Changes to Housing benefit how much will rents fall?

mel12

How would we go about selling our house and buying silver?

My husband said we should sell now and rent because he thinks interest rates are going up and we would be better off renting.

Would we be able to get housing benefit if our savings are in silver bullion?

If you have savings of over £6000 you will get a reduced amount. If you have savings of over £16,000 you can't get any. This applies regardless of whether your savings are in cash, silver, shares whatever.
Housing benefit also depends on your income - have you checked your income is low enough to get it?

If we rent a similar house and claim housing benefit, are we doing anything wrong? I will not tell any lies on the form they just ask have you got any money or savings anywhere, I can honestly answer no cant I?

Legally I think you have to tell them.

Even if you don't tell them, they're likely to ask a few questions about how you just sold a house and yet have no money from it. There's a rule on 'deprivation of capital', that if you delibrately get rid of income or savings in order to keep or claim benefit they'll treat it as if you still had that money (obviously you can buy essential items and your savings gradually go down). Therefore they'll act as though you still had the money from the house sale, and if its more than £16,000 you won't get any benefit. If theres then any problem with selling the silver it could put you in a much worse position of being unable to either get housing benefit or access your savings to pay the rent.

If we sell our house now while house prices are still high we could have some money left after paying off the mortgage. If we buy silver bullion with this so we do not have any savings and bury it for a few years or even longer until the kids grow up. Waiting for house prices to fall back down.

I can't predict what'll happen with the economy (and don't want to argue about it), but bear in mind there's no guarantee that either house prices will fall or silver prices will rise - its a gamble.


Can I suggest a better option would be to call shelter (0808 800 4444) and/or one of the debt charities and get some free advice on your options if you're worried about being able to pay the mortgage?

mel12

They ask about assets as well as savings. I'm fairly sure several thousand pounds of silver would count as an asset. So you would actually have to lie on the form.

hallmark

Milla wrote: »

How would we go about selling our house and buying silver?

My husband said we should sell now and rent because he thinks interest rates are going up and we would be better off renting.

Would we be able to get housing benefit if our savings are in silver bullion?

If we sell our house now while house prices are still high we could have some money left after paying off the mortgage. If we buy silver bullion with this so we do not have any savings and bury it for a few years or even longer until the kids grow up. Waiting for house prices to fall back down.

If we rent a similar house and claim housing benefit, are we doing anything wrong? I will not tell any lies on the form they just ask have you got any money or savings anywhere, I can honestly answer no cant I?

Why should the rest of us have to pay (via taxes) for you to live somewhere for free when you don't actually have a need for it?

If you think house prices will fall then sell now & pay to rent somewhere.

Dell

This is the problem with the UK. Too many people work out they are better off claiming benefits.

Should all change soon when the cuts come in. Not a moment too soon.

ukcarper

Dell wrote: »

This is the problem with the UK. Too many people work out they are better off claiming benefits.

Should all change soon when the cuts come in. Not a moment too soon.

I’m not sure your right about that, they are talking about limiting benefits to the average house income £500 a week so by definition anyone earning below that could still be better of on benefits.

Milla_2

ukcarper wrote: »

I’m not sure your right about that, they are talking about limiting benefits to the average house income £500 a week so by definition anyone earning below that could still be better of on benefits.

But that £500 a week is total cap, including everything. Not many families will get that much anyway its only London that will be affected.

Only London rents and council tax will eat up most of that £500 a week. If people do not move somewhere cheaper then they will lose some of their tax credit and child benefit ect.

ukcarper

A lot of families don't earn that.

74tnemele

ukcarper wrote: »

A lot of families don't earn that.

That is a good point. If a family in London does not earn £500 a week then they almost certainly get benefits to pay their rent and council tax.

So it is looking like a very large number of families are going to be affected if they are in work or not.

Hsarcgib

Are the changes really coming in though? There is a chance they will do a u turn and these families will still be getting 4 grand a week to rent in London.

SilverStandard

Hsarcgib wrote: »

Are the changes really coming in though? There is a chance they will do a u turn and these families will still be getting 4 grand a week to rent in London.

Interesting condems are spending more than labour.

Where are the cuts?