Money Help Desk: Satisfaction after survey wrecked my bid to buy flat

Colin Avinou, Edinburgh

Mortgage broker John Postlethwaite, of Punter Southall, writes:

There can be problems when dealing with an English broker when purchasing in Scotland, because of differing house purchase systems.

If the English broker is not aware of or does not understand the distinct differences, this can have a potentially devastating effect.

When purchasing a property in England, Home Information Packs do not have to include a compulsory survey. Because of this lenders will insist on obtaining their own report and instruct a surveyor on their panel.

However, in Scotland the Home Report provided by the seller includes a compulsory single survey; most lenders will accept a transcription of this survey for lending purposes, as long as it was done by one of their approved panel of surveyors.

If you are purchasing a newly built property in Scotland, or where a transcription cannot be provided, most lenders will either allow the solicitor or broker to instruct a survey from a panel surveyor or the lender can arrange a valuation.

Most solicitors and brokers will arrange a survey before a potentially binding offer is made to ensure there are no prospective issues. Therefore, in Scotland we have more control over the valuation process.

If an English broker is unaware of this basic difference, it could involve unnecessary additional cost if a survey is needlessly instructed. Or as you have experienced, a loss of control over the valuation process with potentially detrimental effects.

Trust plan could get round care home trap

HAVING read Allan Gardner's article ("Long-term care requires your urgent attention", 28 February) and others previously in your paper, we note nobody mentions a Family Protection Trust, which is said to protect your home and assets. A financial adviser urged us to set up such a trust to ensure that, should the remaining partner have to go into care, no-one can touch our home or any assets. Should we do this?

A&J S

Lianne Lodge, a solicitor at Pagan Osborne, writes

If someone were to gift assets during their lifetime for the purpose of avoiding care home fees, and then subsequently need to move to a home, then generally they would be treated as if they still owned this asset when it came to working out the benefits they would receive. This tends to be the case whether the gift was an outright one to an individual or a gift into a trust.

The crucial factor is why the gift was made. There is no universally adopted timeframe that the state can look back to review gifts. I have had cases where a council has reviewed gifts a decade old.

What I suspect this company is suggesting is for you to transfer your assets into a trust on death.

This means updating your will to ensure that rather than a married couple leaving everything to each other, they each leave their own share of the assets into a discretionary trust on the first death then down to the children or grandchildren on the death of the surviving spouse.

The beneficiaries can be anyone you choose.

The trustees, whom you appoint, would then have complete discretion as to allow any of the beneficiaries (including the surviving spouse) to live in the house, get income from the assets, advance capital etc. Because there is such discretion, the surviving spouse would not be deemed to own the assets in the trust and so could not be counted on to contribute to nursing home fees when benefit is calculated.

This is a useful way of protecting the assets , however it is necessary to review the title to property at the same time the will is drafted to ensure it does not automatically transfer to each other on death.