Transferring ownership of property

A question about : Transferring ownership of property

Could someone please advise me regarding transferring ownership of a property from an elderly mother to her daughter and son?

My other half's mother, who is now in her 80s, owns a bungalow which I'd take a guess is worth around Ј250,000 and will be left in equal shares to my other half and her brother as part of her will. A few years ago she and her late husband decided to release a little equity from the property (I think around Ј30,000), a statement for which arrived last week. It appears that the value of the payback for this equity release is climbing at an alarming rate, and currently stands at around Ј110,000. To avoid the risk of this equity release agreement swallowing up any more of the value of the house we have discussed the possibility of the ownership of the house being transferred now and paying off the equity release debt. We're not wealthy people but we could probably scrape the money together between us and figured that it would be put to a better use than earning the miserly interest rates on savings at the minute.

First of all is this easy enough to do?

The other mitigating factor would be her health. She's getting a bit frail now, has recently recovered from surgery and receives care in her home. We don't envisage that she may require residential care, but can't rule it out completely. Bearing in mind that usually involves the local authority taking ownership of the property would that have implications on any transfer to my other half and her brother?

Best answers:

• suggest you download and read the pdf doc on this link:
  https://www.ageuk.org.uk/home-and-car...ome-provision/
  Also if your mother has already done an equity release on the property then won't the equity release compnay have a first charge on the property, meaning you are not totally free to change the ownership?
• Thanks, at least I can now share this information with them.
  I don't really know the ins and outs of the equity release that was taken as it happened before I started my relationship with my other half, but she has told me it was something of an ill thought out plan to add to a rainy day fund that wasn't really necessary.
  I think the first port of call would be to discuss an early exit with the equity release company and take it from there with a view to selling the property and funding her residential care if she ever needed it.
• It sounds as if it was an 'ill-thought-out plan', although no good crying over spilt milk.
  We did ours to pay off an existing mortgage. We didn't want to go on paying a mortgage until we were 83 just in time to die and leave it to someone else. My younger daughter's untimely death was a big factor in our thinking. We didn't so much as need income as we didn't want the monthly mortgage outlay, if that makes sense.
  I think you're right in thinking the first port of call must be the mortgage lender.
• Apologies for going off the OP's original topic, but you make a good point, Agarnett.
  Whilst the threat of legal action looms with regard to deprivation of assets, I'm not too sure that much ever takes place. And whilst the LA might say that they will not fund in cases such as that, the likelihood of a person needing residential care not receiving it because the money has disappeared and then being left to fend for themselves is not going to happen.
  Perhaps the threat is enough to achieve compliance - as it should be morally. And perhaps most people are moral.
  And sometimes it is being able to make a choice of which residential home to live in due to being able to pay for it with your own money wins over giving it to your family whilst you live out your days in the home that meets the LA funding..... I know which I'd rather do!