My parents have a 'lifetime mortgage' – what happens if my mother sells?

She will need to go into a care home soon and we’re worried the lender will set the price

Q When my father died, my parents’ joint mortgage was put into the sole name of my mother. This was when we discovered that he had not been paying the mortgage for many years and had in fact changed it to a what the lender called a “lifetime mortgage” which I understand is some kind of equity release mortgage.

My mother still pays no mortgage payments (she is 90 and not in a position to do so anyway). The interest rate is now 2.5% and works out at about £1,750 a year. This basically means she is renting her own property for that amount a year. Pretty soon she will need to leave her home and go to a care home. Can you tell us what the situation will be as far as selling the bungalow when it is time to move? Will the lender sell the property and reclaim the money owed and if so who sets the price? If we sell it, do we just tell the lender and then pay off the remaining mortgage? The amount that is owed is well below the value of the property.
PB

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Fairer ways to tax property | Letters https://t.co/F4N8XsEA6G Solicitors & Estate Agents In One Just £899 + vat .. https://t.co/eLmKfiYyW9

Fairer ways to tax property | Letters https://t.co/F4N8XsEA6G Solicitors & Estate Agents In One Just £899 + vat .. https://t.co/eLmKfiYyW9 (via Twitter http://twitter.com/conveyandmove/status/1094669538904416256)

Fairer ways to tax property | Letters

Council tax needs to be completely revamped, writes John Worrall – and so does stamp duty, says Martin Weale

Sure, it would be nice if local councils got a slice of stamp duty on property purchases in their areas (Tycoon’s property spree prompts calls for taxes to stay local, 9 February) but the far more urgent need is for a revamp of council tax, as evidenced by Ken Griffin’s purchase of those two London bijous. Reportedly costing £195m, they will attract combined council tax of just £2,842, the same as any two local properties in top band H, each valued (at the last revaluation, in 1991) at more than £320,000. Again we see that only little people pay proper taxes.

So what to do? First, obviously, another revaluation. Second, recalibrate banding with bands, from A to Z if necessary, to reach right up the value scale. And third, levy a basic rate within each band on main homes of UK taxpayers and higher rates on all others, together with punitive and escalating rates on properties left empty.

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Loveseat sales are up 4,500%. Are we madly in lust – or just short of space? https://t.co/DwVqmrHeHg Solicitors & Estate Agents In One Just £899 + vat .. https://t.co/eLmKfiYyW9

Loveseat sales are up 4,500%. Are we madly in lust – or just short of space? https://t.co/DwVqmrHeHg Solicitors & Estate Agents In One Just £899 + vat .. https://t.co/eLmKfiYyW9 (via Twitter http://twitter.com/conveyandmove/status/1094604046630031360)

Loveseat sales are up 4,500%. Are we madly in lust – or just short of space?

Huge sofas are out and velvet loveseats are in. No wonder, when more and more Britons are crammed into shoebox homes

When is a sofa not a sofa? When Valentine’s Day is around the corner, of course, and it becomes a loveseat. According to the online furniture retailer Swoon, seizing on this marketing opportunity, its loveseats have become enormously popular, with sales rocketing by 4,500%.

A loveseat is a small sofa, more bougie than a two-seater, on which you can stretch out languidly like a cat or, if you’re feeling romantic, two people can snuggle up together (until someone’s leg goes to sleep). “It’s the new two-seater, using space more economically,” says Sam Baldry, Swoon’s head of design. “The Tulum, for example, has really low arms, so you can lie all the way across it. You can curl up on it in a way that you never could on an armchair, or two of you can sit on it fairly comfortably, which means that you are using two-thirds of the space of a two-seater.”

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from Property | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2Bsphwc
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Loveseat sales are up 4,500%. Are we madly in lust – or just short of space?

Huge sofas are out and velvet loveseats are in. No wonder, when more and more Britons are crammed into shoebox homes

When is a sofa not a sofa? When Valentine’s Day is around the corner, of course, and it becomes a loveseat. According to the online furniture retailer Swoon, seizing on this marketing opportunity, its loveseats have become enormously popular, with sales rocketing by 4,500%.

A loveseat is a small sofa, more bougie than a two-seater, on which you can stretch out languidly like a cat or, if you’re feeling romantic, two people can snuggle up together (until someone’s leg goes to sleep). “It’s the new two-seater, using space more economically,” says Sam Baldry, Swoon’s head of design. “The Tulum, for example, has really low arms, so you can lie all the way across it. You can curl up on it in a way that you never could on an armchair, or two of you can sit on it fairly comfortably, which means that you are using two-thirds of the space of a two-seater.”

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To chit or not to chit?

Depending on which spuds you like, sprouting them early may not be necessary

As an unapologetic science geek who finds trawling through the data of agricultural trials fascinating, I am forever curious as to whether age-old horticultural techniques are actually supported by good evidence. One of the most commonly debated is that of chitting potatoes. So, with thousands of home-growers across the country starting to do this right now, I thought I’d take a look at what the science says.

Chitting potatoes is the traditional practice of placing seed potatoes in a light, frost-free spot in late winter to encourage sprouting. The argument is that this process artificially elongates the growing season, resulting in an earlier crop and greater yields. However, for home-growers low on space this can mean windowsills covered in egg cartons of shrivelled-looking spuds which, aside from not being exactly ornamental, can take away prime “window front” real estate for growing seedlings. So does this claim really stand up to the scientific test?

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