We own my partners mothers house, benefits?

tombliboo

We pay the mortgage and insurances on the house in which my partners mum lives... the mortgage is in my partners name because it was where she lived before we met and her mum lived with her.

Her mum is on benefits but we don't get anything toward the mortgage and money is getting tighter! My partner and I are not married, should we look at changing the mortgage to my name and could we get money back that way?

The only other alternative we can think of is telling her mum she needs to move out and find accomodation elsewhere on benefits, and then we went it out to someone else privately.

Preferably we would prefer her to stay there but struggling to afford the bills?

LisaLou1982

Is your partners mother living there on her own or do you still live there too?
If she lives there on her own, draw up a tenancy agreement with a set rent and get her mum to claim housing benefit (LHA as its now known).

Providing that you are charging a fair monthly rent then this shouldnt be a problem as long as she qualifies.

Hippychick

LisaLou1982 wrote: »

Is your partners mother living there on her own or do you still live there too?
If she lives there on her own, draw up a tenancy agreement with a set rent and get her mum to claim housing benefit (LHA as its now known).

Providing that you are charging a fair monthly rent then this shouldnt be a problem as long as she qualifies.

I think this may actually be a problem because the mother hasn't been paying rent so far. If the OP does this then it could be described as a 'contrived tenancy' and the council may deem that the tenancy has been created to take advantage of the housing benefit scheme.

As harsh as it is for the mother, to avoid getting into a mess with the benefits agency it may be better for mother to move and you rent the place out on the open market.

Wee_Willy_Harris

LisaLou1982 wrote: »

Is your partners mother living there on her own or do you still live there too?
If she lives there on her own, draw up a tenancy agreement with a set rent and get her mum to claim housing benefit (LHA as its now known).

Providing that you are charging a fair monthly rent then this shouldnt be a problem as long as she qualifies.

Not necessarily. The Council may (and probably would in these circs) conclude that this is a "contrived tenancy" and reject the claim.

zzzLazyDaisy

tombliboo wrote: »

should we look at changing the mortgage to my name?

You can only have a mortgage over a house that you own. So for you to take a mortgage over the house in your sole name, your gf would have to give (or sell) you the house. That's a pretty big leap of faith!

Wee_Willy_Harris

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

You can only have a mortgage over a house that you own. So for you to take a mortgage over the house in your sole name, your gf would have to give (or sell) you the house. That's a pretty big leap of faith!

And the Council will ask all those uncomfortable questions of your gf's mother if/when she applies. So, either she owns up and the earlier posts still apply, or she tells porky pies and risks HB fraud.

Councils have seen it all before and do routinely check these things out. The fact that she has lived there for so long without paying rent will be of interest to them, I'm sure.

Forget any notion that Councils are still the lumbering bohemoths of old. Modern Councils have powers and resources you wouldn't even believe. I would imagine that your rather thinly disguised machinations aimed at getting the tax-payer to fund your second home mortgage will not escape their attentions.

zzzLazyDaisy

Wee_Willy_Harris wrote: »

The fact that she has lived there for so long without paying rent will be of interest to them, I'm sure..

That fact on its own is almost certainly going to result in a decision that the decision to charge rent now is a contrived tenancy to claim LHA (which actually is exactly what it is)

poppysarah

Why was the decision made to buy the house in the first place?

Could she come and live with you if you're going to be making her homeless?

LisaLou1982

Hippychick wrote: »

I think this may actually be a problem because the mother hasn't been paying rent so far. If the OP does this then it could be described as a 'contrived tenancy' and the council may deem that the tenancy has been created to take advantage of the housing benefit scheme.

As harsh as it is for the mother, to avoid getting into a mess with the benefits agency it may be better for mother to move and you rent the place out on the open market.

I recently filled in the forms for my mums housing benefit claim and as far as i remember, there was no section which required to the tenant to state how much they had paid in rent in the past. The mother can prove that she lived in the property as she can get a tenancy agreement. Whether any money has ever changed hands in the past is here nor there.

Wee_Willy_Harris

HAving now had the opportunity to look into this a little further, a few options seem to be available to you.

You could move the gf's mum into one of the two other properties your gf owns and rents out as a commercial business.

You could carry on financing the mortgage rather than making ad-hoc lump sum payments towards one of the other rented properties.

As you both work in local government, you could talk to a senior member of staff at the dept dealing with LHA and get first hand, fully informed advice on what is and isn't permissable/legal.

And finaly, if you intend to carry out this devious ploy to get the taxpayer to fund your gf's property empire, it might be wise to get both your CVs up to date.


Posted elsewhere by OP
Should I be refused mortgage?
I was made REALLY dissapointed yesterday, my partner and I have recently switched our joint account to First Direct, my re-mortgage is due next month which was good timing to make us eligible for the First Direct offset mortgage that's really caught my attention.

My mortgage is less than 50% LTV and I am the only named party on the application. My partner has 2 buy-to-let properties run under a business and these are dealt with against a business account - I am not named on these mortgages it is a project she took on before we met.

When my partner moved in with me her mum remains in a house also mortgaged by my partner (her mum does not work), again I am not on the mortgage for that property.

Taking on a joint account together means both our wages are paid into this account, my mortgage and my partners mortgage come from this account understandably. In the past few months we have also used the account to pay off lump sums adhoc off one of the buy-to-let mortgages.

We have stable jobs in local government and have been financially sound all our lives, yet First Direct have now turned down my application on the basis they say should my partner lose her job I would be financially responsible for paying her mortgage. I am so dissapointed is this going to be the same with whoever I go to and are First Direct right to refuse me the mortgage on these grounds?

All advice appreciated.

Wee_Willy_Harris

LisaLou1982 wrote: »

I recently filled in the forms for my mums housing benefit claim and as far as i remember, there was no section which required to the tenant to state how much they had paid in rent in the past. The mother can prove that she lived in the property as she can get a tenancy agreement. Whether any money has ever changed hands in the past is here nor there.

There will always be a question about your previous address and how long you have been at the current address. If answered honestly in this instance, that will show that mum had lived at the address for x time and, as no LHA had been in pay, will highlight the obvious further enquiries needed.