Hope someone can help RE claming Income Support for first time

Caleyloch

Hi,

This is my first time posting on this site so hope you can help.

I separated from my partner at the start of April and we have 1 son who is just under 2. Me and my son moved back to my home town to live with my parents until I get a job and can afford to rent a flat. At the moment he is living in our house and paying for mortgage until it gets put on the market hopefully in the next month or so once repairs get done. As he is paying for the mortgage I have not asked for maintenance.

Since moving back to my home town I have been desperately looking for work but have apart from 2 weeks temp work there has been nothing. Money is starting to run short so my friend mentioned going to see the Lone Parent advisor at the job centre to apply for income support in the mean time. I have recieved a form from the job centre asking for lots of details about the mortgage, and our house. Does this mean as there is some equity in the house that I wil not be entitled to any income support? Its the first time in my life I have ever claimed and hope to be back into work as soon as possible

My ex put down the deposit for the house and it was agreed that if the house makes any money when its sold we will split that equally, but as we only moved in 9 months ago i cannot see there being much profit. Will the job centre take this into consideration or will they just look at the equity and half it?

Sorry for the long post but I am just confused with it all.

Thanks

LOZZY1

hello, sorry i cant really help with the housing question but i just wanted to say i hope that it all work out for you. i have claim IS today myself the first time i have ever claimed anything.

i was also asked alot of q about mortgage and housing but thats as i have stayed in the house. please dont quote me on this but i think is and ct/hb claims are linked and they take all the details at the same time to advise you how best to proceed. i know for HB they sometimes wont pay toward rent if you own a propery somewhere else dependant on the circumstances. the only thing i will say is your ex wil still be expected to pay csa even if he is paying the mortgage or at least thats when the jc told me today!

hopefully someone who knows what they are talking about will come along soon

nannytone_2

you wouldnt be able to claim hb or ctb anyway as youre living with youre parents. you should be able to get income support. if youre claiming ctc jointly with your ex you need to make a single claim. good luck with the job hunting!

Caleyloch

Thank you for your advice. I am not looking for housing benefit anyway just now just a job would be nice! The form I mentioned was sent to me today in the post from the jobcentre after applying for income support. Do they stop income support if you have a mortgage? The form says they might need to send a surveyor out to the house to get a valuation and looking to see how much council tax and the mortgage payments are. I just wonder if its going to be worth my while sending it off or not for the few weeks (i hope) I will be unemployed. Do these sort of things take months to come through? Sorry for all the questions. I have taken to selling everything I can find just now to help me out in the short term.

Voyager2002

Yes, definitely send off the form. State clearly that you are in the process of marketing the house. Once it is listed with an Estate Agent it will probably be "disregarded" for benefit purposes.

von

The value of the property which was formerly the marital home will be disregarded for 26 weeks from the date you left it. If it is put up for sale it will again be disregarded for 26 weeks from the date it is put up for sale.