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Compare optionsCHIP vs selling the home.
Selling the family home is the route most families assume they must take. For some families, it is the right answer. For others, the Care and Home Inheritance Plan offers a structural alternative that pays the same care fees without the home leaving the family.
What each route actually does.
The Care and Home Inheritance Plan
What happens to the home
You grant My Lifetime Care a long lease on the home. The home is not sold. Ownership stays with your parent throughout. The home passes to the beneficiaries of your parent’s estate at the end, preserved.
Who funds the care
My Lifetime Care funds the agreed monthly care costs (at home or in a care home of your family’s choice), for as long as care is needed, with no time limit.
How the funding is recouped
The home is let to tenants if your parent moves to residential care. The rental income and the property’s growth in value offset the care costs paid by the Plan. The home itself is not used to pay fees.
What the family inherits
The home, preserved. Full equity, full property, no debt secured against it.
Selling the home
What happens to the home
The home is sold. The sale proceeds are deposited with the family and used to pay care fees as they fall due. The home is no longer the family’s asset.
Who funds the care
The family funds care from the sale proceeds, plus any other savings, pensions, and income. When the proceeds are depleted, the council’s means test may reapply.
How the funding is recouped
It isn’t. The sale is a one-off realisation. Any proceeds left over at the end pass to the family; the home itself is gone.
What the family inherits
Whatever is left of the sale proceeds after care has been paid, if anything. The home itself is not part of the estate.
Both are legitimate. The right answer depends on the family.
Selling is the right route for many families. We won’t pretend otherwise. The question is whether the Plan’s structural alternative is a better fit for your situation.
Selling is often the right route when…
- The home has little equity left (high mortgage outstanding, or in a market with limited growth)
- The family wants a one-off resolution and doesn’t want to manage a lease arrangement
- Your parent wants to move and there’s no emotional or practical attachment to keeping the home
- Care needs are very short-term (a known terminal diagnosis with weeks, not years)
- The family has alternative inheritance plans and the home isn’t the principal legacy
The Plan is often a better fit when…
- The home holds significant equity and the family wants to keep it
- The expected care journey is long (dementia, complex needs, multi-year horizons)
- The home matters emotionally to the family, not just financially
- Your parent prefers to stay at home with care, where the Plan still applies
- The family wants the funding structure to flex as care needs change
Three differences worth understanding.
Sale is a one-off. The Plan flexes.
A sale realises a fixed sum on a fixed day. If care needs last longer than expected, the sale proceeds run out and the family is back to the means test. The Plan funds care for as long as it’s needed with no time limit.
Selling avoids it; the Plan manages it.
Selling removes the home from the equation entirely. The Plan keeps the property in the family but takes on the management burden so the family isn’t handling a tenancy during a difficult period.
Speak to your tax adviser.
The tax position of each route differs, sometimes materially. Inheritance tax, capital gains tax, and council means-test treatment are all relevant. The Plan’s tax position is a matter for your independent tax adviser, who can advise on your family’s specific circumstances.
This page is a structural comparison and does not constitute financial advice. CHIP is not an FCA-regulated product. Selling a property is an ordinary property transaction governed by ordinary English property law.
A ten-minute call clarifies which route fits.
If your family is weighing this decision, the fastest way to get clarity is to talk it through with someone who can describe both routes in your specific circumstances. No pressure, no pitch.
Other ways to fund care, compared.
CHIP vs equity release
Both keep the family in the home. They differ structurally on debt, interest, and time horizon.
CompareCHIP vs Deferred Payment Agreement
DPAs are council-administered. They defer fees but the home is usually left empty. Different administration, different risks.
Read moreHow the Plan works
The four-step explainer, in detail. What happens at each stage, what the safeguards are, what protects your family.
