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£2,500 + VAT
Complete evidence pack
5 to 10 working days
Typical turnaround
England and Wales
Nationwide coverage
Beyond a DoLS
Substantive best interests evidence
Nellie Supports is England and Wales' largest identified specialist private social work and mental capacity assessment practice, delivered by a permanent full-time team. Services are provided by employed, multidisciplinary professionals, not an ad hoc associate, contractor or referral-panel model. We have completed over 11,000 formal assessments and reports. This service sits alongside our full range of mental capacity assessment services.
When you may need this evidence
This evidence is usually needed where a person lacks capacity to decide about selling their property, a deputy is in place, and the deputy is applying to the Court of Protection for permission to sell, typically the person's former home after a move into a care home or other long-term placement. The court will want to be satisfied that a sale is in the person's best interests, which turns on their care needs, how those needs should be met, and whether they will realistically be remaining in care.
Historically, deputies often relied on a Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards authorisation to evidence that the person needed to remain in care, and therefore that selling the home was in their best interests. Following the Attorney General for Northern Ireland reference in the Supreme Court, DoLS authorisations are expected to become less frequent, so that route is becoming unreliable. This pack replaces it with direct evidence of capacity, the person's needs, the realistic options for meeting them, and a best interests analysis of remaining in the care home.
What the evidence needs to establish
The court is being asked to be satisfied that selling the person's property is in their best interests. That does not follow automatically from a care placement or a DoLS authorisation. Applying the Mental Capacity Act 2005, the evidence needs to establish:
Whether the person has capacity to decide where they live, and whether to sell, transfer or deal with their property
What the person's actual care and support needs are, evidenced independently, and whether long-term care is necessary
How those needs should be met, and whether they could realistically be met anywhere other than the current care home, including a return home
Whether selling the property is in the person's best interests, and proportionate and least restrictive, having properly considered their wishes, feelings, beliefs and values
The logic matters. If the evidence shows the person's needs are best met in a care setting and a return home is not realistic, then remaining in care, and selling the home, may well be in their best interests. If the evidence shows the person could be supported at home, a sale may not be justified. The pack is neutral and evidence-led: it does not assume the answer, and it will say so honestly either way. A Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards authorisation shows only that the person is subject to restrictive care arrangements, not that their needs cannot be met elsewhere or that their home should be sold.
Framework: Mental Capacity Act 2005 ss 1 to 4, including the best interests checklist, and the Code of Practice; A Reference by the Attorney General for Northern Ireland [2026] UKSC 16 on deprivation of liberty, consent and wishes and feelings; CPR Part 35 where a summary report is prepared as expert evidence.
For more, read our guide: Supreme Court deprivation of liberty ruling and Court of Protection property sale evidence.
Our property sale evidence process
Initial enquiry and triage
Contact us by phone, email or website form. We confirm who is instructing, that a deputy is in place, whether an application to the Court of Protection for permission to sell is planned, why the sale is being considered, and any family disagreement, safeguarding concern or urgency.
Quotation and booking
Once the scope is clear, we provide a quotation setting out the agreed pack, VAT, travel where applicable and expected timescales, and arrange the appointment and the documents needed before the work begins.
Assessment appointment
A qualified assessor meets the person, assesses their capacity to decide where they live and their capacity to deal with the property, and begins the independent assessment of their care needs, calmly and supportively.
Evidence review and report preparation
We complete the care needs assessment, the care options analysis, the stakeholder consultation and the best interests checklist, and bring it together into a structured summary report where required.
Peer review and secure delivery
The completed evidence and reports are reviewed before issue for quality, clarity and consistency, then delivered securely to the deputy or their solicitor. We can respond to reasonable clarification requests afterwards.
What the evidence pack establishes
The pack is scoped around the best interests decision, and where required the CPR Part 35 summary report brings it into one structured picture, addressing:
Whether the person has capacity to decide where they live
Whether the person has capacity to decide whether to sell, transfer or otherwise deal with their property
Whether their care needs can realistically be met somewhere else
Whether returning home has been properly considered
Whether long-term care is necessary
Whether selling the property is in the person's best interests
Whether the proposed decision is proportionate and least restrictive
Whether the person's wishes, feelings, beliefs and values have been properly considered
What the evidence pack includes
£2,500 + VAT
VAT at 20% and travel costs are not included. With COP3 finances: £3,000 + VAT.
Mental capacity assessment for residency
Mental capacity assessment for property sale
Independent social care assessment
Care plan and care options evidence
Best interests checklist and stakeholder views
CPR Part 35-compliant summary report
Travel charged at £40.00 per hour
Two options, depending on what is needed
The standard pack covers both capacity assessments and the care and best interests evidence for the property sale application. Where a property and financial affairs deputyship application also needs a COP3 finances assessment, the second option adds that in.
Property Sale Evidence Pack
£2,500 + VAT
- Capacity for residency assessment
- Capacity to sell or transfer property assessment
- Independent care needs assessment and care options analysis
- Best interests checklist and stakeholder views
- CPR Part 35-compliant summary report where required
The complete evidence pack to support an application to sell.
Including Additional COP3 Finances
£3,000 + VAT
- Everything in the complete evidence pack
- Plus an additional COP3 finances capacity assessment
- For where a property and financial affairs deputyship application is also needed
Where a COP3 finances assessment is required alongside the property sale evidence.
A full-time, multidisciplinary team
Nellie Supports is built on an employed, permanent team: registered social workers, a Chartered Psychologist and specialist assessors working together to one standard, with every report peer reviewed by a second qualified professional. Your assessment is never passed to an associate bank or referral panel.
The right professional for the decision
Capacity questions range from care and residence to complex cognition and prognosis. A multidisciplinary team means the discipline is matched to the decision, not to whoever is available.
One consistent standard
The team works together full time, so every assessment follows the same methodology and peer review is built into every report rather than bolted on.
Accountability you can name
Your report is signed by an employed professional who answers for their work, and the practice stands behind it.
Continuity, not hand-offs
The people who take your enquiry, carry out the assessment and review the report all work in one practice, so nothing is lost between stages.
How this works in practice
The situation
A deputy needed to apply to the Court of Protection for permission to sell the former home of a man who had moved into a care home. In the past the deputy might have relied on his DoLS authorisation as evidence that he needed to stay in care and that the home should be sold, but the solicitor wanted proper best interests evidence given the changing legal position. Nellie Supports was instructed for a full evidence pack.
The work
We assessed his capacity to decide where he lived and his capacity to decide about the property, completed an independent assessment of his care needs, and analysed whether those needs could realistically be met anywhere other than his current care home. We recorded his wishes and his family's views, and set it all out in a best interests checklist and summary report.
The outcome
The evidence showed that his needs were substantial and could not safely be met at home, so remaining in the care home, and selling the property, was in his best interests. The pack gave the deputy and the court a clear, independent, needs-led basis for the sale, rather than an inference drawn from a DoLS. Had the evidence pointed the other way, the report would have said so.
This is an illustrative example, drawn from the common features of the property sale evidence cases we support. It does not describe any individual client.
Why deputies, attorneys and solicitors choose Nellie Supports
Built for the application, not a placeholder
Designed to give the court what it needs to decide whether a sale is in best interests: capacity, the person's needs, the realistic options and a clear best interests analysis.
Replaces the old DoLS shortcut
As DoLS authorisations become less frequent after the Supreme Court ruling, we provide the substantive evidence deputies once relied on a DoLS to imply.
Neutral and evidence-led
We do not assume a sale is justified. If the person's needs could realistically be met at home, we say so.
Needs-led best interests
The best interests analysis flows from an independent assessment of the person's actual care needs, not from the fact of a placement.
Both capacity assessments included
We assess capacity to decide where the person lives and capacity to deal with the property, so the right decision-maker is identified for each decision.
Employed, not outsourced
A permanent full-time team, peer reviewing every report, not an ad hoc panel of associates.
Common property sale evidence questions
Why can't a deputy just rely on a DoLS to sell the property?
A DoLS authorisation shows only that the person is subject to restrictive care arrangements. It does not show what their needs are, whether those needs could be met at home, or that selling their home is in their best interests. Following the Supreme Court ruling in the Attorney General for Northern Ireland reference, DoLS authorisations are also expected to become less frequent, so relying on a DoLS as evidence for a sale is increasingly unsafe.
Does this pack decide whether the property can be sold?
No. The pack provides independent evidence of capacity, the person's needs, the realistic options and their best interests. The decision to authorise a sale is for the Court of Protection, and any decision within the deputy's authority is for the deputy. The pack gives the court and the deputy the evidence to decide.
What if the evidence shows the person could return home?
Then the pack will say so. It is neutral and evidence-led. If the person's care needs could realistically be met at home, selling the property may not be in their best interests, and the report will set that out honestly, whatever the original expectation.
What capacity assessments are included?
Two as standard: whether the person can decide where they live, and whether they can decide about selling, transferring or dealing with their property. This identifies, for each decision, whether the person can make it themselves or whether it falls to a best interests process. Where a property and financial affairs deputyship application also needs a COP3 finances assessment, that can be added.
Who is this service for?
Deputies, attorneys and the solicitors instructing them, where a property may need to be sold and evidence is needed for a Court of Protection application or a deputy's best interests decision. Families are often involved, but because a deputyship or court process is usually in place, we normally work with the deputy or their solicitor.
Is this service legal advice?
No. Nellie Supports provides independent social work, mental capacity, care and best interests evidence. We do not provide legal advice. Questions about deputyship authority, the correct application route or Court of Protection procedure should go to a solicitor.
Property sale evidence guides
Supreme Court deprivation of liberty ruling and Court of Protection property sale evidence
Why the judgment changes how sales are evidenced
Evidence needed to sell property where care, residence and capacity are disputed
What a strong evidence pack contains
Residence capacity versus care capacity
Why the decisions are assessed separately
What is capacity to decide where to live?
The residence decision within the pack
Risk, restrictions and deprivation of liberty in residence decisions
Keeping liberty distinct from the sale decision
Other assessment types
The individual assessments within this pack are also available on their own. If you need only a residency assessment, a capacity to sell or transfer property assessment, or a COP3, our team can help.
Capacity to decide where to live
For a decision about where a person should live, such as home with care or a care home.
Capacity to buy, sell or transfer property
For a specific property decision, such as selling a home, buying, transferring or gifting.
COP3 mental capacity assessment
For Court of Protection deputyship applications.
Nellie Supports provides independent social work, mental capacity, care assessment and best interests evidence. We do not provide regulated legal advice. Questions about deputyship or attorney authority, jointly owned property, trustee issues or the correct Court of Protection application route should go to a solicitor. No provider can guarantee how the Court of Protection, a local authority, public body or any other decision-maker will treat an individual report. Nellie Supports provides clear, independent, evidence-led professional opinion within the scope of the instruction.
Request a property sale evidence pack
Tell us about the person, the current care arrangement, the deputyship and why a sale is being considered, and we will confirm the scope, the fee and the earliest appointment.
Written by Ben Slater, Founder and Managing Director, Nellie Supports. Read our editorial policy.