

I know it’s a very personal document but it was the best source of the facts - especially if your uncle would say he wants to go home if asked - which could be interpreted as objecting if he has ‘capacity’ but he cannot actually process the realities of leaving 24 hour care.

user37597473785 · 11/02/2026 18:11

I sold a complicated property for an elderly relative I was POA for, and didn’t have to do anything like that. It was their solicitor we used for the sale though so they knew what the elderly persons situation was.
Is your Elderly capable of signing a letter saying they’re happy for it to be sold? Using POA doesn’t have to mean you have lost capacity, just that you’re happy for someone else to be dealing with your affairs. My relative handed over all banking/bill paying/life admin long before they lost their marbles as they just didn’t like dealing with paperwork.

Usernamenotfound1 · 11/02/2026 18:09

If it’s a LPA it can be used without the donor losing capacity. It is different from EPA where loss of capacity needs to be certified before the POA can be invoked.

my uncle’s house was sold by his PoA, they just produced the documents. He still technically had capacity but was very confused. The attorney dealt with everything and it was not questioned.

Original poster
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.

OP posts:
theflat · 11/02/2026 17:05

A diagnosis of dementia doesn’t automatically mean lack of capacity which might be the problem here. Can the adult social services help as their assessment would be more recent?

MissMoneyFairy · 11/02/2026 16:46

Has a doctor ever confirmed he has lost capacity.