Housing benefit / rent question ?

jayseven7

Hi,

have had a look on here for answers without any real luck, was hoping someone could offer any ideas ?

my mum and brother jointly bought the family house from the housing executive ( N.Ireland) mums name had to be on the mortgage, my brother did pay all the mortgage money tho, mum helped out wen she could etc

mum receives IB and DLA, previous to the house being bought she received full HB.
Now the situation has changed, my brother has just got married a moved in with his wife 2 weeks ago, he is still paying the mortgage for the family house that mum is still living in on her own, he wont be able to keep paying the mortgage very much longer as he and his wife will be trying to get a new house of their own.

question is, will mum be able to claim HB again? or will it not be awarded because she will be renting off her son?

any ideas would be appreciated

baza52

but HER name is on the mortgage and she jointly bought the house so she would be renting from herself.

No help from HB

jayseven7

baza52 wrote: »

but HER name is on the mortgage and she jointly bought the house so she would be renting from herself.

No help from HB

sorry, my heads all over the place lol forgot to say...
my brother got the house re-mortgaged with a better bank as we are sure mum was "ripped off" by a well known now defaulted lender.
so, brother has the full mortgage now in his name only.

Oldernotwiser

It may be different in NI, but in England you can't claim HB for a house that you've previously owned.

In addition, as she has effectually given away half a house, it's likely to stop her claiming any means tested benefits in the future.

The only good thing is that, if your brother defaults on the mortgage, it will be his credit record that will be affected. I really think that your family need to look at the whole situation again, probably with someone who is knowledgeable about the benefits situation in NI.

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings.

Penelope_Penguin

You'd need to be very careful. It may be seen as a "contrived" tenancy.

From DirectGov:

You can't usually get Housing Benefit if:

• you live in the home of a close relative

Is this applicable to NI?

Penelope_Penguin

jayseven7 wrote: »

so, brother has the full mortgage now in his name only.

jayseven7 wrote: »

he is still paying the mortgage for the family house that mum is still living in on her own, he wont be able to keep paying the mortgage very much longer as he and his wife will be trying to get a new house of their own.

Sorry to be the bearer of more bad news - he won;t be able to just stop paying the mortage on the house your/his mother lives in. If he defaults, he'll probably be unlikely to get another mortage any time soon.

Or is he intending one house effectively to be a "buy to let"? Can he, in that case, free up enough equity from the exisitng house to put down as a deposit for his new house?

jayseven7

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

You'd need to be very careful. It may be seen as a "contrived" tenancy.



Is this applicable to NI?

i have heard that if it is seen as contrived then mum would not be considered for HB. I did see on the same gov site alot of info that to be fair i found hard to understand, all rules and regulations.
i guess she will just apply for HB and hope for the best.
thanks for your help

jayseven7

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

Sorry to be the bearer of more bad news - he won;t be able to just stop paying the mortage on the house your/his mother lives in. If he defaults, he'll probably be unlikely to get another mortage any time soon.

Or is he intending one house effectively to be a "buy to let"? Can he, in that case, free up enough equity from the exisitng house to put down as a deposit for his new house?

if mum cant get HB for the family home, she will have to move out, my brother will then let the house out to someone else who can pay the rent themselves or via HB. he wont just stop the payments for the mortgage as im sure he and his new wife will want to buy their own house soon.

Oldernotwiser

jayseven7 wrote: »

if mum cant get HB for the family home, she will have to move out, my brother will then let the house out to someone else who can pay the rent themselves or via HB. he wont just stop the payments for the mortgage as im sure he and his new wife will want to buy their own house soon.

And what will she pay the rent with? She won't get LHA if she's given away half her house - she'll be assessed as still having the asset. Google "deprivation of capital" for more information.