Granny annexe

Best solution I have come across is where family bought a house in one street and one set of parents bought the house behind it on another street.

This is happening to our house in France. We are two farmhouses down a short lane. A young couple bought the house across from us, and when we said we were selling her parents came round and offered to buy it. Two entirely seperate properties, both independently owned, but both owners closely related.

I hope you have seen from the comments on here that what you are planning is definitely not a good idea for you.

Your daughter has everything to gain from this arrangement, hasn’t she, and you have, potentially, much to lose.

I do hope you take note of posters’ examples of just how easily everything could go wrong for you.

I’m sure what you have read is not what you expected but you can’t ignore the fact that every single person has urged you not to go ahead with this.

I hope it’s not too late.

Thank you all for your response and yes I will be taking legal advice before proceeding. I should have mentioned it will be mutually beneficial as we need to downsize and live on one levels for health reasons. The price of bungalows is out of our range and we don’t want a flat as the service charges are also so high. By doing this we will be mortgage and debt free and I am still working for another 5 years by which time the grandchildren won’t need babysitting. My daughter is selling her property and putting her equity into the purchase. But I appreciate everyone’s input.

Pennylucky007

Thank you all for your response and yes I will be taking legal advice before proceeding. I should have mentioned it will be mutually beneficial as we need to downsize and live on one levels for health reasons. The price of bungalows is out of our range and we don’t want a flat as the service charges are also so high. By doing this we will be mortgage and debt free and I am still working for another 5 years by which time the grandchildren won’t need babysitting. My daughter is selling her property and putting her equity into the purchase. But I appreciate everyone’s input.

Sounds well thought, but do get good legal advice.

We've adequate land round our home for other homes with independent access - permission wasn't particularly difficult. But legal advice was paramount.

It will not be mutually beneficial, believe me. You could easily end up homeless. And you really have no idea whether a dwelling will be permitted in the garden or what it would cost. Take advice from a good, experienced solicitor and tell them exactly what you’re planning, don’t go to one of the cheap conveyancing outfits. I am a retired solicitor and can foresee enormous problems with this idea. So much so that if you insisted on proceeding despite clear written advice I might well refuse to act for you. That’s how serious this is.

JenniferEccles

I hope you have seen from the comments on here that what you are planning is definitely not a good idea for you.

Your daughter has everything to gain from this arrangement, hasn’t she, and you have, potentially, much to lose.

I do hope you take note of posters’ examples of just how easily everything could go wrong for you.

I’m sure what you have read is not what you expected but you can’t ignore the fact that every single person has urged you not to go ahead with this.

I hope it’s not too late.

I most certainly did not urge the OP to 'not go ahead,' like many others I urged caution.

For got to add that the homes we looked at were classed as below:

Because our annexes are engineered to conform to the Mobile Home Act, you may not require planning permission – but for peace of mind, we always apply for a Certificate of Lawful Development from your local council.

This was from a company called Home Lodge, not the one we contacted (can’t remember the name and I don’t have the details with me) but a similar build.

As I said they looked good on the screen and in the brochures but we didn’t get to go and see one in situ. We have stayed in one as a holiday home and you really couldn’t tell that it was classed as a ‘mobile home’.
Anyway, I think your problems might come afterwards.

I haven't really got experience of this, but many older people do live in annexes / lodges to their children's homes so if you feel it's right for you I would go ahead. Get the legal advice on tax implications & how to safeguard you interests, it will only cost a fraction of the total cost. Remember the many people living happily with these arrangements don't shout about it, while the nightmare scenarios & estrangements get talked about because people need to vent or to hear from others in that situation

I have only two second hand experiences of this type of arrangement.
One worked well for both grandparent and adult children. But when the grandparent died, the children really struggled to sell the property. They had to hugely reduce the price, thereby wiping out the money the grandparent had put in.

My daughter converted their garage into a dwelling. She was a property lawyer and her husband was a developer, so they had plenty of contacts and got everything right. But the annexe was and still is a holiday let. They would not have got planning consent for a granny annexe.

You asked about builders, but the legal side and all its implications should come first, before contacting a builder.

Op , you only mention your daughter, do you have other AC ?
If so what are their thoughts?.
I know 2 families who have added a granny annex to their houses for their elderly parent . Both extended to the side of the house and the annex had a separate front door and shared drive . It worked well afaik. Both grannies have since died and one of the annex’s is now an Airbnb.
However this situation was the AC house , your situation is different and as others have said get extensive legal help.

You might sound cynical but you are so right!
These things sound good but getting down to the nitty gritty it can be dangerous waters!
She or anyone has to be extremely careful.
Also are there any other siblings to consider?

I would say think twice and then think again! So many potential problems particularly with tax implications and planning permission.
A friend of mine wanted to build an annex in her large garden for inlaws, permission refused on the grounds that as the proposed dwelling was more than so many metres from the main house it might be used as a B&B which was not acceptable.
So many other potential problems as others have mentioned. What if your daughter has to move for work etc and you're left as a tenant on a stranger's land?

One question…have you got planning permission?

i will echo what others have said about not doing it.It seems a great thing to do , but reality can bite.Things can and do change,by all means live near them but not with them.In 1980 to 1984 i lived and worked in the same building/ business, with family,turned into a living nightmare....think carefully.

If you are building separately from the house then it's not an annexe. Full planning permission required, council tax etc applied. Access to property etc needs to be considered too. How would you feel if DD moved and you were residing at the bottom of the garden or if you were no longer residing there woujd DD like other people being behind her. An awful lot to think about. Of course the garden may be acres big and any building may not be in sight but still needs a lot of thought.

I believe that if you put the house in trust then you don't pay capital gains tax

Selling your principal private dwelling doesn’t attract CGT.

I have a friend who gifted her daughter a $100K discount when she bought her home. She had it stipulated in the purchase documents that if the house were ever sold, she would be reimbursed her $100K. She said should they divorce, this kept the gift safe from the divorce settlement. She had already received the bulk of the house's value from her daughter's mortgage loan. Maybe something like this would work for you?

Don`t do it, just don`t do it. Lots of excellent posts above

Who had the original idea? What if you ever needed a care home? Deprivation of assets etc

Zuzu

I have a friend who gifted her daughter a $100K discount when she bought her home. She had it stipulated in the purchase documents that if the house were ever sold, she would be reimbursed her $100K. She said should they divorce, this kept the gift safe from the divorce settlement. She had already received the bulk of the house's value from her daughter's mortgage loan. Maybe something like this would work for you?

Can you do that? Get a solicitor to put a charge on a property? In the event of the house being sold, OP and her husband will be reimbursed the discount and a proportion of the cost for building the granny annexe to protect their interest?

I saw a bungalow for sale in our town with approved planning permission to build two new bungalows in the long back garden but all bungalows share one vehicle access. A separate dwelling will be a better option to avoid future complications.

Don’t do it - my s.I.l. sold her house and built a self-contained little bungalow in her son’s garden (with pp ofcourse). It ended badly with her d.i.l. accusing her of being ‘nosey’ etc. ….it caused a lot of heartache. She eventually sold the little house back to her son after lots of legal issues were sorted. Their relationship has only now been healed (after 10 years). And my s.I.l. is well settled in her own independent 2 bed flat.

Check out through the floor lifts. Might be a much cheaper option!

Pennylucky007

Thank you all for your response and yes I will be taking legal advice before proceeding. I should have mentioned it will be mutually beneficial as we need to downsize and live on one levels for health reasons. The price of bungalows is out of our range and we don’t want a flat as the service charges are also so high. By doing this we will be mortgage and debt free and I am still working for another 5 years by which time the grandchildren won’t need babysitting. My daughter is selling her property and putting her equity into the purchase. But I appreciate everyone’s input.

So your daughter will sell an existing property and buy your house with her own money. You will pay for the bungalow with the proceeds from this transaction.

Would you be able to sell the bungalow at a future date as a separate entity? Will it be a permanent structure (not a wooden lodge for example) and will it have separate access from the road? Will it have separate Deeds?

Pennylucky007 - I think it can work well when everyone gets along really well as you all do - and it works in a lot of other countries . Sounds as if you're all committed and have thought it through already. I just wanted to wish you the very very best. I would love to have my mum living with us really it would be fabulous. Such a lot depends on age and stage too - and the age of grandchildren - and sounds as if you're going to really be fine although legal advice on the bits and bobs is never a bad thing.

‘The bits and bobs’? I don’t think you have any idea.