advice on house ownership

[silverdaler]

i remortgaged my house to lend my mother in law the money to buy her council house almost 3 years ago. She has left it to me in her will. I f she should need residential care and it should be classed as an asset, can i claim it back to pay off my mortgage ? should i get something in writing with a solicitor to this effect ?

[johnny37]

I should see a solicitor immediately. If you are not shown as having an interest in it the house the way it stands at the moment is that the Local Authority can claim the house in lieu of nursing home costs. You could set up a loan arrangement but I dont know if this can be made retrospective and may be seen as attempting avoiding the nursing home fees if no arrangements exists to repay 'the loan', even though the money was provded by you to buy the house in the first place. If it is not your prime residence CGT also comes into it. This is fraught with probs. See a solicitor!