Housing benefit for homeowners

wannabedebtfree_2

One of the questions they ask is do you own property or land, so if you lie you'll be committing fraud and if your part ownership is worth more than £16k it will definately reduce your HB.

I don't see how if you have a part share that you will not be gaining some rental income from it, who is going to be living there?

If it's to do with an inheritance why can't the person just write a will leaving you part of the house? Then it can't affect your benefits as it's money you don't actually have.

Transformer

John_Stiles wrote: »

Is there any legit way around that?

NO because that would be criminal.

John_Stiles

wannabedebtfree wrote: »

One of the questions they ask is do you own property or land, so if you lie you'll be committing fraud and if your part ownership is worth more than £16k it will definately reduce your HB.

I don't see how if you have a part share that you will not be gaining some rental income from it, who is going to be living there?

If it's to do with an inheritance why can't the person just write a will leaving you part of the house? Then it can't affect your benefits as it's money you don't actually have.

If they leave it to me in a will and then they become ill and need to go into care and pay a fortune for it, will our overlords then demand that they sell their property in order to pay the extortionate amount of money for care thus I lose my inheritance thus this person loses everything they've worked for?

deadby40

pretty much yes. if you have somewhere to live that you do not have to pay for they will not pay you to live somewhere else. in yr polemic case above i don t see a problem. it would be their illness, their house and their care costs. the vagaries of their will are not the concern of the DWP. or the taxpayer.

HappyMJ

John_Stiles wrote: »

If they leave it to me in a will and then they become ill and need to go into care and pay a fortune for it, will our overlords then demand that they sell their property in order to pay the extortionate amount of money for care thus I lose my inheritance thus this person loses everything they've worked for?

Ahhhh ...I see now.. Your inheritance will not be lost it will be used to pay for the care required if needed. You would like the taxpayer not only to pay you housing benefit whilst owning a property but you would also like the taxpayer to pay for the care of the people that have "your" inheritance.

There are ways around this. You can purchase the property from them then kick them out and you move in. With the money they have just received from the sale of the property to you they can rent somewhere and pay rent.

John_Stiles

So to clarify, we live in a country where...

A person works hard for decades and buys a property. That person wants to be free of stress and financial worry and just enjoy their life, and leave the property, which they live in with somebody else, to someone. They have 3 choices.

They either leave it to them in a will, in which case if they become ill and need to go into care they have to sell their property to pay for it and thus gradually lose all the money that they have saved, and the person in the will gets nothing.

Or, they can just carry on owning the property, in which case if they become ill and need to go into care they have to sell their property to pay for it and thus gradually lose all the money that they have saved, and the person in the will gets nothing.

Or they can just sign over the property to the other person, in which case if they become ill and need to go into care they will be ok as it will be paid for them, but the person who owns the property but doesn't live in it is then considered to not need HB and has to sell the property in order to pay their rent.


Is that correct?

deadby40

no it's not correct

"That person wants to be free of stress and financial worry and just enjoy their life, and leave the property, which they live in with somebody else, to someone. They have 3 choices"

=

that person chances it that they will never get ill and just assumes that the government will bail them out if so. they don t set up appropriate insurance and yet do not make efforts to find out where they stand if they do become ill.

nannytone_2

you want the house signed over, so that the current owners get rid of an asset in order to receive free care, and at the same time you want to be able to receive that asset and keep claiming benefit?

why shouldnt people pay their own way if they have the means to?

if you get a job/better paying job, and pay your own rent, you wouldnt ave to worry about it!

unless of course, they die within 7 years of making this 'gift', because then you'd be hit with a nice big tax bill, and that'd really raise your blood pressure!

antrobus

OK let's try and be vaguely helpful;

Property you own but do not occupy [HB Sch 6, HB(SPC) Sch 6; CTB Sch 5, CTB(SPC) Sch 4]

The value of this property is counted as capital but you may be able to get HB/CTB even if the value of the property means that your savings are more than £16,000. This is because the value of the property may be ignored when your savings are worked out, in certain circumstances.


If the property is occupied by an elderly or disabled relative as their home, its value is not taken into account for as long as it is so occupied.

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/publications/specialist-guides/technical-guidance/rr2-a-guide-to-housing-benefit/working-it-out/income-and-capital/

So will the property in question be occupied by an "elderly or disabled relative"?

John_Stiles

If the property were to be put in a trust, would this solve the problem?