Parents have to sell home to pay care home fees. Could being autistic mean I won't have to move out?

matthewkevin84

I am autistic and my parents are having to sell the family home in order to fund their care home costs, does being disabled (autistic) possibly mean I could not be made to leave the family home? 

woodbine

AsI understand it and I might well be wrong the answer probably is yes. Have social services done a financial assessment yet? AGE UK can be a good source of information .

calcotti

See
https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/factsheets/fs38_property_and_paying_for_residential_care_fcs.pdf
Paragraph 5.1

Do you receive any disability benefits? If you do and you live there it appears that the home should be disregarded (which would mean that they cannot be required to sell it).

calcotti

Username_removed said:

There is no "requirement" to sell anywhere in the legislation. 

Thanks for correcting that, Mike.

Lisatho11987777

There may be nothing in legislation but it happens if someone paying care runs out of money the house is then sold to pay for care thsts why my mum lives with me so that doesn't happen once the money runs out then family have to apply to social services to pay for care 

Many elderly people and younger people who need care who own their own homes have lost their homes to pay for care its always happend 

There have been many campaigns to stop this happening it probably won't because of all the cut backs with care my mum pays over 2,000 a month for 40.00 hours a week 

If someone else lives in the house then you may not have to sell but when social services do assessments for care any property or assets are taken into consideration as capital this happens in England and Wales 

People have saved houses as if the person who needs care they take most of their pension for the cost then family have made the payments up 

It's a horrible situation when people have worked hard all their life to buy their own home and get money behind them  just for it to be taken for care and nothing left for family 

poppy123456

lisathomas50 said:

There may be nothing in legislation but it happens if someone paying care runs out of money the house is then sold to pay for care thsts why my mum lives with me so that doesn't happen once the money runs out then family have to apply to social services to pay for care 

This is not correct if someone is receiving disability benefits and lives in the home. As advised here..

calcotti said:

See
https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/factsheets/fs38_property_and_paying_for_residential_care_fcs.pdf
Paragraph 5.1

Do you receive any disability benefits? If you do and you live there it appears that the home should be disregarded (which would mean that they cannot be required to sell it).

Lisatho11987777

Hopefuly they won't count your parents home as capital but then it could take your parents over their limit of capital and not saying it will but benefits could stop and social services Could count the house as capital in which case they may say they can't help towards payments for care 

The other possibility is that you could get rehoused by the council or housing association if the house has to be sold 

Hope that a solution can be sorted out for you and sorry you find yourself in this position my mum came to live with me and we had to find our own carers because they said mum had to much money and owned  her own house  

poppy123456

lisathomas50 said:

Hopefuly they won't count your parents home as capital but then it could take your parents over their limit of capital and not saying it will but benefits could stop and social services Could count the house as capital in which case they may say they can't help towards payments for care 

That's not correct if the OP is claiming a disability benefit because they are living in their parents home.

Lisatho11987777

Mum had someone eith a disability claimant liveing in her house but because they didn't own the house they said they would be re housed it's down to the discretion of social services they may not lose the house as I already stated in my post but the parents could lose benefits and not be eligible for help with care 

To be fair the post doesn't say if the parents have savings above what they are allowed also doesn't state if they are on a private pension 

If they didn't have savings then they could  have help towards care and they would only have to pay a small amount and their house wouldn't come into it unless they had to go into a care home then it would come into the capital and social services would ask for it to be sold to pay for the care unless the person left in the house can afford to pay for the care 

Other situations like agreements that they are a legal key holder  or the house was signed over to a family member as long as 7 years have passed before they needed care otherwise its classed as deprivation of funds  to pay for care 

The post also doesn't state if they live at home or already in a care home or wether the parents have already signed their house over to pay for their care there are lots of different situations 

The poster has only asked if they would be allowed to stay there and their patents not have to sell but as I said it depends on alot of things its not just a straight forward answer 

Lisatho11987777

@poppy123456 it depends on the situation and as stated above there isn't enough information to answer yes or no in my latest post I have stated are the parents in a care home have the parents already signed an agreement to say they can use the house to pay for carer there is no straight answer to what the poster has posted 

poppy123456

Lisa, please read the link posted above.

5.1 Mandatory disregards
If you enter a care home permanently, your interest in your existing ‘main
or only’ home is usually taken into account as capital. However, the value
should be disregarded from the financial assessment if you no longer
occupy the home but it is still occupied, in part or whole, as their main or
only home by:
⚫ your spouse, partner, former partner, or civil partner, except where you
are estranged
⚫ a lone parent who is your estranged or divorced partner
⚫ a relative of yours, or member of your family, who is:
⚫ aged 60 or over, or
⚫ a child of yours aged under 18, or
⚫ ‘incapacitated’.
They must have been occupying the property before you went into the
care home. The disregard lasts until the situation changes, at which time
it may be included in the financial assessment.

lisathomas50 said:

Mum had someone eith a disability claimant liveing in her house

It will depend who that person was. Again please read the above. Anyway, i'm out.

calcotti

OP hasn’t said whether or not they get a disability benefit so we don’t yet know if a disregard applies.

matthewkevin84

I receive Personal Independence Payment (PIP) but not Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and I receive Employment and Support Allowance income-related (ESA)

calcotti

Because of the PIP a property disregard should apply (assuming you were living in the house before your parents moved into care).

calcotti

Teddybear12 said:

Hi @calcotti Can I just ask a question, what would happen if the son could stay in the house but could not afford the bills on his own ?

In that case, I guess, they might  have to sell and the proceeds would become the parents’ capital.

Lisatho11987777

@matthewkevin84 hi has the assessment already been done and social services have already decided we're you liveing with your mum and dad before they went into a care home did your parents make an agreement already to sell the house to cover their care 

You may need  legal advice if its already been agreed by your parents is there still a Mortgage  on your parents house ? If there is can you afford to pay it every month there is a lot I think you need to find out 

@poppy123456 even if they do have a qualifying benefit the parents could of already agreed to sell their house there is alot the poster needs to find out  my brother lived with my mum mum signed the house over to him and he sold it he brought another house with the money and rents it out until mum dies then he will sell it social services took it into account as capital so mum pays for her own care but she also gets a private pension 

poppy123456

That sounds like totally different circumstances to me. Your mum signed the house over to your brother, who then sold the house.

I would appreciate it if you could please stop tagging me.

Lisatho11987777

You keep tagging me and my brother receives pip and is in a wheel chair and has been for many years but social services still took the house as capital 

Adrian_Scope

@lisathomas50, please be careful when giving advice or sharing your experience that you're not unintentionally misadvising or giving incorrect information.

It sounds as though the situation with your mum's house was very complicated and quite different to matthewkevin84's circumstances. Signing it over or gifting the house to your brother will have further complicated it and opened it up to things such as "deliberate deprivation of assets" or "gifts with reservation benefits" or even a "potentially exempt transfer" (a brief explanation of what these mean can be read on Saga's website).