Small care home room - storing furniture?

[ThunderFog]

Looking for ideas - DER is in a nursing home, in a tiny room. He has some furniture - chairs,desk, pictures, ornaments, several bookcases full of books. As a quick solution, I put the things in storage.
No relatives have space for these - has anyone dealt with this situation and what did you do?
DER isn't able to make decisions about his things, and does ask where they are. Is it covered by property and finance POA? Could I dispose of things? They wouldn't fetch more than the cost of a month's storage.

Can DER pay for storage?

DER = dear elderly relative?

Has his house already been sold (or was it rented?) and that's why the furniture is in storage? Could you tell a white lie and just say it's at home when he asks or does he know 'home' doesn't exist anymore? He's not going to be going back so I think it's OK to dispose of it as long as you keep documentation so there's evidence. And make sure the whole family are on board with that and have a chance to say 'oh, I would like that thing'.

are they just in care home for respite? I wouldn’t be paying for storage for items that I don’t have a plan for

My Aunt had her stuff in storage when she went into a care home. She could afford to pay for it.
Realistically she as she didn’t see her stuff again, it wasn’t a great idea to hang on to all of it but it was her money and her choice.
There was a lot of stuff.
Can you take photos of the items to show them.

It really does depend on if your relative can afford to pay for storage. If they have the money then they should be stored.

If he’s never going home, why keep them? What the point? Be realistic.

If you've the POA and they're not in a care home just for respite, then I'd be getting rid of them. What's happening with the "home"? That should be determining what you do with the possessions inside it.

Is he in care permanently? Does he not have a house or flat full of stuff rather than bits and bobs?
If his normal residence has to be sold to fund his care, then the LPA covers that, if not then it can all stay there until it needs to be sold.
I don't really understand the issue.

Get rid.

What for though if they are staying in the care home ? If it was just for respite it wouldn’t be in storage ?

If relative isn’t going to leave the care home and you have PoA, then you can distribute the items in the same way as you would after relative died. Do you know what is in the will? If the will says “grandchild Lucy should receive the shepherdess ornament” then Lucy could get it now.

when my aunt went into a care home, we (5 niece & nephews with 6 grand nieces) had a lunch at her house to organise the possessions. Each person picked one low value memento remember our aunt, and one cousin who particularly wanted a chair / table set took them. Everyone agreed the rest of the furniture should be sold and so we did. it was a “work day” not a party, but it was the simplest way to get all the family to agree.

When my elderly DM went into a care home, and realistically we knew she would never come out, we got rid of all her furniture and large belongings.
We were getting her flat ready to be rented out and the new tenant didn’t want anything left in situ.
We ended up giving the washing machine, fridge, freezer and microwave away for free and a local charity shop came and picked up her armchairs, units and dining room set.
All her personal items like photos, ornaments etc went up in our loft just in case.
Sadly she died 18 months later never seeing them again.
They then went to the charity shop.

Thankyou all, sorry for garbled post. DER was in a large room in a care home (he used to rent a tiny flat). He was able to decide what furniture to have in the big room. Now he is in a different care home and cannot have furniture but also cannot make decisions.

If the person wants it stored and they have the money to pay for it then that is what should be done regardless of if it is pointless or not.

DER isn't able to make decisions about his things, and does ask where they are

i’m not sure I’m totally in agreement with previous posters. As you say, they are his personal possessions and he does ask where they are. I don’t think I would like someone disposing of mine without my permission. However, you say he can’t “make decisions about things”; but I’m not sure exactly what that means. Sorry if I’m misunderstanding.

Have you talked to him about them? Is he cognitively able to understand? Perhaps he would be open to disposing of the furniture or larger items, say, but keeping some smaller personal possessions like ornaments? As other people have said, could he afford to put these in storage?

I put his things in storage while we figured out next steps. Realistically, most of it would go to charity shop or tip.
He has very little money. I don't think storing stuff he's never going to use is a good use of it.
@Duvetdayneeded you are right.

If he has lost capacity, the person who has LPA can just dispose of any property he has no room for, obviously any money must go back into his estate.
My MiL had a severe stroke 3 years ago. BiL and DH, have sold her house and all her possessions apart from clothes, jewellery and a few photos. She has no idea, not because we haven't told her, but because she doesn't remember.
It's very sad 😔

Fil doesn't have capacity the majority of the time, was enough for us to be allowed to sell his house. His house was gutted and cleaned by a single company, it all went to the tip, or for a round of pints if they managed to salvage anything.

There's no point keeping junk in storage. Get rid.

That. The items do not become the property of the attorney to do what they want with. If the person in the care home knows that their property exists and is asking about it, the attorney has absolutely no right to dispose of it. These items remain the property of their owner.

My mum's possessions were put into a container in a farmer's field. It was pretty cheap.
She would often ask us for things that were in the container. We would put her off, because we knew we'd never be able to find those specific items, because everything was in boxes piled up in the container.

But the container was not emptied and the contents disposed of until after she died, as she maintained an element of awareness of her belongings to the end.

My MIL's dementia meant that after a couple of years, she had no awareness even of herself, never mind her possessions. At that point my sister in law, with the help of other family members, disposed of MIL's belongings.

The attorney is meant to act in the person's best interests once they lose capacity to decide for themselves. Paying for storage for items they will never use and are of negligible value is not in their interests. It would be poor financial advice.

POA means having to make difficult decisions that the donor doesn't always agree with.

Disrespectful IMO to call ALL of someone’s furniture and personal belongings “junk”, including when you don’t even know them. Common sense decisions are necessary of course, but there is a kind of distasteful contempt in some of the posts.

Honestly, I’d get someone like British Heart Foundation to take it and tip the rest if he’s never going to be returning home.

What would you say to someone in a care home who keeps asking to ‘go home’ when they can’t?

We tell my dad he is in hospital to get his medication sorted. That seems to satisfy him.

If it’s a permanent move the sell or charity the items. Else they’d be in storage forever?