Care home fees query

[Qwenzo]

So my mum is moving to a care home imminently. At present there’s quite a bit of money - cash, isa etc so her fees will be potentially covered for a while.

The problem is her property. It is in a state of absolute disrepair, needs lots of work done in it to make it safe - in terms of the people living next door as well.

I have PoA, can I use some of my mum’s money to sort the house out, make it secure etc? It needs to be gutted, cleaned, decorated, made secure and maintained until I can sell it. No one will buy it the way it is as it’s so disgusting. I work f/t so I need people to do this for me.

Or will the authorities see this as deliberate deprivation of funds? It will potentially cost £s.

Watching as we're in the same situation.

I imagine if it can be shown that the work was needed to ensure the house sale in order to release funds for her care then that would be fine. Just keep a note of all works and why they were needed. I don't know this for certain but it seems like common sense to me.

Easiest way to check is to phone your local council and ask for an email address of the finance executives or accountant that over sees finance for elderly care. They will keep you right and you will also have a paper trail.

You could also get a free valuation from an estate agent for sale as it is, then look at what similar properties in a good state of repair are going for, and make sure there's a good margin between what you will spend on making safe, and the increase in value on eventual sale.

Hi, if you have enough money in mums savings/income for her to have residential car for a while that will be good. To qualify for LA help she needs less than 23,250 in savings. House will be taken into account, but there is a 12 week property disregard when they won't take the property into account. This may give you the chance to do the house up. Also have you thought of using the rent to put towards her fees?
I'd phone up your LA adult care dept and get them to send you information about paying for care so that you have all the info.
Even if she is self funding under the care act they still have to support her by helping her to find care, and by doing a care plan for her. Worth an ask!
Best of luck op

I would have thought you could still sell the house whatever it's state of repair. Obviously price would be affected but an estate agent would advise you.

My MIL had to do this but it was in Wales.

The house had a damaged central beam which was threatening the integrity of the entire terrace so needed fixing straight away and not after marketing/sale etc.

I’m not after LA help as such. I just want to fix the house up to seek it. I don’t want to rent it out. Fixed up, or at least to a very basic level, it’ll be worth a lot of money and if the time comes that’ll be used for care home fees. As it is, it’s affecting the neighbour’s adjoining property.

If she is paying for her fees from her own funds who is going to ask questions?

My FIL moved to a care home about 15 months ago. He had sufficient funds to allow him to do this and the house was sold after he moved. DH and his family had to spend a bit on clearance costs etc and it all came out of FILs money as DH has POA. No one has asked to see his banks account. The home just asked that they signed to say he had enough for at least two years of fees. They never asked to see any accounts.

Just get the works done and sell the house.

The questions only occur if the elderly person runs out of funds. We’ve been paying care home fees for five years. DM has surprised us.