We have an application from the daughter of an elderly lady who apparently has dementia. The daughter has a Lasting Power of Attorney. Daughter has paid the holding deposit * has put the tenant down as herself. So referencing is the next step. Does anyone know if the referencing is on the daughter or should it be on the mother ? Thanks in advance for any help.
Is the daughter planning to live there too? Not much point referencing the mother. If so, you might need to make them joint tenants if there are restrictions in your property insurance or mortgage about other occupants.
Depending on how far gone she is, the mother may not be able to legally make a contract. So the daughter might need to be the tenant anyway.
If the daughter is not living there, then I guess this is effectively some kind of ‘second home’ arrangement; so look at what is usual for that. You need to make sure that the clauses relating to ‘someone being responsible for the property and able to notice problems’ are appropriate to this situation.
Someone is obviously going to have to check on the mother regularly, so it’s not like the property is going to be left empty with no-one checking on it, but if the daughter is paying someone else to check on her mum, then it may need to be made clear that that person should also report property issues so that they are dealt with in a timely way.