owing the council money for nan stay in home?

[claireholly1]

does anyone know where i can find out how i can get out of owing the council money? my nan was a council tenant around 25 years ago and my mum dad and her brought the property at a discount due to my nan living there for a long time, mymum and dad let her live there for free and she paid no mortgage. But when my nana had to go in a home we found out after she passed away that we owed the council �40k for her stay, we offered the council the money for the discount they gave us but they refused this, just looking to see if there is any way of getting out of this as i cant see my parents being able to afford this and i am very worried. thank you for any help x

[sara3]

realistically, your parents have gained on getting the property cheaper.. and if you can offer to repay the discount, why not just pay the money owing?

were they not aware of the costs of residential care? surely bills would have been sent while she was in care?

[claireholly1]

no the council sent a letter appologising half way through her stay as we were told that this was paid for by the coucil and not us. but they admitted the mistake 5 years later, the discount was o nly �4k and at the time of buying the house a further �40 (which is what is owed now) they could have afforded back then something alot nicer and bigger, so infact if my parents were aware at the time they would have brought a seperate property. the other reason why they lived with my nan was that they culd care for her but ove time she grew to ill forn them to provide proper care for her., either way they would have lived with her but would have taken the discount if they had know this. thank you for your help.

[Ethel]

Was the house in your grandmother's name at the time she went in to care, regardless of who paid the mortgage?

The house will be worth well over �40k now, so your parents will just have to take out another mortgage to pay the bill.

[bednobs]

hiya, as ethel has said, if the huse was in the name of the grandma at the time of her death then it was her assett, and the council have the right to ask for the money for the care she recieved ut of her estate - the house. Your parents may have to sell the house or remrtgage

[Barmaid]

You need to take legal advice.

If your parents paid the purchase price and your nan contributed the discount, there is argument for a common intention constructive trust (ie the parties intended that your parents should own the property). Their contribution was the purchase monies, your nan's contribution was �4k so even if you argued on the basis of a resulting trust (ie the contribution you both made), your nan's contribution is only going to be a small percentage. There is also a potential estoppel argument on the basis of proprietary estoppel (ie your parents acted to their detriment on the basis of a promise made by your nan that the property would be theirs). The council can only pursue her for the extent of the assets she owned.

I think you need to have legal advice from someone with a trusts background.

[factor-fiction]

I agree with barmaid, but I'm not too confident you can avoid these fees. Have you checked whether your/her solicitor did some form of trust at the time of purchase?.

I understood the council house sales process was designed to allow council tenants to purchase their homes ata discount, rather than allow property speculators, families, friends etc to get a discounted house. So I think the property would be in her name.

Let us know how you get on