Sorry for not replying sooner. I have only just seen your questions! I will try to answer them now:-
1. We used a solicitor local to mum's house. (My brother and sister-in-law live in that area, so were there to help in any emergency).
2. Luckily I didn't have any problems using the LPA, just had to scan it through to the Estate Agents before they would put it on the market, after which they did everything through my brother/SIL or myself. The solicitors wanted to see the original LPA which I think they took a copy of and gave straight back to my SIL.
3. House Clearance - at that time my mum was amazingly very accepting of everything and let it happen around her, just sitting in her chair making the odd contribution to what she wanted to take or not! Basically I packed everything she was going to take with her including clothes; small amount of furniture; very small amount of crockery, cutlery; kettle; towels; lamp; bed; paintings; photos; books; toiletries. Then my husband hired a Luton van and we packed it up for the move to Care Home. I drove Mum to our house where she stayed for a couple of nights before moving into Care Home.
A week later my brother and SIL returned from their holiday and met with an Auction Room Co. who did the clearance of the rest of the house. Items went to two auctions and we received two cheques for any sales. Once the house was cleared, it was ready for completion a couple of days later.
4. Notifying utilities - I phoned up all of the utilities and it was all pretty straightforward (my SIL took final Electric and Gas readings and phoned them in). I'm wracking my brains to remember which needed permission from my mum to speak to me - can't remember, but some companies won't speak to you unless they have consent!! Once I had authority to be a signatory on Mum's bank account and managed to have access to online banking (this took a while) I was able to check that all Direct Debits had stopped. British Gas was the only one that hadn't been done automatically, so I was able to stop that myself.
5. Regarding Care Homes - I looked at five which were regarded as specifically providing care of people with dementia, and phoned another two or three a bit farther afield. I also applied for sheltered housing which was turned down after they received mum's GP report. I also looked at some brand new sheltered housing built in the grounds of a brand new care home with a day centre. This was slightly out of my area and they would only take people who lived in the area - shame! Out of the five care homes, there was always only the one that I could imagine mum accepting at the moment - and I really did not want to force anything if I could help it.
Hope this helps. Always happy to answer any questions - I know what a busy, stressful time it is.
Regards,
Gill
