To consider renting out our house and move into MILS?

[Labradoria]

MIL is a widow. She lives in a large 5 bedroomed house with a separate annex. She's getting quite elderly and needing us to pop in several times a week. Dh has suggested the above - MIL moves into the two bed annex and we move into the large house. I'm tempted particularly as it has land. It's not in a very nice area (outskirts of run down town on a busy road) but it's secluded and set back from the road. Only thing is, our current house needs quite a lot of work. New kitchen, new kids bathroom and everything is generally a bit dilapidated. We'd have to spend about 20k on it I think and even then it's a period cottage so gets cold and draughty in winter. I'm sure renting out a property isn't as simple as dh thinks - what have we missed?!

Good idea in theory, although have a solicitor look over the details to protect what you have invested.
There is a risk that your mil will still view the big house as her home, and there would potentially be fireworks.

I'd be inclined to fix your home and stay in it, and convince MIL to downsize and move much closer to you - if you like the area you're in. I wouldn't move to a house on a busy road in a crappy town.

She's only 20 mins away but we are in a very quiet rural village

I doubt it, she's very nice and unusually for mumsnet we get on really well. But obviously it's a possibility!

What does your MIL think of leaving her home and moving into the annexe?

what would happen to all her furniture?
What if the house needs sold for care fees?

Would your house be up to standard for renting? Does your DH realise how much is involved - legalities of safety certs and the likes? The costs involved, especially if you ever need to evict a tenant?

Also you need to think of the little niggles - the big stuff you can work through, it’s the small things that bug you every day.

No he has no idea and nor do I tbh!

Does she have savings to use in the event that she needed to move into a care or nursing home? Health can sometimes deteriorate rapidly and if she needs to sell her home to pay for care, but you're living in it with your own home rented out....that could be messy.

There might be a lot more work than you realise to fix up your cottage, there's a need government thing in place that ALL rental properties have to have at least a C epc rating by 2028. So if your house doesn't have it now you're going to have to see what you can do to get it up to a C otherwise it won't be rentable.

think carefully about all the motivations involved

• are you doing this to save / make money?
• Or are you doing it to provide better care for MIL?

if the former, will it actually make money? If the latter, are you really up for doing all the care work?

how will your lives change, in terms of communting / travel to schools / kids contact with friends etc? will that be better or worse?

what would happen if MIL needed to move into a care home? or worse, died suddenly? would your DH inherit the house? would there be taxes etc?

what would happen if MILs house needed 20K spent on fixing the roof / maintenance? how who would pay?

if you think out some of these scenarios in detail now, that can help you make the right decisions.

Yeah this will be a problem

You’d have to do a lot of research and learning before renting out your property.

This week alone I’ve dealt with a boiler service, expensive repair and gas safety cert.

So does this mean stone houses that can't have wall insulation and old houses with traditional windows can't be rented out ever?

As it stands all rented homes need to have a minimum of an E rated EPC, but in the not too distant future this is being raised to a minimum of a C. My understanding is you can get round this if you can demonstrate that you have spent a certain amount trying to improve the rating.

As well as thinking about renting your place out (don’t forget landlord insurance; you will need to notify your mortgage company to let them know and they may insist you switch products; having a pot of cash available to deal with repairs, etc) you need to check the implications should your MIL have to go into care and also when (in the distant future hopefully) she dies, you will need to consider if there are inheritance tax issues - you may not have the spare cash to clear an IHT bill without selling the property.

Also be aware that if she is, to all intents and purposes, living in the same property as you, you may find yourself becoming her full-time carer- are you prepared to do that?

Basically you need to talk to a solicitor and get things drawn up properly so that you cannot be accused of taking advantage of her and so that you are also protected.

I'm sure we could deal with those things, or employ an agent to do them or to advise.

Yes we'd definitely talk to a solicitor. If we had to sell the house to pay fees we'd sell the annex (iits actually a completely independent property).

Even with an agent you still need to know your legal responsibilities because many of them are, to be Frank, shit.

My point was also about the costs of it. On top of the 20k you mentioned you need to have a pot of cash to cover all of those things.

Theres no making tenants wait until payday for a new boiler or emergency repair - even if it’s what you’d have done for yourself.

Is your husband an only child? If he is is there some way you can legally take over the property, sell yours and make it your home or is that not something you would want long term x

My understanding is that as long as you can prove you have spent money (I think it is capped currently at £4,000) in trying to make improvements you can rent the property out. However there is nothing stopping the government changing that cap in the future and saying you have to spend £10k or £20k before they will grant the necessary exemptions. The EPC normally lasts a good few years, but I don’t know if there is a requirement to get a new one more regularly for rental properties.

What's the benefit, and who is doing the benefitting here? Would you pay MIL rent to live there? Or buy the big house off her? If not, how exactly does she get fair benefit from this arrangement?

Just remember she can’t simply “gift” the house to you and your DH. While people like to quote the “7 year rule” when talking about inheritance and care home fees, councils are within their rights to go back as far as they like to look for anything that looks like intentional deprivation of assets.

Do both of you work? Outside the home?

I would be worried this will turn into you being full time carer/company for MIL whilst DH swans around as normal?

Does DH have siblings?

She would benefit because she wouldn't be lonely and we'd be able to look after her. She's actually suggested this to dh.

We'd benefit as our mortgage would be paid by the rent amd we'd have 5 acres of land.

Totally willing to have the plan picked apart as these things are never that easy

Never. No matter how well I got on with them.

Familiarity breeds contempt. If it doesn't work out it will be much harder to get out of the situation than it was to get into it. Also, renting can be a costly and time-consuming business.

The loss of privacy, even if she's living in a separate annex, is something I'd find intolerable. You should also bear in mind that it may also come to a situation in which you are providing her with full-time care; from what you say in your OP it sounds as though that time might not be so far off. As anyone who's ever done this will testify, it's not a breeze. And, as always, it's women who are seen as the default carers. This responsibility very often ends up being placed upon them.

I'd think very seriously about your obligations, moral and legal, and try to foresee the potential issues that could arise from this. Personally I wouldn't consider it.

I’d get 3 estates agents around and ask them