Refused benefits

Lexxi

Me and OH had a joint claim for housing benefits and JSA, I have a house that is rented out, for us to have lived in this house would have meant being homeless for 2 months until I had made my tenants homeless.
I have declared all this about the house and tenants etc and we have now both been refused any housing benefit or job seekers.
I have explained on the forms that were sent that the rent from the house covers the mortgage, the first 1/3 of the sale would go to a family member that helped me buy the house and that there is no equity. To sell the house would probably end up costing me money and I woldn't be in any better a position than I am now, even if there was any equity then they would have expected me to live on nothing until the house was sold.
Is there any way that we could appeal, we ran up a fair bit of debt to cover the bills whilst we were waiting for an income, we have managed to get a job but it is temporary and isn't going to clear the debt before we're going to end up running them up again.

Can they refuse benefits if the house has no equity? Could we appeal?

dmg24

You state that 1/3 of the sale would go to a family member - do they have a charge on the property? Do you mean that the equity is nil, or will be once you have paid your relative their share?

Lexxi

If I sold now I would have to pay back a 30k loan, there is no charge on the house, it is an agreement to pay back what was lent to help me get on the property ladder. If I sold now there wouldn't even be the 30k to pay the family member back so technically I would be more in debt.
I could understand them expecting me to sell or live off the income from rent if there was no mortgage but I don't gain anything from having the house and probably wont for about 15 years.
Also, the house has been rented out for a few years, I got ill and had to move in with my parents

dmg24

If the loan is not secured on the house, then in the eyes of the LA the loan does not exist. Would you have more than £16,000 if you received all the monies from the house?

Lexxi

I'd imagine so, that would be if the house was sold, at the moment I can't do it as like I said I would lose money. All the paperwork to pay the money back was drawn up by a solicitor when the house was bought, would they still not recognise that?
What about my partners benefit, the house is nothing to do with him?

Oldernotwiser

If you live with a partner, your income and assets are considered jointly, as is your claim.

Lexxi

So it's ok to leave us with no means to pay rent, bills or to buy food because I have equity in a house. Money which would go to someone else if I sold the place, selling the place would also make a young family homeless.
It's ridiculous, I'm not trying to drain the system, I must have applied for about 5 jobs a day whilst we were out of work, I never planned on being on benefits for any length of time but I did still need to eat and pay bills.
the tax office wrote to me a few years ago because I wasn't earning money or claiming benefits, they thought they were missing out on something!

dmg24

What paperwork was drawn up by the solicitor?

You do have means to pay rent, the loan to your relative (unless formally recognised) is not a priority.

Lexxi

I didn't have means to pay the rent we lost our job, we had no income. The rent that my house generates all goes on the mortgage, I have about £2 a month from it. I agree the debt isn't a priority but what if something happened to me and I couldn't work, I'd have to sell the house to enable me to get benefits yet be in an even worse position becase the loan would be called in and I'd have to find the rest of 30k.
I'm not sure what the solicitor drew up, it was about 5 years ago when the sale went through.

dmg24

You need to find out more about the document your solicitor drew up.

Whilst it is not practical to have to sell a house in order to get money, it is also not the job of the state to provide you with an income when you already have money, albeit tied up in property. Also, the state takes no account of debts when calculating what capital you have, irrespective of who you owe the money to.

Blackpool_Saver

you have no option but to serve notice on the tenants