Inheritance from Will & Council Property

kaggy30

My dear Nan passed away and made a will with our solicitor and has my grandmothers wishes stating that her house is to be divided in 5 ways. My mother, her brother, myself, my younger brother and my younger sister. My Uncle is under the mental health act and is in care, therefore his share is in a trust fund if the house was to be sold. My Uncle and Mother split 50% of the estate leaving the remaining 50% divided between myself, my sister and my brother. For the record, my mother is on income/ support and has her own council house and has done for the past 15 years. My Mother has been signed off work due to depression and anxiety and is on employment support plus housing benefit. She does not want to live in my Nans house due to bad experiences and memories. This is currently effecting her health.

Our solicitor has said that my Mother can live in the house providing myself, brother and sister agree to sign it over. We agreed this as we do not want to sell the house and keep it in the family.

In the meantime my mother is worried sick that

a.) She will lose her income support
b.) She will lose her council home

Finally, ideally we would like to keep the house but if this creates to many issues then we would sell. What would be the best way to keep the house within the family but so that my mother can still carry on as herself. My Mother is at the point where she is saying that she would rather she was kept out of it as it is proving too complicated. My brother is also on employment support, my sister only has a part time job as she only 17, however I have just finished University and hoping to find full time employment very soon.

Thank you for your time

Sarah

welshone27

Firstly I'm very sorry for your loss.
Unfortunatly I dont know much about these situations, but what did stand out was you mentioned about her possibly living in your grans house and worried about losing her council house? I can't see how she could keep the council house if she moves into another.

Could you rent the house out?

kaggy30

Hi thank you for your reply. Well my mother is saying at the moment that she would rather us have the house and she is kept out of the will. Would she be able to do that?

xylophone

My Mother has been signed off work due to depression and anxiety and is on employment support plus housing benefit. She does not want to live in my Nans house due to bad experiences and memories.

Our solicitor has said that my Mother can live in the house providing myself, brother and sister agree to sign it over. We agreed this as we do not want to sell the house and keep it in the family.

Your mother doesn't want to live in the house so what is all this about signing it over?

I think you might need to look at "deprivation of capital" with regard to these proposals.

I assume that your mother does not own her council house - I don't quite see with the shortage of of council housing being as it is, that your mother would be allowed to keep a house in which she doesn't live?

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/hbgm-bw1-assessment-of-capital.pdf

Perhaps your solicitor should have a look at this?

kaggy30

She wants to live in the council accommodation where she is settled and wants to stay living where she is. However, we have all been given my Nans house (mortgage free) in which the solicitor said that she has the option of living in but she does not want to and would rather one of us live in the house and she carries on with her life. I just wanted to know if there was a way around it. Thank you so much for that information I am currently having a read of it now. So sorry if I seem a bit confused, as you can imagine this is all a bit daunting for us right now seeing as we have unexpectedly lost my Nan

dseventy

Only on the benefits board do you get an inheritance thread with a "sad face" icon!

If your mother has been given a 50% share in a house, she can't give this away or decline it (well she can but for means tested benefits like IS she will be treated like she still has it).

If she will not move in, the best arrangement is for the house to be sold, she gets the money and lives off this until its gone and then claims IS etc again.

Does she not want her share of the estate? Or does she want it and keep her IS? She can't do both.

D70

xylophone

You will all need to take advice, but it seems to me that the cleanest solution is for the house to be sold?

It would give you some capital, very useful at the start of a career and give both of your siblings a leg up.

Your uncle gets his due to which he is entitled - it will go into trust for him as you have said.

Your mother would not be forced out of her council house but would have capital of her own, part of which would be presumably be taken in to account with regard to benefit, but if the house is signed over to her (and would your uncle's trustee be happy about this?), her benefits may still need to be reassessed?

kaggy30

Thank you xylophone. My Uncles trustee is fine with it as the trustee is the solicitor. The thing is I think she is going to want myself to move into the house and invest into it once im working as the house is very old. Of course I do not think my brother and sister i going to agree with it. I looked up deed of deviation where you can change the will. It is all a bit confusing and we are getting all sorts of information given to us. I just wanted to know some legal ways around it so I would be confident when going to see the solicitor

BigAunty

Social housing tenants can inherit property elsewhere without it affecting their tenancy.

Generally, council tenants have to keep their council property as their primary tenancy as there are often clauses in the tenancy agreement that insist on this and social housing landlords often take action to repossess council properties when they identify the tenant has moved elsewhere. Check the tenancy handbook or tenancy agreement to confirm this last point.

What is the value of this property, what is the value of her share? Capital above 6k affects means tested benefits like income support, council tax benefit and housing benefit while over 16k rules it out.

Research 'deprivation of capital' on the internet. Read the DWP decision makers guide which is the staff manuals that a previous poster has supplied the links to. You will understand more about these complex rules which prevent those on benefits from getting rid of their capital so they can continue to claim benefits.

Your mother may want to bury her head in the sand because she finds it stressful but she is obliged to report to the local council and the DWP any changes in her circumstances, so inheriting a 50% share in a property should be reported.

I don't know about the legal side of it, if she can legitimately ignore the will or if this will still get classed as deprivation of capital. Seek expert advice about this, not just a generalist forum like this.

lovetowinacar

She does not wish to live there and has a council house where she is settled so just sell the house and split the proceeds as per the will. You all have your money now rather than messing around and complicating things. She can use the money inherited from the sale of the property and from any other money left to her to improve her life in the future.

Your mother will have to declare this capital since she is on means tested benefits - is this money enough to buy her council house (where she is settled). She cannot just say I don't want the money to avoid coming off of benefits since the money is already deemed to be hers and she must report otherwise she will have the added problem of being accused of benefit fraud by not declaring assets/money she has now.

Keep things simple and honest it saves problems in the long wrong.

kingfisherblue

Is your mum on ESA or IS? You mention both in the OP - or have I misunderstood?