Benefits v mortgage repayments

Petrov19

Hi,

I'm really confused and will try to explain this the best I can.

I am currently unemployed and claiming JSA. I own a property with a mortgage attached to it but I don't live there as I have separated from my wife. As I am now unemployed the DWP (I think?) is now covering the interest on the loan until the divorce is finalised.

I am looking to get back into work at the very earliest opportunity but I don't know how many hours I can work (if at all!) when I will be legally 'entitled' to start paying the interest on the property again.

It is likely that I am not going to be earning enough to cover the interest payments in addition to the fact that I have to live off what I earn!

Any help would be gratefully appreciated!!!:mad:

dmg24

You can work up to sixteen hours and still claim SMI. However, the amount you earn may cancel out any entitlement.

tcr_3

You shouldn't be getting help via the SMI scheme because you don't live in the house. It's your ex who should be claiming.

andyandflo

tcr wrote: »

You shouldn't be getting help via the SMI scheme because you don't live in the house. It's your ex who should be claiming.

Maybe he is claiming it because his ex is working and wouldn't be entitled to it?

If so, SMI would not be paid at all leading to more financial meltdown

andyandflo

skcollobcat10 wrote: »

Whats all this about how many hours you can work? Who is stopping you doing 40 hours full time work per week? What do you mean "legally entitled" to start paying the interest on the property again?

I do not think anybody is stopping you other than yourself. If you are ablebodied then start looking for work as soon as possible, it will be better in the long run for you.

I think reading his post, he wants to know what hours can he do and the maximum he can earn without it affecting the payment of the mortgage interest.

He doesn't want to be in a position that he will be worse off with working than he is now, nor would he want to work more hours than he needs.

Unless I have read it wrong.

If that is the case and I fully sympathise with him and think that it is a very sensible thing to ask about.

tcr_3

It'd be more sensible to tell the DWP he doesn't live there. That way they could stop the SMI payments he's getting ... because from what the OP has said he's not entitled to them.

One of the basics of the SMI scheme is that you have to live in the property being claimed for (with a few exceptions not mentioned here).

andyandflo

Sam___ wrote: »

then if they're not entitled to it, they shouldn't be getting it.
He must have lied on his application in order to get the payments in the first place, so really you're condoning benefit fraud!!!

Not really, if it is a joint mortgage and they are separated each is responsible for the debt.

Duncombe

andyandflo wrote: »

Not really, if it is a joint mortgage and they are separated each is responsible for the debt.

So why is the tax payer forking out for it?

If he does not live in the house, he can't be claiming SMI for it.

Yet another post where you are advocating fraud.

Petrov19

Thanks andyandflo you know where I am coming from.

I am not claiming the interest relief my (ex) wife is claiming the interest relief as she lives in the property.

I am unemployed so I cannot afford the mortgage interest re-payments so my (ex) wife made an application and this was successful.

In simple terms when I get back into work I want to be able to feed and water myself so I need to understand the threshold limit I can earn before the interest relief becomes 'invalid' and I am legally obliged to continue paying it.

Sam____2

Petrov19 wrote: »

Thanks andyandflo you know where I am coming from.

I am not claiming the interest relief my (ex) wife is claiming the interest relief as she lives in the property.

I am unemployed so I cannot afford the mortgage interest re-payments so my (ex) wife made an application and this was successful.

In simple terms when I get back into work I want to be able to feed and water myself so I need to understand the threshold limit I can earn before the interest relief becomes 'invalid' and I am legally obliged to continue paying it.

which benefits is your wife currently claiming?