Thank you very much oldrouge for your kind help

cheers

sidley

Hi there,

It has taken HSBC 8 weeks to reply to my complaint (pretty standard with them, they take it to the wire). They phoned and I spoke to the customer service dept.

He did apologise for the lack of communication and they way they have handle the case and gave me £150 comp.

They will only grant a 12 month extension and tomorrow their mortgage dept will be calling to try and sell me something (changing our mortgage or increase my monthly payments - according to him).

However, he did say that if I had my inheritance by the end of the extension, then a further extension, to dispose of the assets, could be arranged presumably with a hefty arrangement fee!

My question is - is this the way that banks are supposed to deal with this type of case? Is there anything else we could do or is this the best we can expect as we are having to look after 2 very frail (and in my mothers case terminally ill) parents?

If they insist that I have to transfer to a higher payment (difficult to do as my wife has just gone down to part-time so she can look after her v. frail 97 y.o father).

Also could you please advise us,

my father-in-law is selling his bungalow in Kent. He has a cash buyer and all the papers are with solicitors so, it is sold subject to contract (fingers crossed). He has already mentioned that he doesn't need this money and he will give some/all to his 2 daughters.

However, it will not be more than the inheritance threshold of £650,000 (his + late mother-in-laws combined allowance) so that's not a problem. But we have been warned by a friend that should he get worse and requires say a care home then the council could/would ask for the money back. This would leave us having to raise a mortgage again.

BTW he has enough savings/shares/pension to fund 2 years of care home without the need to use the money from the sale of his house. But I know that gifts from parents have a 7 year cut off re. inheritance tax. I assume that's the same for councils to reclaim money for care home costs?

anyway thank you in these very challenging times for us.

sidley

Hi.

Answering the part of your post about the council claiming back money that's been given away by someone who later needs council funding for their care. Yes they can and I'm not sure there's a time limit. Sorry. They call it deprivation of capital.

HB

Well at least it’s some progress

Can’t see they can “sell” you

anything, or charge you for a years

extension

Going by your original post, this may

well prove sufficient

Let’s see what they have to say in their call

Hi there,

thanks to oldrouge and honeybee

Had the phone call today, it seems they want us to fill in an income/expenditure form before they can discuss the options.

I've also done some research about the deprivation of income re care home fees. Helpful website says that in the case of inheritance tax the 7 year rule applies, but in the case of care home fees there is not time limit, so the local authority can go back as far as they like.

However, to recover monies they would have to go court and prove deprivation of income was indeed intended. They also say that in the case of gifted money being used to buy a house or pay off a mortgage, then they cannot force you to sell up or get another mortgage. All they can do is put a charging order on your house (presumably via court) so when you sell they can recover money owed.

cheers again.

sidley

Unlocked

I need further advice on this topic.

Update:

HSBC only granted us a 1 year extension with a modest increase in monthly payments.

My wife's mother died at the end of August last year. We were able to persuade her father to move to a special mobility flat (rented) 1/2 mile away from us.

As my wife and her sister have power of attorney they sold his bungalow (E. Sussex) just before Xmas.

He has a full set of marbles but is incredibly frail/ 80% blind (unable to move even around the flat w/out electric wheelchair).

After the sale he wanted to give my wife and her sister the bulk of the money from the sale.

When we talked to the solicitor dealing with the sale, she advised us strongly not to do that, as being attorney's you cannot benefit financially from their father's money. This she said, could cause an investigation if they found out and remove you as attorneys as well as having to repay the money.

I can understand this if he wasn't able to maker his own decisions (he's as sharp as a tack), but as he put it " I don't need the money - it's no use to me". His income from pensions etc., outways his outgoings considerably.

N.B. The family have decided that when he can no longer live semi-independently (he has an army of carers as well as us going in several times a day), he will come to live with us til his death. So, not going into a home.

My question is was the solicitor correct? If so,  what do I suggest to my bank, can I ask them for another year extension?

cheers to everyone

sidley

PS.  my mother has moved to my sister's house and is being looked after by her.

Her house is now empty but she refuses any idea of selling as she believes she is going to go back once she's better (there is no hope of that).

End the POA then....

https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney/end