Where can I find financial advice - Dad is broke

[AbitSceptical]

Hello,

My Dad is 78 and has no money. He rents a property and is in arrears - the only reason he hasn't been evicted is because he is a protected tenant.

He owns a piece of land in the midlands which is worth about £30K - he's been trying to get planning permission on it for about 8 years, has invested about £100K in trying to do so, so he won't sell it.

If the planning comes through the land will be worth about £300K, enough to possibly buy a retirement flat... but he won't do that. He wants to build houses on the plots and sell them one by one.

We've been hoping that he can get the pp, but time and money are running out.

He hasn't enough to live on - he gets about £10K a year state pension, but that isn't enough to cover his rent (£950 per month).

He is very stubborn and won't take advice from anyone, least of all his children. He lives alone and has no friends (his choice). He is probably depressed and has alluded to suicide.

What can I do?

His rent sounds very high for a protected tenant...under the old rent act...and there are grounds to evict if you dont pay the rent...its the only grounds to evict those on a regulated tenancy...but his rent sounds far too high for it to be one of those old contracts...did he occupy before 1988...a new rent act replaced the 1977 one but gave same protection only allowed eviction under non payment ..so he needs to clear those arrears fast...
not sure why he has spent all that money on the land....sounds very odd...last resort is to put land in auction and just get some cash in...have you tried some of the elderly people charities for advice..??

your dad is 78...not sure why he is thinking of building houses on the plot etc...this sounds very difficult....contact some agencies for advice...good luck.

Don’t know if he would be eligible for any help- try cab or age uk for advice. But sounds like he has choices he doesn’t want to take.

I believe if you have assets ie land you are not entitled to claim means tested benefit.So his only choice is to sell the land but I doubt he will do that at the lower price.He will have to face his own problem but he could be homeless,Sorry you have to deal with this.

I don't want to sound ageist but surely at 78, you'd want to sit back and relax and enjoy retirement instead of wanting to build houses for sale? That's a long exhausting process to say the least. But if he's stubborn and won't listen then I guess you're stuck. Good luck OP.

Thank you so much for replying.

He moved in 2014 - its a 4 bed house and in that area is well below market rate.

It is very odd. He is very odd. He split up with his ex in 2014 and has spent every penny he has on this land / fighting for the planning permission.

He spends his days writing long technical emails to the council and business plans for new businesses.

Actually I think he needs psychological help as much as financial... you're right about choices he doesn't want to take.

I don't think there is any way you can help with this - or at least nothing he is likely to listen to, anyway. We have a friend of about the same age in a similar situation - he insists on continuing to run his 'business' instead of retiring. It takes up all his time, money and effort, and there's absolutely nothing to show for it. He's been scraping along on the verge of bankruptcy for years. Stupid thing is, if he were to sell the patent/copyright to a large manufacturer instead of fiddling about, he'd be sitting pretty and could enjoy his retirement.

Sometimes you just have to withdraw. Leave him to it and step in if he asks for help

It's not financial help he needs, his behaviour isn't rational. No one with any sense would spend 100k trying to get PP on land worth 30k. Plus the costs of trying to build. It's a non starter.

He sounds very rigid/fixated in his thoughts. Is this normal for him or is it escalating?

I would be worried from a mental health perspective not a financial one particularly.

If you can't persuade him to see a Dr then there's not much you can do. As an adult he has the right to mess up his life however he wants. Be careful you don't get suckered in to trying to solve problems of his own making and save him from his own decisions.

I agree with @HipsterCoffeeShop. He does not sound rational at all. If you can get an IFA to talk to him, they'll surely just reiterate what a mad plan he is trying to embark on.

None of it makes sense.

Well he will be evicted as on an AST....how much energy and time do you have to mop up the mess....??...this isnt a financial issue...its mental health....

I appreciate all the replies. They've really helped me to get some perspective - sometimes when you're too close to someone you stop seeing the problem.

'None of it makes sense' - this is so true. We've all tried telling him this for years but he doesn't want to hear it. He is very good at avoiding hearing the truth - he diverts the conversation and says we don't know what we're talking about. It becomes easier just to nod and smile rather than challenge him.

He has always been stubborn and conceited, but it has got worse over the last few years. Increased isolation hasn't helped.

I'm so relieved that someone understands! Yes, this is exactly like my Dad.

Get a benefit check for him to see if he can claim any means tested benefits. It may be unlikely but worth checking. For pension credit a tariff income of £1 per £500 is applied for people who have capital (savings/property other than the home they live in etc) over £10k. Does he have any disabilities? If so it would be worth seeing if claiming Attendance Allowance is an option.

I hope you don't mind me asking but why is he in a 4 bed house?

OP I would think he's not telling you the truth about having spent £100k

Is he in other debt? It sounds like he's trying to cover up something and might need to file for bankruptcy.

Check if he can claim any benefits. He should be able to claim the housing element of universal credit and council tax benefit. If he has savings/assets, the first £16,000 doesn't count and then they knock off x amount depending on how much over he is. Surely he should also look at moving somewhere smaller.

He does have assets - the £30k of land

He can't claim universal credit - he is of pension age. He should still get a benefit check though for the reasons I explained upthread - there are different capital rules for those over pension age.

chilliesandspices - sure, he's in a 4 bed house because that's the property he rented 'for 3 months' 8 years ago. It's a 90s new build and two of the bedrooms are tiny... one of the large ones he uses as his office to 'run his business' from.

I don't think he can move - he's looked into it but because he is 78 and has an appalling credit history, no-one will rent to him.

EmmaH2022 I think he has spent it all on the land - architects fees alone stand him at about 20k, then consulting fees, trips to research house building in Latvia, etc. These are supposedly 'business' costs but he paid from the money he got from selling his last house (with his ex). If he gets planning permission he will recoup his expenses - but it's a big gamble of all he owns and in the meanwhile he has nothing to live on.

He has been declared bankrupt before - when I was a child. It was awful - we lost our house and he split from my mum. I've avoided getting involved with his finances ever since. But now he's old and I'm worried he'll end up on the streets. We don't have space for him and DH has said categorically he can't live here.

I will look into the benefit check - thanks for the advice.

Just typing it all out makes my heart sink with the shame of it. 😩

I would contact citizens advice for a benefit check. His rent is high in relation to his income so he might be entitled to help with that.

If he is in rent arrears you can either ask them for debt advice or there is also Stepchange that could help with this

@AbitSceptical please try not to feel shame. The situation is not of your making. It seems DF is the author of his own misfortune, and if he has mental capacity, no one can get a financial power of attorney without his permission. He seems to be working on the 'sunken fallacy' theory. Has spent so much on this Project, he doesn't want to give it up. As you are getting your head around, there's not much you can do about this. Very trying though. FWIW i have a DM that makes very unwise financial decisions, largely in very large 'loans' to my dodgy-as-feck BIL who will never pay them back, but she is deemed to have capicity, so nowt I can do. I feel your pain. 🎩PS I can't get to the flower emoticon, but I take my hat off to you.

He may qualify for pension credit but the land could cause issues as technically he can sell. Would downsizing help?

I agree an IFA is unlikely to make a difference at the moment as your father isn’t listening to reason or behaving rationally. He sounds very selfish and self-aggrandising. Presumably the status of “businessman” is core to his identity and any the reality of his position not to be countenanced. I’m pleased your mum escaped the relationship and I hope she has done okay since.

His poor landlord too! A four bedroomed house sat with an underpaying protected tenant who thinks he’s Donald Trump.

Your DH is well within his rights to say he couldn’t accept your dad living with you. I suspect you can’t help him beyond what you are doing on the advice of people on this thread. Try to accept it is not your fault nor your responsibility. He’s clearly a tough old bird and if he ends up “penniless” in a one bed he’ll survive. Penniless will not mean literally without money.

Sadly a too common situation when someone gets entrenched in a battle with officialdom. Getting older just makes the stubborn-ness worse as they end up being obsessed.

It's not financial advise he needs - it's behavioural advice or maybe advice from a planning consultant/surveyor to try to break the deadlock re the planning. The solution is to get the planning application sorted one way or another, by him compromising his plans, and then get the land sold as it'll be worth a lot more with planning permission. He'd make a massive loss on it if he has to sell without PP.

As for developing it and building houses, he needs to forget that. He's too old. Sorry but it's true. Property development is hard work, and if he's had arguments etc with the planning dept, he'll have endless arguments with architects, builders, etc. Developing a site one by one will take years and, sad to say, that's not time he has. It may be another couple of years before he sells the first. If he's no money, how will he afford the builders/materials to build the first? None of it makes sense.