Of course they have.

so what she could give it all back to you if you both get on with each other or give it back in kind with gifts. know someone close to her in the kitchen who is doing this.

Glad you agree

Since 2008, it's been obvious that we were going to have to pay more tax, thanks to the financial crisis, then covid, & the rise in public sector workers & social spending. Government income comes in taxes from income (income tax), spending (VAT) or inheritance tax. If the first two don't fill the coffers, then IHT will by default have to take up the slack.
The past & present governments have already screwed the income tax payers by freezing the personal tax allowances, & reducing the allowances for interest, dividends, & capital gains. The govt are left with either encouraging people to spend (increasing VAT income), or tax them through IHT if they don't spend their savings.
With rising house prices over the last few years, it was obvious that IHT would capture more estates. I fully agree that it is inequitable that those falling within the IHT provisions are being taxed twice, but every pound of VAT we pay has already been taxed when the income was earned.

Is the government's plan to encourage those they regard as "wealthy" to spend or disperse their wealth, increase VAT income, & boost the economy? It could have been a reasonable argument if the spending was on UK-manufactured goods instead of cheap stuff from overseas
The UK is not alone, & countries need to get back to balanced budgeting instead of borrowing & printing ever more money, kicking the can down the road for future generations to deal with the fall-out.
The other IHT trap is that they will include any unspent defined contribution pensions in future. It won't capture defined benefit pensions (final salary schemes) which are now mainly only available to public sector workers. So the pensions gap which has already disadvantaged defined contribution members, is going to get wider

as a country most just hate paying income tax but accept indirect taxation without much of a moan. the base rate is far less than it was in the early 70,s and percentage wise those who are robbed of a winter fuel payment have paid more than todays workers pay. however if a party promised to leave all other taxes alone, increase the personal allowance to take the lower paid out of paying tax but put 5p on the base rate they,d never get into power. always remember the more income tax you pay the more you will take home but many cannot see it that way.

£600 a month is a lot in gifts, believe there will be some way they can track if she was giving me the money back.

are they doing anything illegal though anyway. you put your house up for sale and nobody can say who can buy it. you pay em rent and as long as they declare the rent they receive they,ll be taxed on it and it ends there. then is who to say what you can and cannot charge for renting property out. prices vary anyway even in the same town for similar properties.

It’s a crying shame we have to think like this in the first place.

It's not as straightforward anyway, you sell your house and then as a single person your IHT free sum drops to £325k. Now if that was an average house in Hartlepool worth £140k that's a £185k before IHT is due, take away maybe a car, an insurance policy, and a smallish pension pot, etc and you're into IHT liability.
Then the IHT is payable before probate is gra Ted so beneficiaries might have to borrow or sell the house to pay the IHT, but you can't sell the house until probate is granted and after they've paid the IHT.
It's a f*cking minefield and not what you want to be dealing with when you're coming to terms with the loss of your nearest and dearest.

PTID - then you have to contend with Probate Office delays, because they haven't resourced that department properly since the pandemic (if not before even)

Yes, I believe that 4 to 6 months for a straightforward application is the norm. So the moral is if you're due to inherit and there's IHT due on the estate start saving.