Advice Needed Re Housing Benefit

highlander68

Hi all,

Wife and I are in the process of going bankrupt, we have been advised by CAB, CCCS etc to voluntarily surrender our home which is mortgaged and in negative equity. We have found and rented a smaller property which we move into in two weeks time, we have not made ourselves homeless as we have the new property, but their seems to be (depending on who you talk to) doubt as to whether we'd qualify for housing allowance/benefit, I'm the main breadwinner and have recently lost my job.

Sorry for the ramble, but can anybody advise?

dmg24

Is your house actually on the market yet? Do you have to move out yet?

highlander68

House was on the market for 12 weeks, cant afford to sell it, cant remortgage it as the LTV I need is not available and I lost my job on the 30th June, so cant afford current mortgage, also my mortgage is with NR and is due to leap from @ £900 pm to @ £1300 pm in October.

dmg24

If your house was on the market, then you can usually claim LHA for up to six months. However, as it is no longer on the market, you would not usually be eligible for LHA.

I am sure that this situation is arising more and more in todays economic conditions, so I would give your LA a call to see if they can advise further x

highlander68

So the fact that we can't sell the house for the amount needed to clear the mortgage/secured loans and that we've informed NR about our wish for voluntary repo to go ahead and a looming bankruptcy to boot and also we are moving away from the area completely (about 240 miles) makes us ineligible for LHA?

dmg24

No, I didn't say it made you ineligible. Please reread my post.

highlander68

Sorry dmg24, can't seem to see the woods for the trees at the moment - have re read your post and it's a little ambiguous, just don't want to jump from the fryinh pan into the fire.

mummytofour

Best thing would be to call up the council and ask? Good luck and I do hope that you get the help you need.