Bit Home & Garden, bit Legal Advice, bit checking I've not utterly lost my mind...
I'm hitting 40 in the next couple of months. Divorced, two children who are not in my life - we don't need to get into that, but this is the background.
I work a fully remote role at present, its currently a contract role but expected to switch to perm in the next 3 months. If this doesn't pan out for any reason I'm not short of offers and remote work or 80% remote work is expected to be achievable in any role I consider in the future.
I currently rent a flat which is more than sufficient for my needs. I have a deposit approaching six figures saved up and was planning on purchasing a house once the uncertainty around a perm job resolves itself.
My mum lives in the Essex countryside, tiny village, roughly 10 miles from a train station, bum-end of nowhere.
My mothers health is failing, she is in and out of hospital every 3 months. Mainly COPD related as she is a 60 a day smoker who refuses to change. She has also had one serious fall that resulted in a hip replacement... this has been building over the last 3 years but it is that the point that she can no longer cope on her own. She owns a two bed bungalow outright in this quaint Essex village. She has owned it for roughly 20 years and during that time it has had minimal work doing to it, in good condition I'd suggest the value to be in the region of £500k, in its current state I think £450k is a stretch. She will not move, this has been passionately debated, it is not going to happen.
If nothing is done my mum will be forced to accept care support in less than 2 years at current rate of progress. As she owns her property this care would be funded from the value of her home, eating away at any inheritance that would pass to me, this is not an acceptable scenario for her and something I would also like to avoid.
Moving closer to my mum isn't an option, the sort of properties that would be acceptable to me are either out of budget or fixer-uppers that would require more capital than I have available.
The only compromise that we have been able to arrive at is that I will need to go and live with her. I can provide the day to day support she needs, do the shopping run, do the hospital trips, etc. The property at the moment is too small to accommodate us both. We get on well, but we both like our own space and living together long term in a two bed bungalow will not work.
We have arrived at a potential solution, but I'm aware there are potential pitfalls we need to address. The proposal - mother gifts me 2/3rds of the property and we become co-owners. Using existing funds and a mortgage in the region of £100k-£200k I pour money into this property to bring it up to a livable standard - loft extension, rear extension, new bathroom, new kitchen, double glazing throughout... about 1 step shy of knocking the place down and starting again. This would create a property in excess of 2000 Square Feet, and allow us to have completely separate living areas with the only shared space being the kitchen / garden. We think we can make this work.
Obviously the property could be liable for IHT if she were to pass in the next 7 years, we're not overly concerned about this given my dads IHT allowance was not utilised at all on his passing. As she will own 33% of the new property I understand that this could also be considered in the means assessment for any future care requirements - although I'll be banking enough to afford in-home support should it be required in the short term. If things do progress longer-term down the care home route that is something that will need to be considered and will most likely result in the sale of the property.
There are obviously drawbacks for me, I'm 40 years old and technically living with my mum, my social life is likely to die on its backside, but I have an obligation to her for all that she has done for me over the years and I am willing to accept this. There are obviously dating drawbacks as well, but I can live with those. Another thing to be considered is the level of disruption the building works will cause, a very close friend of the family owns a property development company that specialises in loft conversions / extensions and has suggested that a phased approach to works could be adopted so that the whole property isn't a building site at once.
What else am I missing? Have I utterly lost my mind?
I'm hitting 40 in the next couple of months. Divorced, two children who are not in my life - we don't need to get into that, but this is the background.
I work a fully remote role at present, its currently a contract role but expected to switch to perm in the next 3 months. If this doesn't pan out for any reason I'm not short of offers and remote work or 80% remote work is expected to be achievable in any role I consider in the future.
I currently rent a flat which is more than sufficient for my needs. I have a deposit approaching six figures saved up and was planning on purchasing a house once the uncertainty around a perm job resolves itself.
My mum lives in the Essex countryside, tiny village, roughly 10 miles from a train station, bum-end of nowhere.
My mothers health is failing, she is in and out of hospital every 3 months. Mainly COPD related as she is a 60 a day smoker who refuses to change. She has also had one serious fall that resulted in a hip replacement... this has been building over the last 3 years but it is that the point that she can no longer cope on her own. She owns a two bed bungalow outright in this quaint Essex village. She has owned it for roughly 20 years and during that time it has had minimal work doing to it, in good condition I'd suggest the value to be in the region of £500k, in its current state I think £450k is a stretch. She will not move, this has been passionately debated, it is not going to happen.
If nothing is done my mum will be forced to accept care support in less than 2 years at current rate of progress. As she owns her property this care would be funded from the value of her home, eating away at any inheritance that would pass to me, this is not an acceptable scenario for her and something I would also like to avoid.
Moving closer to my mum isn't an option, the sort of properties that would be acceptable to me are either out of budget or fixer-uppers that would require more capital than I have available.
The only compromise that we have been able to arrive at is that I will need to go and live with her. I can provide the day to day support she needs, do the shopping run, do the hospital trips, etc. The property at the moment is too small to accommodate us both. We get on well, but we both like our own space and living together long term in a two bed bungalow will not work.
We have arrived at a potential solution, but I'm aware there are potential pitfalls we need to address. The proposal - mother gifts me 2/3rds of the property and we become co-owners. Using existing funds and a mortgage in the region of £100k-£200k I pour money into this property to bring it up to a livable standard - loft extension, rear extension, new bathroom, new kitchen, double glazing throughout... about 1 step shy of knocking the place down and starting again. This would create a property in excess of 2000 Square Feet, and allow us to have completely separate living areas with the only shared space being the kitchen / garden. We think we can make this work.
Obviously the property could be liable for IHT if she were to pass in the next 7 years, we're not overly concerned about this given my dads IHT allowance was not utilised at all on his passing. As she will own 33% of the new property I understand that this could also be considered in the means assessment for any future care requirements - although I'll be banking enough to afford in-home support should it be required in the short term. If things do progress longer-term down the care home route that is something that will need to be considered and will most likely result in the sale of the property.
There are obviously drawbacks for me, I'm 40 years old and technically living with my mum, my social life is likely to die on its backside, but I have an obligation to her for all that she has done for me over the years and I am willing to accept this. There are obviously dating drawbacks as well, but I can live with those. Another thing to be considered is the level of disruption the building works will cause, a very close friend of the family owns a property development company that specialises in loft conversions / extensions and has suggested that a phased approach to works could be adopted so that the whole property isn't a building site at once.
What else am I missing? Have I utterly lost my mind?
