Buying a property and moving in with parents

[Pinocolada]

We (me DH and 2 DC) are thinking of moving in with my parents. This would involve them selling their property, us selling our property and buying a property together to live in.
The plan would be to have seperate living accommodation either a property with an annex or to split a bigger property into two separate living areas.

I have a DS so we would need to think about what happens when DP's pass away and inheritance so aware of this, apart from this what other pitfalls might there be that haven't been considered?

Has anyone done this and it worked well?

Do you have siblings? That is what could create most difficulty in terms of inheritance.
What of they needed care and their home had to be sold for care costs? No idea how that works in terms of shared property.
Is your DH really truly on board? What would happen if you and he split up? It's a big commitment to live with in laws long term (or indeed with your own parents).

From a practical point of view I'd think about how you'd live and design the property around it. Will you cook together /eat together? Or just have separate living spaces?

The only way I could remotely consider this is with two entirely self contained properties on the same plot. But you are not me!

My mother lived with us and we couldn’t afford a property with a separate annex. I don’t have siblings, so that issue didn’t arise, but the only way I would recommend is to have quite separate dwellings and to have the legal aspect watertight. We were tenants in common, which meant that no one could sell without the agreement of the others. That was never an issue, but it’s worth bearing in mind.

I know a family who have done that, after 7 years of DPs still being alive the big house is now theirs with no IHT.
The DPs gifted them the house but had to contribute officially like paying "rent" in various forms regularly (think upkeep/maintenance etc), they are still alive and live in the annex so worth doing early tho of course no one can guarantee living for 7 years past the gift.
U probably need legal/tax advice as no idea what records have to be kept.

Yes have a sibling so will really need to look into making sure they are not disadvantaged. But would be concerned about affordability of buying sibling out of any inheritance into the property and losing our home. Would definitely have to get legal advice on this.

We would have to have separate bathrooms, kitchen and some living space however possibly some areas could be communal depending on the set up of the property. Parents property will release much more capital so not sure about them having a small annexe and us living in a big property. Doesn't seem fair, equally we would not want the mantainance/cleaning of a large property. We don't need a bigger property than we currently have. Parents could do with downsizing but slightly.

Not too worried about care fees as hopefully DH would be over 60 by the time this became an issue so property would be disregarded.

Would need to think about how utility bills would be split.

DH has said he is on board, I was surprised but I think he is thinking we could end up living in a much nicer area and we would potentially be able to get somewhere with some land which he would love.