What are you all up to

As sad and hard as it seems planning for your demise must be done if you own property, even if you don't reach the thresholds. At the moment if your property passes to descendant(s) you can have a million free of IHT but of course that can change with any government. It can go down as well as up.

We drew up new wills, nothing actually changed in the end because we already owned as tenants in common and our half goes to offspring, but our new solicitor has done it without it needing to go into trust as children both over 18 now 🤣🤣. And our right to remain/have sufficient to finance another dwelling stayed. We also did power of Attorney. The day OH was taken to hospital 2 years ago we'd been at a solicitors, our original solicitors retired and handed over to new firm, it was to be just a review that we'd finally accepted the offer of. We didn't feel happy with the young lady we spoke to that day, no reason other than the vibes., and I understood why when I telephoned her to say we wouldn't be doing anything immediately as OH very ill and she pushed very hard - happy to come to his bedside almost immediately and could have it prepared and signed almost on the spot, and nothing was changing in effect 😱. Once things settled found another firm and were very content and comfortable with their advice and service.

Who'd have thought we would casually talk of such sums of money as working folk???

Edit please don't think we reach the limit, but we do live in the South East, and couldn't afford our house now! We too have been here for a long time, 36 years, and so no one knows what we paid, and I've only got a vague idea - but it was a struggle! Can't do a percentage, wheres corner's when you need him?, but house value is about 15 times what we paid 😱🙈. Poor folk of today trying to buy... but they do and then extend!

I have seen that article before, and agree it would not be simple, but many other countries seem to manage to do it.  We already have different rates of income tax in Scotland, and different starting points for the various bands, compared to England and Wales.  Those up here who fall into higher rate tax pay significantly more tax than those in other parts of the UK.

The question of how to tax someone who lives here but has no income here will be tricky, though I would query how they can live here and maintain a mansion with apparently no income!  Perhaps we could adopt the Lib Dems idea of a 'mansion tax" ?

At the moment, even if you agree with the idea of  CT, the way it is done  is not fair.  There is a maximum band that can be applied, so someone living in a house worth say £250k pays the same as someone in a house worth £2.5 million.

And as you pointed out, a house can be extended and be worth much more than before, but the owner pays no extra tax, so the  system  falls down there too.

That sounds  very similar to what we have in our wills now.

I think, if I was a bit younger and still working, we could easily afford to buy our house  now, but at the time when we bought it it was only affordable due to buying the plot and arranging the building of the house, including doing a lot of work ourselves.  We made bathroom units, tiled the bathrooms, fitted the kitchens and utility, and again did all the tiling, laid all the flooring, block paved the driveway, fenced the plot,  landscaped the garden.....terraced with lots of retaining walls.......it took us 3 years to finish the garden after we moved in!

A lot of that was paid for out of income as and when we could afford, our mortgage was never more than £45k, which felt massive at the time.

So....in 36 years your house has increased in value 15 times, while in 33 years we have a 4 times increase on what we actually spent, but had added value by doing a lot of stuff ourselves, so a 3 times increase on what it was valued at after we moved in.

The housing market is truly mad in the SE!!

Looking online at price per sq m of houses in different parts of the country, the space we have here would  be worth over  £3 million in a desirable London area these days.

Note to RedKite you'd probably be a bit disappointed to see the state of the "edges" the NT is running on minimum people power at the moment. But they're managing to keep things going and some of it looks a bit better for neglect!

Nellie your poor OH, hope she feels better soon, what an ordeal.

Ref wills and poa s etc our eldest daughter has waited nearly a year after her aunty died for her very small estate to be sorted. All due to probate delays in Covid, a slow moving solicitor and and a missing date on the will. In the meantime we persuaded her to "get her own house in order" so she asked another solicitor to do this for herself and partner, wills and poa s. This was done promptly and easily and it's a relief for us!

Brue I'm glad your daughter has tidied her affairs. Our son has and I'm sure our daughter has too. Even more important when couples aren't married/civil partners in law, both ours are now. Unexpected demise happens to all ages and our demise is the only certain thing in life. Oh hark at cheerful Annie this morning! But once it's done it can be forgotten, but I admit when we first did ours I had a fear I might be inviting it 😢🙁

Covid has been the stock excuse for so long, yes it must make a difference, but hopefully systems are in place by now. Probate, in my limited  experience, has been a tad slower over the last year but still only weeks. Slow solicitors are another matter, they've existed since Noah was a lad, only use or word of mouth helps on choice here. Hopefully it will be resolved shortly. At least shes not losing huge amounts of interest, but buying power may be effected.

Wherenext thanks for the update on your power struggle 😉😉. I wondered but assumed you'd post news. I hate to tell you my friend spent years trying to sort hers with Scottish Power and the Ombudsman 😱😤. It's certainly not entertaining when you're involved 🤐

No sun as yet, but ,love mornings like this, very few people and you can see for miles.

Decorators finished yesterday, feeling quite inadequate compared to all you DIY kings, used to do lots of decorating but it was mostly wall paper way back, now it is all emulsion paint, neutral colours so you dont have to worry about being colour coordinated, new blinds should arrive next week, at present it is like living in a gold fish bowl, hope you all have a great day   

Many in the legal system are working from home B2 so this has slowed everything up including probate services (three month delays etc.)

We had a Wren in our kitchen last night! So tiny and agile it took a couple of hours to coax it out.

Nice morning here but chilly.

Our kitchen floor has been chosen but there are ordering delays, happy to wait for warmer weather.

Enjoy your new paintwork Rufs!

As for your Fruit and Fibre CY, I cannot find a 'Sainsbury' version, just Kellogg's and Tesco's -- without a box to hand they could be identical but only differing in the boxes.

Brian

It's the fruit that that multiplies the sugar levels. I like Waitrose Sultana Bran but the amount of sugar is two thirds higher than ordinary Waitrose Bran Flakes. I saw something online about the ratio of Carbohydrates to Fibre, the theory being that if when you divide the carbohydrates by the fibre you should end up with a ratio one  to five or less anything above that you should avoid especially if you want to lose weight. What I read wasn't diabetic related. 

David

Very best wishes to Mrs Nellie.  What a horrid experience.  I do hope she is feeling a bit better today.

I am very envious of the WN ladies. I have another 4 weeks to wait until my hair appointment.