Page 1 of Help with parents property issue please

My parents have recently paid off their mortgage and we`ve said as a family for the past couple of years that we`d look at putting it into mine and my brother`s names when it was done. This was to avoid any issues with it being used to fund care should the time arise (fingers crossed it won`t).

I`m looking at speaking to a solicitor about this to get the full current facts but wanted to see what others experiences were with this. I`ve heard lots of things such as up to 100% of the property value can be used to fund care if both parents are in that situation, that it needs to be signed over to someone else 7 years before this happens etc.

My Mum spoke to someone at the Citizen`s Advice Bureau about it last week who put her off the idea really by saying that it can still happen even if signed over as it can look like you`re purposely trying to avoid using property to pay for care but I`m not sure how tis would be judged? Surely if it was transferred years in advance when neither parent had any illness it couldn`t be looked at as "tricking" the system?

As I say I`m just looking for any advice or experiences from others on here that may have gone through the same thing please - at the end of the day I will respect my parent`s decision whatever they decide to do but I want to ensure we have all the facts before doing so.

Aren`t you only allowed to give gifts up to a certain amount each year and giving the house over would be classed as a gift?

I`ve heard the seven year rule but it was in relation to inheritance so don`t know how it differs with care homes.  Would be interested to know though.

Could you pull that trick those "free up your investment" companies use?  Actually buy your parents` house (for a nominal sum) and rent it back to them (for another notional amount)?  That would stop the house being a gift, technically.

J Mark Oates

Would it be classed as a gift though if transferring ownership through a solicitor?

Oh and forgot to say that it`s not affected inheritance wise as the house is worth approx £100k with the inheritance tax threshold only above £320k from what I`ve read, presuming that was correct.

This is a minefield!

This item was edited on Wednesday, 1st August 2012, 15:59

Property solicitor will know best but I`m pretty sure you can`t just get away with signing a house over, even if it is 7 years before death. You would definitely pay stamp duty (although not sure how much that would be on a 100k house if anything?) I`m sure that would be considered a gift which you would be taxed on.