House for Daughter

[WaterGirl2000]

Hi, my daughter has autism and severe learning disability, lacking capacity to make a decision about where to live. I am thinking about buying her a house so that she has a home for life. Can i do this?

Adrian

[Jofisher]

Hi Adrian I’m looking at my safe homes it might be worth you checking them out as my son has severe LD Autism and lacks capacity as well. See what you think

[Chocolate-heals-all]

we’re in a similar position. We are hesitating for two reasons which probably will have occurred to you. First, if our son owns his own property, this may at some point reduce his eligibility for certain benefits and for state-funded care. For example, if he later goes into residential care, he will be forced to sell his home to pay for the care. We don’t know how rules will change as he gets older. Second, if he owns anything he will attract predators who want to snaffle it by “befriending” him. Therefore we’re thinking of arranging for him to live somewhere which is owned by a discretionary trust: if he isn’t sole beneficiary then it isn’t considered under any means test. Other beneficiaries would be other family members or charities. At this stage, such an arrangement is beyond our means: we don’t know anyone who can come up with the kind of money that would be required. There is also a shared-ownership scheme run by the government called HOLD, something like Homes for peOple with Long-term Disability, where providers fix it so that the person owns a small proportion of their home and pays a subsidised rent to a housing association for the proportion they don’t own. They can get an interest-only mortgage paid for out of their disability benefits. I think that the “My Safe Home” mentioned by Jo might be tapping in to this. Mencap have Golden Lane Housing Association, and they might support people to do what you’re wanting.

To protect your daughter from predatory “friends”, if you do buy a home for her, one option you may have already taken up is to get deputyship for her for Property and Finance. Then you will have clear control over her home, and she won’t be able to give it away to someone, on an act of impulse. The risk of not doing so is that, otherwise, the local authority may appoint a deputy for her (it’s pretty standard practice), who will make decisions that you may disagree with - including selling her home and using the money to pay for residential care in a place of their choice, all supposedly “in her best interest”.

[Rupertthebear in reply to Chocolate-heals-all]

I totally agree with you Chocolate -heals -all. If you buy something for them they will not be entitled to any benefits . However if they rent privately , housing benefit will pay for them . The problem with Safe houses is it is more costly in the long run to the resident , the rent portion takes away much of the benefit of owning your own place . You have to look at a 20 year cycle of property price rises . As you said a discretionary trust seems the right idea . I am not sure how this would work out . Does Mencap help with this ?

[Waxwing99]

I’m also looking into the HOLD scheme -which honestly looks like a good idea - for my daughter. It’s effectively a shared ownership scheme where my daughter will own (I think) 50% of the house and a housing association the rest. One advantage is that the housing association which owns the other part of the property has enhanced responsibility as I understand it for repairs etc so there will always be an extra pair of eyes on her with regard to cuckooing etc. I would have a chat with My Safe Home who are very helpful. You do need to find a deposit and the house you choose must be acceptable to the housing association (they will have to look after the fabric of it). But I think it gives them an added layer of security.

[DorrieReynolds]

I've set up a trust fund, so my son can continue to live in the family home, which forms half of my estate. The trustees have been instructed to keep the house for him. This way, if any state benefits still exist in the future, he can have them.

Having a permanent roof over his head has been a major concern for me. I've met several people with learning disabilities whose supported living accommodation has been sold from under them and they've been given little notice to move. They're housed elsewhere by the council, but any friendships they had in their accommodation or any local contacts have been lost, because they've been rehoused wherever was free across the county.

Good luck with your decision

[Rupertthebear in reply to DorrieReynolds]

You say it is half your estate -what do you mean ?

[DorrieReynolds in reply to Rupertthebear]

The other half is for my daughter, who doesn't have a learning disability

[DrSarahmac]

we have a flat that we rent to our daughter so we have control over the asset. When we die it goes into a disabled persons trust and will be there as a home for her to use in perpetuity without any impact on her benefits. See the mencap webinars on trusts - very helpful.

[FragileXmum]

Nine years ago we were able to buy a house for our two learning disabled sons to live in, where they have 24/7 live in support. Initially we leased the property to Golden Lane Housing (then an off-shoot of Mencap), who let it to our sons and they got housing benefit to cover the rent. For the last 6 years however, we have let is directly to our sons with an assured shorthold tenancy agreement in place and the housing benefit covers the rent. This does not cause any conflict with the local authority as long as it is done on a legal tenancy, with the same arrangements as for any other private tenant, and has also saved the local authority from trying to find suitable housing for our sons themselves. We have provision in our wills for all our assets to go into a discretionary trust eventually so that should ring-fence everything in the future. Good luck with whatever route you go down.

I would also echo others' comments that the Mencap Wills & Trusts seminars are really helpful.

[jollyfarmer]

We have purchased for our young adult. The property is owned by (YP's) trust and we will soon be ready to offer a room in the accomodation to another young adult with disabilities to share as a housemate. Our young adult will not be eligible for housing benefit, but will still be eligible for the care element of PIP. However, the likelehood is that SC will take some of (YP's) benefits to contribute to the care package.

[anonymous-28]

This is our story.

We are in the process of using My Safe Home to purchase a share in a shared ownership property, using a HOLD mortgage. We are very early in the process. We have found the property, been accepted by the Housing Association, have appointed the solicitor, have a mortgage in principle and have a mortgage meeting this week. The plan is for a discretionary trust to pay the deposit (which is effectively a loan without interest) and the HOLD mortgage to cover the balance. It is my understanding that when everything is finalised Housing Benefit can be applied for to cover the rent and a portion of the service charge (not the insurance part).Maintenance of the flat is down to us but not the fabric of the building.

We do not have the funds to purchase a property to rent out to my son, but were told by a solicitor that he would not be able to claim housing benefit if he rented from a close relative.

This whole process seems to be a minefield. As others have said we want a home for life for my son without affecting his entitlement to benefits and this seems to be the best option available now.

In terms of future plans there is already a discretionary trust in place (left by his father) and I have a similar arrangement in place for when my time comes.