Three and a half years ago myself, hubby and my father decided to sell our house and my dad's second floor flat to jointly buy our present home. Dad is on the deeds (tenants in common) and owns a third share of the property.
At the time dad's mental health and memory was fine although his body was failing him. In fact we felt he was an accident waiting to happen, due to vascular disease (PVD) to his legs. He was very independent, but with no lift in the block, he was finding great difficulty climbing the steps to his second floor flat. Dad was so happy about this move and almost every day he would say how much he loved living in this house. Everything seemed perfect.
During the last couple of years dad’s physical health further declined and he also now has a diagnosis of Vascular Dementia. For the last two years I have cared for him 24/7.
Unfortunately after two weeks respite care last year he returned home with a chest infection UTI and C Diff and was admitted to hospital. Once clear of the infections dad was assessed but not granted CHC. I was told many times at the hospital that dad should go into nursing home care due to his worsening and challenging dementia.
I took advice from our local authority finance dept and was told to look at this document from direct gov.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/CaringForSomeone/CareHomes/DG_10031523
Particularly the following (taken from the web page).
Assessing care home fees for home owners
If you move into a care home permanently, the local council may count your home as capital from 12 weeks after you arrive there. However, your home won't be counted as capital if any of the following people still live there:
• your husband, wife, civil partner or someone you live with as a partner
• a close relative who is 60 or over, or incapacitated
• one of your children (including adopted children) who is under 18
• your ex-husband, ex-wife, ex-civil partner or ex-partner if they are a single parent
Your local council may choose not to count your home as capital if your carer lives there.
Hubby and I are under 60. Hubby has had open heart surgery five times during the last fifteen years however he chooses to work for as long as he can and not claim benefits.
I have been dad’s full time carer for two and a half years however this is only grounds for appeal.
I was told that unless we satisfied the criteria above, dad’s equity in this house would have to be used to fund his care after his savings decline to 14,000. The local authority would place a charge on the house at the land registry. None of our equity would be used to fund his care. If/when we sold the house this charge would have to be paid off. If we choose to continue living in our house after dad passes away, from the 57th day after his passing interest will be charged on the debt. The interest is variable according to the base lending rate at the time....she quoted lots of figures that completely baffled me, so I asked what that meant in actual cash – At the moment it would mean 4p per thousand per day but that is variable and subject to change.
I have dad home now and will continue to care for him for as long as I can. He has improved immensely since coming home and needs a smaller care package than was originally planned by the social worker.
I am glad we bought this house with dad as I am sure it improved his quality of life initially and also enabled me to be on hand to give him the love and care that he will continue to need.