Renting My House to my Wife

stocktonlad1970

I am currently going through a seperation from my wife.

I am moving out of the family home and leaving my wife and 2 children in the mortgaged house. I am moving into rented accomodation. My wife doesnt work but does receive enough in benefits to meet the mortgage for now.

I spoke to the building society about signing the mortgage over to my wife but they said that might not be possible.

If my wife signed the mortgage over to me, can I rent the property back to my wife, allowing her to claim housing benefit which will then allow me to meet the mortgage.

simondm

I'm afraid HB/LHA will not be permitted by the local authority as your wife would have previously owned (a share of) the property.

Fire_Fox

That sounds remarkably like a 'contrived tenancy' to me.

DVardysShadow

stocktonlad1970 wrote: »

I am currently going through a seperation from my wife.

I am moving out of the family home and leaving my wife and 2 children in the mortgaged house. I am moving into rented accomodation. My wife doesnt work but does receive enough in benefits to meet the mortgage for now.

I spoke to the building society about signing the mortgage over to my wife but they said that might not be possible.

If my wife signed the mortgage over to me, can I rent the property back to my wife, allowing her to claim housing benefit which will then allow me to meet the mortgage.

Don't you think that separations should be self funded by those who separate?

roger196

The HB regulations are in statutory instrument no 213 of 2006. The relevant regulation is no 9. This would appear to bar any claim to HB in the circs you describe.


Circumstances in which a person is to be treated as not liable to make payments in respect of a dwelling
9. —(1) A person who is liable to make payments in respect of a dwelling shall be treated as if he were not so liable where—

(c) his liability under the agreement is—

(i) to his former partner and is in respect of a dwelling which he and his former partner occupied before they ceased to be partners;

.The way round this is to sell former matrimonial home and for H to buy another house which he then rents to ex wife. HB is not g'teed as council may regard arrangement as contrived. However this may also be unwise for other reasons.

Happy Christmas

Roger

clutton_2

if your wife has enough income to pay the mortgage and you will be renting elsewhere = i dont see where the problem is ?

Emma1973

The way round this is to sell former matrimonial home and for H to buy another house which he then rents to ex wife. HB is not g'teed as council may regard arrangement as contrived

.

Tenant is also not liabe to pay rent when any children who live in the house are children of the landlord.

stocktonlad1970

Thanks for the advice. It was only a suggestion about renting it back to my wife, just exploring options.

I've spoke to the mortgage provider and they seem a "transfer of equity" is required, transfer to who?

My wife would receive more than enough in benefits to meet the mortage, so i too cant see what the problem would be. They wouldn't kick someone out if the mortgage was being met, surely!!

LandyAndy

When I got divorced I sold my half of the house to my ex. I can't remember if the mortgage was transferred to her or she got a new one (it was 20 years ago). It was a very simple process.

You will only be able to do it if your wife alone meets the lender's current lending criteria. I suspect that is unlikely if she is on benefits.

BitterAndTwisted

The transfer of equity is the transfer from your wife to you, so you then own the house 100% and pay 100% of the mortgage or vice versa but your wife is extremely unlikely to qualify for a mortgage with no income other than benefits.

It seems to me that the best way to go about this would be for both of you to make 50% of the mortgage payments each. Then both will still own 50% of any equity until arrangements are made once the children cease to be dependents and then the property can be sold so you can each go your own way.

In your position, I would seek legal advice from a solicitor who specialises in family law. As a parent you are expected to not only ensure your children are adequately housed but to also provide maintenance payments which I believe the CSA calculate at 20% of your net earnings. This can be difficult when having to provide your own housing at the same time as well.