Care home fees

[Lazarusbal]

My friend's partner was living with his mother in a house owned wholly by the mother. The mother has just been moved into a nursing home where fees of £650 per week are being paid out of her savings. Seemingly she has around £60000 saved not least due to friend's partner having lived pretty much his whole adult life ther

Friend's partner now intends to buy the house (that he's always lived in so only residence) from his mum in the rundown state that's it's in ie for under market value in a private sale, then do it up, move in with friend and sell house.

I'm concerned local authority will come after him. They seem to think it's all ok. I hope they're right, but are they?

Nobody is going to care until she has gone through her savings & reaches the threshold for local authority support (contributions start at either £28 or £26k, can't remember which). Until then she is privately funding. Deprivation of assets can be an issue & particularly if they took place when care home fees were known about ie not 29 years prior. However if she is getting the money from the sale of the house to the son I doubt it would be an issue. She still has the equivalent monetary value iyswim.

Not an expert but that is my understanding.

It depends how much below market value he's looking at buying it for, as that would be the only part that was deprivation of capital.

So if the house is worth £500k, and an estate agent says they would market it at £480k due to needing a lot of work doing, he could buy it for that amount. If he only paid £400k then he would be considered to have deprived her of £80k capital, and may be forced to contribute this amount towards the cost of her care.

Of course as stated above this would only be a concern if she goes through all her savings to pay for care.

If the house is worth a significant amount then he may also need to be aware of inheritance tax rules if she dies within 7 years.

I have heard councils use insolvency laws to enforce deprivation of assets.

Unless her condition changes and she gets continuing care.

I think that as long as he pays the market value for the property and puts this money into his mother's account there should be no problem.
He needs to contact AGE UK and ask them to recommend an experienced solicitor.
Local authorities employ very expensive lawyers and can go through all the old person's financial affairs with a fine tooth comb. Deprivation of assets is taken very seriously so he must make sure there is absolutely no chance of being accused of this.

Fluffycloudland77

If she has any assets at all she won't get any money from anyone.
The nursing component of care funding is about £100 per month and you have to be on life support to qualify for that.

(My dad was blind, confined to a wheelchair, had an indwelling catheter, and was in serious heart failure. He didn't qualify for any nursing input whatsoever. Well - not until he developed pressure sores, but it was decided the district nurse could deal with those, so still didn't need "nursing care".
£900 per week self funding to be looked after by people who didn't understand the basics of preventing pressure sores. He was allowed £10 per week spending money - out of his own savings, until he died).

My point being that the rules are very, very strict and it is best to take legal advice.

3littlefrogs Eligibility for NHS Continuing Healthcare including the Nursing contribution (currently £112.00 per week) are based on assessment of health need only, financial means do not come into it at all.

also being on life support is not a determining factor for Nursing contribution, plus a particular Diagnosis does not mean someone automatically qualifies either!

He needs to check if the house would need to be sold anyway. If he has always lived there then it may not need to be as it is his home.
If he wishes to buy it and his mother owns it then he may not be able to do this if she no longer has the capacity to agree to this.
He really needs to see a solicitor and ask these questions.

I was being sarcastic coconut - due to bitterness I feel about the way self funders are treated.
It is incredibly hard to get any continuing care contribution.
I am a nurse and a carer, having gone through the experience of dealing with several care homes for my own relatives, and visiting care homes as part of my job.

I talk to families regularly who cannot understand how their relatives do not not qualify, when they actually need quite a lot of nursing care, but don't get it. It is detrimental to the quality of life of someone in a care home with no qualified nurses, when they are deemed not to need the nursing care that would improve their comfort, pain control, general health.

My mother's need for nursing care was assessed by a social worker.
She died in terrible pain and distress when proper nursing care might have helped.

3littlefrogs Sorry to hear you and your Mother have had such experiences.

I am also a Nurse.

As I am sure you know Social Workers are not qualified to assess Nursing Needs - have you considered exercising your right to appeal the decisions?

Regarding the OP - I think the Friend's Partner can continue to live in the house and a charge will be put on it by Social Services to recoup any fees from the Mother's Estate if necessary after she has died. If the Mother can afford to completely self fund as long as necessary and does not meet NHS CHC criteria the bill will need to be paid from her assets. Social Services only become involved in funding once assets fall below a certain level.

I agree if Mother does not have mental capacity at present house sale cannot go ahead now. Also advise confirming with a Solicitor as PP mentioned.