IS suspended due to property interest

bigbill

I dont see how they can stop the IB as its his based on his NI Contributions is non means tested so any capital / savings / property etc would not stop that payment?

If he has middle or high care of DLA make sure you claim Carers Allowance as this is your and again non means tested, backdate it to when he got the DLA awarded.

You will get it ignored for another 6 month once you take the first steps to sell it by the way.

real1314

welshcakes wrote:

Thankyou all for your replies, it's at least put my mind at rest that I haven't got it wrong and that my property doesn't affect his entitlement.

Do you think it would be best just to write a letter to the jobcentre (IS) confirming that the property is still receiving final essential repairs and that we will write again with Agent details as soon as we put it on the market (about 10 days)?

Would that be enough to satisfy them that the property is still exempt? The A64A form asked loads of questions about the property and valuations etc however the way see it, all that sort of information is irrelevant. I am concerned that filling it in will just delay the un-suspension because the jobcentre might i) then argue that my b/f is accepting he has an interest in the property and ii) they might receive the form and automatically overlook the fact that it is exempt Capital.

In a nutshell, what if he just responds with a letter as if as Anthillmob originally said the jobcentre is simply enquiring "if the property is up for sale before un-suspending"?

ok, some clarification.

1. the dla award is unlikely to have stopped the IS/IB it is more likely that your property HAS stopped these. As you are living together in the eyes of IS what's your is his and whats his is yours. Otherwise someone could live with a multi-billionaire and claim IS.

2. afaik the property can be disregarded whilst un-fit fot habitation (not necessarily just being improved though - if it's got Hot & cold water, bathroom and kitchen they it could be classed as fit) - and can be for 6 months whilst on the market.

They'll be wanting more info.
This is why they've suspended his payments, but haven't disallowed them. a suspension is just a decision to hold the payments, not the award.

However the IB part probably doesn't need to be suspended, but it's happened because it's paid with the IS. He can ask them to "de-combine" the IB and pay it whilst his IS is suspended.

give the office as much info as possible, see what they say. post back if more problems.

hth

Anthillmob

re above post i though the inhabital rule was for council tax exemption and not a benefit point of view?

real1314

Anthillmob wrote:

re above post i though the inhabital rule was for council tax exemption and not a benefit point of view?

you might well be right. thinking about it logically it's an asset that's saleable in any state. even land would have to be up for sale, so as this one isn't, it falls to be treated as a capital assest, presumably worth more than £16k so no IS payable.

(all this is without checking the regs tho')

welshcakes

Thanks for further replies.

The property has throughout, and remains unfit as there is cold water but no hot or any gas and this won't be rectified until the end of this week when I have the Corgi gas engineer and plumber sorted.

As soon as I have hot and cold plus gas turned on, it will go same day onto market (I have discussed this with Surveyor from Darlows).

So is the general consensus that my b/f should ring and tell them this information and back it up in a signed letter for me to take down to the local jobcentre dealing with it? We are close to being stoney broke and with three children in school, this will shortly put us in dire need.

welshcakes

Well, have spoken with jobcentre and to a very helpful lady who explained that current legislation means that if there is any reason to query IS, it can be suspended without any obligation to contact the recipient.

In our case it would seem that a form was sent to us back in September which we needed to fill out regarding the property. We definitely didn't receive it and hence it was never returned. For that reason alone, IS was suspended.

Going down to jobcentre tomorrow to filling in form with a covering letter to get the matter referred to an assessor who will then authorise the property as exempt.

Only then, will IS be reinstated and all the backdated money released. Unfortunately, she told me they have hundreds of cases to deal with so could weeks. Bit worrying but there you go, not her fault and she really did try to help.

welshcakes

Well, just an update. Despite my jobcentre 'assessor' being on leave, my phone call this morning paid off. I appealed to the sympathetic side of the decision-maker section where lovely lady went through my assessor's desk, found our file and rang me back to apologise as the matter was all settled and found to be in order last week.

Sadly due to the matter not being actioned, the 'suspension' of IS hadn't been made so £1,300 back payments of IS won't reach us til after xmas.

Moral of the story seems to be don't wait for the call or letter, keep chasing it yourself

seven-day-weekend

Well done, glad it got sorted for you!