Occupational Rights

Cazcaz

Registered User
Apr 3, 2021
338
0
Hi all.

A friend recently sent this to me, it comes from a solicitor’s website and dated February 2020:

“If a daughter or son has lived with the parent requiring care their whole life, they may have occupational rights in relation to that family home and this could mean the value of the family home cannot be taken into consideration on any financial assessment. The question of whether a person has an occupational right over a property is one of fact and will be assessed per individual circumstance.”

Does anyone know anything about this? I’ve never heard of ‘occupational right’ when it comes to property disregards.
 

nitram

Registered User
Apr 6, 2011
30,080
0
Bury
Similar is on many solicitors' sites touting for business, I doubt if any take an instruction on a 'no win no fee' basis.

An argument that can succeed is to provide documentary evidence that the son has made a significant contribution over many years to maintaining the structure of the property, not just decorating.
 

canary

Registered User
Feb 25, 2014
25,018
0
South coast
Hi @Cazcaz

I suspect that this is referring to property disregard when someone moves into a care home and that the term "occupational right" is solicitor jargon.

You probably know this already, but when someone moves into a care home, if there is a spouse, or close family member who is over 60 yrs old/registered disabled living there then the property is a mandatory disregard. I think this quote refers to discretionary disregard - please note the "may" and "could" in the quote. If a relative has lived there for many years (especially if its the whole of their life and they have provided care for the person moving into a care home) then they can apply to the LA for discretionary disregard and the LA will make the decision. You do have to actually apply, though - the LA wont consider this automatically.
 

wilko73

Registered User
Feb 8, 2021
222
0
I have lived in my home for 48 years since birth and look after my mother,I must say besides the stress of being a carer it's horrible worrying about losing my home if mum ever has to be placed in a care home and it's something i think about quite often.
It's sad that i don't fall in to any of the disregard brackets,as far as i can see you can be over 60 and have lived a seperate life from your parent and be living in your own place then sell that move in as a carer to your parents house for 6 months say then decide it's too much and bag a house when you may not have had hardly any contact or interest for years
 

Cazcaz

Registered User
Apr 3, 2021
338
0
I have lived in my home for 48 years since birth and look after my mother,I must say besides the stress of being a carer it's horrible worrying about losing my home if mum ever has to be placed in a care home and it's something i think about quite often.
It's sad that i don't fall in to any of the disregard brackets,as far as i can see you can be over 60 and have lived a seperate life from your parent and be living in your own place then sell that move in as a carer to your parents house for 6 months say then decide it's too much and bag a house when you may not have had hardly any contact or interest for years
I totally agree. I am possibly going to end up in a similar situation. I’m a few years younger than you and live with my parents. If anything happened to dad, mum’s Alzheimer’s means she would probably end up in a care home.
the only ’help’ for me is that my sister is autistic so may count as “incapacitated “ as that is defined as someone entitled to Disibility Living Allowance or PIP. So a mandatory disregard could be applied to the house.
 

Cazcaz

Registered User
Apr 3, 2021
338
0
Thank you @canary and @nitram i thought it would likely be referring to the disregards I already knew of, but I thought I’d ask. This forum is always great for advice/checking facts etc.
thanks again
:)
 

canary

Registered User
Feb 25, 2014
25,018
0
South coast
I have lived in my home for 48 years since birth and look after my mother,I must say besides the stress of being a carer it's horrible worrying about losing my home if mum ever has to be placed in a care home and it's something i think about quite often.
It's sad that i don't fall in to any of the disregard brackets,as far as i can see you can be over 60 and have lived a seperate life from your parent and be living in your own place then sell that move in as a carer to your parents house for 6 months say then decide it's too much and bag a house when you may not have had hardly any contact or interest for years
Hi wilco. You may not fall in the bracket for a mandatory disregard, but if you have lived in your mums house all your life and have looked after your mum before she moved into a care home, then I think you would stand a good chance of getting a discretionary disregard. The Local Authority dont advertise that this exists and you do have to actually apply for it at the time of the financial assessment, but dont automatically assume that you will have to lose your home,
 

wilko73

Registered User
Feb 8, 2021
222
0
Hi wilco. You may not fall in the bracket for a mandatory disregard, but if you have lived in your mums house all your life and have looked after your mum before she moved into a care home, then I think you would stand a good chance of getting a discretionary disregard. The Local Authority dont advertise that this exists and you do have to actually apply for it at the time of the financial assessment, but dont automatically assume that you will have to lose your home,
Hi thank you,that at least gives me some hope
 

wilko73

Registered User
Feb 8, 2021
222
0
Dear @wilko73,

I was once in your situation and I've still got the receipts going backs years. You need receipts for all the ordinary bills, anything to do with caring, insurance and maintenance.

MaNaAk
Hi thanks is that what they ask for then if you want to try and keep the home,all i paid was board money to my mother since i left school but not now as i only have carers allowance to live on.i hadn't paid any bills directly my mother would have paid bills with the help of my monthly rent/board or what ever it's called,But since i have been looking after mum and due to the fact she is short of money due to paying a large home care bill i pay the reduced council tax that isn't in my name but i pay the amount in to my mums account as the direct debit is paid from there and i pay the internet bill and water bill,the water bills in mums name but i pay it the 2 times a year we are billed.Mum pays for the gas and electricity.The house hasn't had any money spent on it in years as we haven't had the money
 

MaNaAk

Registered User
Jun 19, 2016
11,751
0
Essex
Hi thanks is that what they ask for then if you want to try and keep the home,all i paid was board money to my mother since i left school but not now as i only have carers allowance to live on.i hadn't paid any bills directly my mother would have paid bills with the help of my monthly rent/board or what ever it's called,But since i have been looking after mum and due to the fact she is short of money due to paying a large home care bill i pay the reduced council tax that isn't in my name but i pay the amount in to my mums account as the direct debit is paid from there and i pay the internet bill and water bill,the water bills in mums name but i pay it the 2 times a year we are billed.Mum pays for the gas and electricity.The house hasn't had any money spent on it in years as we haven't had the money
Dear @wilko,

Yes keep all those statements just in case also did your mum ever transfer the deeds of the house into your name?

Good luck

MaNaAk
 

wilko73

Registered User
Feb 8, 2021
222
0
Hi,sadly no,the house has always been in mum's name.we were just living a nice happy life with no worries and then dementia happened,we hadn't thought of anything like this ever happening

thanks anyway
 

MaNaAk

Registered User
Jun 19, 2016
11,751
0
Essex
Hi,sadly no,the house has always been in mum's name.we were just living a nice happy life with no worries and then dementia happened,we hadn't thought of anything like this ever happening

thanks anyway
Same here @wilko but if you store those statements and receipts it should show what you have. Your mum may have paid for the house but you have paid her. The council looks at every scenario.

Try to relax

MaNaAk
 

MaNaAk

Registered User
Jun 19, 2016
11,751
0
Essex
Hi,sadly no,the house has always been in mum's name.we were just living a nice happy life with no worries and then dementia happened,we hadn't thought of anything like this ever happening

thanks anyway
Same here @wilko but if you store those statements and receipts it should show what you have paid. Your mum may have paid for the house but you have paid her. The council looks at every scenario.

Try to relax

MaNaAk
 

wilko73

Registered User
Feb 8, 2021
222
0
Hi @MaNaAk at the moment the council tax payment leaves my mothers account to pay the council tax and i transfer money to her account for the same amount on the same day to cover it,do you think it would be better for me to try and change the direct debit to leave my account instead to save this hassle each month,and also it makes things more official in terms of me being seen paying a bill direct to the council if it ever comes to the crunch and i'm fighting them to stay in my family home?The bill will always need to be in my mums name as it's her home and we are able to get the most discounts this way but it would just be the bank account that is paying it that would need to be changed on direct debit instruction
 

MaNaAk

Registered User
Jun 19, 2016
11,751
0
Essex
Hi @MaNaAk at the moment the council tax payment leaves my mothers account to pay the council tax and i transfer money to her account for the same amount on the same day to cover it,do you think it would be better for me to try and change the direct debit to leave my account instead to save this hassle each month,and also it makes things more official in terms of me being seen paying a bill direct to the council if it ever comes to the crunch and i'm fighting them to stay in my family home?The bill will always need to be in my mums name as it's her home and we are able to get the most discounts this way but it would just be the bank account that is paying it that would need to be changed on direct debit instruction
Dear @wilko73 ,

Yes I think that's a good idea but I've just got off the phone to my council after having waited for ninety minutes for them to answer.

MaNaAk
 

wilko73

Registered User
Feb 8, 2021
222
0
better not to phone anyone on a monday morning if you can help it
Hi thanks you're right it's a terrible time to do things like that,mind you I've been trying to get hold of Avro energy customer services for a week but haven't been able to get through.
I'm also thinking about getting the water bill in my name ,i do pay the bill directly with my card twice a year but might change it to my name on the bill
 

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