Neighbours mother has been living in her ex-council house for decades. He now has power of attorny (?) as she is begining to lose it quite badly. AFAIK the home for her will be at no or minimal charge as we’re in Scotland but he’s worried about what to do with the house. He would like to sell it to help with costs for her but has been informed that this wouldn’t look good and HMRC would like a cut. She is not capable of selling it herself.

Is there a way to keep all of the proceeds to better the mothers last few months/years or just watch a large percentage of not much go into Gideon’s retirement fund.

Seek the advice from a tax advisor/accountant/lawyer to find the best legal way to pay the required amount of tax.

It’s the fastest way to get a definitive answer.

Surely if he has power of attorney, essentially she will be selling it, he will just be acting for her. If it’s a home not a rental property, she can sell it without paying tax, unless I’m missing something obvious. Loads of people sell their home to fund care home fees, it’s a perfectly normal thing to do, and loads of them will have alzheimers or whatever so have someone acting on their behalf. You need to know exactly what the (Scottish) law is in terms of how to do this right.

If it is worth tons of money or she is as rich as a rich thing, whoever inherits whatever money is left when she dies will be subject to inheritance tax, but sounds unlikely – how many Scottish ex-council houses are worth a third of a million quid?

He needs to talk to a lawyer who knows about powers of attorney.

joemarshall has it. Power of Attorney means the house still belongs to his mother and he would only be acting as her agent

As joemarshall states but the proceeds of the sale need to kept separate from his own. He should then continue to look after her affairs using the proceeds to meet her needs.