Fair Deal/Nursing Homes Appealing interest on fair deal loan

[mendacity]

There were various problems and delays in selling our family home so we were unable to repay fair deal loan within 12 months. We now face a sizeable interest bill from Revenue. Can we appeal this given the unforeseen delays in selling the family home were outside our control? If so what is the process?

 

[Des Pondent]

I think they are statutorily obliged to charge interest if the loan is not repaid within a year of death. I would appeal anyway, explaining the various problems and delays that were outside your control, it costs nothing to appeal.

Details of how to appeal would usually be given in the decision letter so those details should have been in the letter requesting the final amount owed before interest. If not your local Nursing Homes Support Office would be able to give appeal details.

 

[Purple]

As far as I'm aware further deferrals of the loan are the remit of the HSE.
Post crossed with @Des Pondent who gave a better answer.

 

[Des Pondent]

Deferring repayment of the nursing home loan is allowed without penalty for some people in certain circumstances;

https://www2.hse.ie/services/schemes-allowances/fair-deal-scheme/nursing-home-loan/

 

[huskerdu]

I think that they have discretion on the interest charged where there is a delay which is not the fault of the assessable person,
What is the status of your comms with Revenue. Have they written to you asking for payment and have you written back explaining the delay ?

 

[Marsupial]

Might either of the second bullet points in this extract from the Revenue website cover your situation?

Interest on late payments​

Interest will be charged on any part of the loan that is paid after the due date. The due date is:

• twelve months after the date of death, for loan repayments made because the person in care died
• six months after the date of sale or transfer, for loan repayments made because the property or land on which the Charging Order exists is sold or transferred.

Interest is not charged from the due date of the loan repayment.

Date interest is charged from​

For any payment made after the due date, interest will be charged from the:

• date of death, for loan repayments made because the person in care died
• date of sale or transfer, for loan repayments made because the property on which the Charging Order exists was sold or transferred.

 

[ClubMan]

Can we appeal this given the unforeseen delays in selling the family home were outside our control?

What was the nature of these delays? I suspect that if it was due to a state agency (e.g. probate, land registration, etc.) you may have more leeway for an appeal than if it was simply due normal delays with selling and closing.

 

[ClubMan]

For what it's worth...

When does the Fair Deal loan have to be repaid?

From Revenue.ie If the person in care dies The due date for repayment is 12 months after the death of the person in care. Interest will be charged on any payments made after the due date. Interest will be charged from the date of death and not the due date of the loan repayment. If the...

www.askaboutmoney.com

I asked revenue for an extension, explaining that the house sale was going through but due to the pandemic it was delayed and would not be complete within a year of death.

Revenue replied stating that they are the collection agents for the HSE and could not grant an extension to the collection timeframe and are bound by legislation to charge interest from the date of event.

But the reply went on to say, once the principal amount is paid, the interest on late payment can be appealed and revenue takes a fair and pragmatic view and judges each case on its own merits.

From this response it appears there is some flexibility to waive the interest for genuine cases though I have no idea how long beyond the year you might get away with.