paying for care home

A question about : paying for care home

my husbands grandad at 92 has decided he wants to go into a care home. Social services has been involved and have explained that he has to sell his house to pay for the care home. What i would like to know and what im struggling to find information about is, can he sign the house over to my husband, who would have got it when he died, and instead of paying rent as it has no morgage, we morgage the house so we can pay for the care home and to do up the house? alternativly cant we rent the house out? I asked the social worker when we were discussing it and she just said she wasnt sure but she didnt think you could do that as its down as his assets, but she was new. but my thinking is if the care home is paid for then surely they dont care? any info would be great as finding info is driving me crazy. Tried citizens advice and even they werent sure just said contact a solicitor.

Best answers:

• Does your granddad know how much the care home he is looking at would cost?
  It depends on his circumstances and whether he would have to pay the full or partial costs, the home he chooses etc, but my grandmother's (nor very good) home was Ј550 a week. Is it still realistic for your family to be able to cover this from rent if his house isn't sold? He could live a good few years yet. I think you might find that you would have to buy the house from him at the market rate for it not to count as deprivation of assets.
  Ask social services about the financial assessment, and how much he would be expected to pay, then take it from there. Age uk is a good source of information and has some fact sheets.
  https://www.ageuk.org.uk/home-and-car...ome-provision/
• I'm no expert, but I think that you'll be lucky to be able to do either of the options that you are looking at. If your husbands Grandad hasn't got enough money to privately fund care (which when my gran was in a home cost just under Ј3k per month), then you need to rely on the local authority and play by their rules. If you google savings limits for care homes, there is a good link to the NHS Choices Website which explains it all, you will be able to see what you can and can't do, and one of the things is that he can't give his assets away in order to avoid the local authority from taking them.
  If you did rent out the property (and he went to a private home), then it would have to be a really nice house to cover the costs of care and of course who would pay the bills if he didn't have any tenants, as the local authority wouldn't and it good get very messy.
  Unfortunately, the care needs to be paid for and if your husbands Grandad (or anybody else) hasn't got the money to pay for it privately, then the local authority will use up all of his assets up to the last Ј23,250.
  Sorry not to be of much help.
• No-one can make grandad sell the house if the care home costs can be covered by other means.
  Presumably he has a pension, maybe Pension Credit and Attendance Allowance - add those up and see how much more he needs to pay for the home plus some spending money.
  Does anyone have Power of Attorney for him?
  He can't give away his assets but someone with POA could, say, rent the house out if that would make up the difference in the care home bills. Of course, if he's still compos mentis, he could organise the rental himself.
  If the family want to preserve his home for some reason, they could pay for his care home. The payments could take the form of a loan which would be repaid on his death so that people get back what they have paid out. This would all need to be done formally with everything signed and sealed.
  Does grandad have a will?
• I believe it is possible to rent the house out and to pay for the care home fees from the rental gained. I'm sure it has been mentioned on Martin's site. As long as the care home fees are paid I doubt if they will worry about where the money came from, but you'd need to have Power of Attorney to be able to do this on Grandad's behalf.
• I'm just wondering why you need to mortgage his house? Move in, pay Granddad a market rent from which Granddad pays care home fees, job done.
  Do just check that he has made a will, and that in that will he doesn't leave the house to anyone else. Not that he has to tell you what's in his will ...
  I'd also say that being a landlord isn't a trivial task, so renting the home out to someone else isn't to be lightly undertaken.
• Just about to post the same as Sue.
  You can move in, pay rent from which grandfather can pay for the care home.
  He will still have his pensions plus Attendance Allowance. That sound like the best bet, as you will all benefit from any increase in its value.
• Just to clarify a bit what I said about the will: obviously if you start renting a home which you expect to inherit, but then find it's been left in the will to someone else, you are then likely to be house-hunting in a hurry or having to raise a mortgage in a hurry if they're willing to sell it to you.
  The alternative is to get Granddad to transfer at least partial ownership as you move in, BUT as already established that is DD of Assets.
  However, pretty much no-one will care as long as the care home fees are paid and you do not appear to be fleecing Granddad.
  The question goes back to, does anyone have PofA for Granddad, and if not is he capable of making these decisions? If you have PofA, then you have to be able to justify anything you do like this as in HIS best interests (not yours!!!) so getting proper advice would probably be worthwhile.
  Bear in mind that at 92 he probably won't need the care home for long, especially as most people don't spend more than 3 years in a care home before 'checking out'.
• Rent the house from grandad, he can also claim high rate AA, nursing care, and all this added to his SRP will more than cover his Ј413 pw care home fee.
• To add to previous posters some points also to consider.
  Grandad will be left with a small part of his pension each week will this be enough for him ie pay for outings, podietrist, clothing, daily newpapers, brandy every night etc etc. some homes even charge for daily activities.
  Increase year on year of fees and a huge jump in fees if N/H or EMI bed required in future.
• "Presumably he has a pension, maybe Pension Credit and Attendance Allowance - add those up and see how much more he needs to pay for the home plus some spending money."
  So are these benefits still payable even if a person has to go into a Care Home?
  And if that is the case the amount payable by the individual to the Care Home is their weekly/monthly charge less the total of benefits payable to the individual? In effect the care Home take all the benefits and the individual has to pay the rest out of their own pocket?
• Errata
  My elderly mother may require to go into a Care Home in the future and I am thinking about the funding options. Hence my question regarding what happens to existing benefits. If they are still payable but there is a shortfall in the amount payable to the Care Home, then all well and good. There would be no issue in funding the shortfall from her own savings.
  As she has her own house and a little savings I asume that she would be "self-funding" and not council/taxpayer funded?