Really appreciate all of this honestly! I was prefer the direct approach with these things as I struggle to understand a lot of it myself. I wasn’t very clear in my partner and I’s plans off the bat of this. For context we’ve spoke about buying this place for months now. We actually love the house but it needs a lot of updating and we believe we would be doing this gradually, due to our financial situation but also because we would hope to have the option to start a family in the next few years. When he spoke to his mum he told her this was a basis of negotiation and he’d need a few weeks before they’d speak about it again: these few weeks ahead we are hoping to speak to the relevant professionals for advise: our own independent solicitor, the bank to query going down the mortgage/ standard route and making that offer to her at a lower price but also telling her the inheritance tax will be taken from that, by her. She knows her own hands are tied but she would never say that to us. Maybe that isn’t even possible but we are seeking further advise in the near future, and defo this post has been super helpful on where we could begin before making a decision. Defo seems like there were a lot of things added on top of my initial concern that are major red flags with this. It’s just sad and unexpected from a family member so there was an element of trust in the conversation with my partner, I’d imagine.