The house has to be dealt with and the attorney is the one holding the pen. Most of what follows is permission the law has already given, with three limits that families walk into: the sale must be in the donor’s interests at market value, a sale to anyone connected to the attorney needs the court, and an attorney who also co-owns the house cannot sign for both sides.
What the attorney may do
GOV.UK says a property and financial affairs attorney can make decisions about money, tax and bills, bank and building society accounts, property and investments, pensions and benefits. Its example is that if you decide to sell the donor’s home you should discuss where the donor will live with their health and welfare attorney (GOV.UK, Property and financial affairs attorneys, checked 1 November 2026).
Selling the home is contemplated, not forbidden.
Three conditions travel with the power. The LPA must be registered; GOV.UK says it can be used as soon as it is registered, with the donor’s permission (GOV.UK, Make, register or end a lasting power of attorney, checked 1 November 2026). The LPA must not contain an instruction against a sale: the OPG’s guide asks whether it contains instructions saying you cannot sell their property (OPG, how to be a property and finances attorney, checked 1 November 2026). And the decision must be the donor’s as far as it can be.
Best interests, and the donor’s part in it
The Mental Capacity Act says a person making a decision for someone who lacks capacity must, so far as reasonably practicable, permit and encourage the person to participate as fully as possible (Mental Capacity Act 2005, section 4, checked 1 November 2026).
The Act’s code of practice adds a question that matters for a house: whether the person is likely to regain capacity and, if so, whether the decision can wait (Mental Capacity Act code of practice, checked 1 November 2026).
A donor recovering from a stroke, or in a care home on a trial basis, may come home. A sale that forecloses that is hard to call best interests. The OPG’s guide also asks attorneys to check the preferences the donor recorded when making the LPA, which can include wanting to sell or rent out their home if they move into a care home (OPG, how to be a property and finances attorney, checked 1 November 2026).
Market value, and sales to family
GOV.UK says you will need to get legal advice if the sale is below the market value, you want to buy the property yourself, or you are giving it away. The OPG’s gifts guidance adds that a sale below market value, or any transaction where the attorney’s interests conflict with the person’s, needs the Court of Protection’s approval first.
Both are on GOV.UK (GOV.UK, Property and financial affairs attorneys, checked 13 September 2026; OPG, giving gifts, checked 13 September 2026).
The OPG’s worked example goes further. For a sale to a relative, it says the OPG expects attorneys to apply to the court for approval, and that they should do this even if the sale is at market value (OPG, how to be a property and finances attorney, checked 1 November 2026). A son who buys his mother’s house at a fair price without the court’s approval has still acted in a conflict, and GOV.UK says an attorney can be ordered to repay the donor’s money if they make decisions to benefit themselves.
The trap when the attorney co-owns the house
Where the donor owns the home jointly with the attorney, the attorney cannot sign the sale for both of them. The Land Registry’s guidance says a receipt for capital money will overreach beneficial interests only if an attorney acts with at least one other person.
It adds that a receipt clause in a disposition, the deed that transfers the land, by joint proprietors is not acceptable if executed by only one person both as proprietor and as attorney (Land Registry practice guide 9, checked 1 November 2026).
The rule comes from the Trustee Delegation Act 1999, which says the requirement for two trustees to receive the money is not satisfied by a receipt given by a relevant attorney acting alone (Trustee Delegation Act 1999, section 7, checked 1 November 2026). The fix is a second trustee appointed to sign alongside the attorney, and the conveyancer acting on the sale can arrange it before exchange. Picture a husband selling the marital home under his wife’s LPA: he is a joint owner and her attorney, and without a second trustee the sale stops at the last step.
What the Land Registry needs
The Land Registry’s guidance says an attorney must lodge the original power, a sufficient copy of it, or a valid summary sheet generated by the OPG’s online use-a-lasting-power-of-attorney service, with a copy certified by a conveyancer or chartered legal executive as a true copy where a copy is used (Land Registry practice guide 9, checked 1 November 2026).
The attorney’s own identity is verified as for any seller.
Keep a record. GOV.UK says to keep a record of important decisions and when you make them, giving selling the donor’s home as its example (GOV.UK, Manage a lasting power of attorney: attorney records and duties, checked 1 November 2026), and that the OPG and the Court of Protection can check your decisions.
If you are a deputy rather than an attorney
A deputy’s authority is what the court order says. The OPG’s deputy guidance says that unless your court order says directly that you can sell a house or other property the person owns or has a share in, you need the court’s permission (OPG, how to be a property and affairs deputy, checked 1 November 2026).
GOV.UK adds that a separate court order is needed before a deputy sells a property that is jointly owned (GOV.UK, make decisions for someone who lacks capacity: When you're appointed, checked 1 November 2026).
The sale then appears in the deputy’s annual report, which GOV.UK says must explain the decisions you have made (GOV.UK, Deputies, checked 1 November 2026). Our deputyship page covers the order, the security bond and the report.
Does the house have to go at all
Care fees are the usual reason, and the Care Act guidance gives two reasons to pause. It says the value of the person’s main or only home must be disregarded from the means test while it is occupied by the person’s partner, except where they are estranged, or by a qualifying relative.
And it says deferred payment agreements are designed to prevent people from being forced to sell their home in their lifetime to meet the cost of their care (Care and Support Statutory Guidance, Annex B and chapter 9, checked 26 October 2026).
Our paying for care hub covers both, and the care fees band estimator shows whether the home would count at all. Where the house is sold and money then given away, the deprivation of assets page covers how a council treats it: the guidance’s examples of deprivation include transferring the title deeds of a property to someone else (Care and Support Statutory Guidance, Annex E, checked 26 October 2026).
Investments, and the tax
The same duties govern shares and funds. The OPG’s guide to making an LPA notes that a financial institution has taken the position that existing contracts with discretionary investment managers come to an end on the loss of capacity of the donor.
It says a donor who wants an attorney to use one should consider taking legal advice on making specific provision in the LPA. That is the OPG’s guide LP12 (OPG, LP12, checked 13 September 2026). An attorney selling investments does so for the donor, and the proceeds stay in the donor’s name.
The tax on a sale is the donor’s. For the home, HMRC’s helpsheet says the final 9 months of ownership always qualify for private residence relief, and that for a disabled person or a resident in a care home the final 36 months may qualify (HMRC helpsheet HS283, checked 1 November 2026). A home empty or let for longer than that since the donor left can produce a gain, reported in the donor’s name.
Scotland
Scotland’s equivalent is a continuing power of attorney, and mygov.scot says powers that are to continue or begin in the event of incapacity cannot take effect until registered with the Office of the Public Guardian in Scotland (mygov.scot, Setting up power of attorney, checked 1 November 2026).
The property law is Scotland’s own, and a Scottish sale follows Scottish conveyancing. If an attorney’s sale has already gone wrong, our misuse page covers the OPG’s concern route and the court’s power to require an account.