on benefits and have just inherited part of a house

clutton_2

""If he uses his inheritance to buy his council house then he'll have no need for housing benefit"" of course not !!!

Dunroamin

clutton wrote: »

""If he uses his inheritance to buy his council house then he'll have no need for housing benefit"" of course not !!!

Sorry - you did ask!:)

clutton_2

:)sometimes it takes a stranger to see the bleedin' obvious !!

Dunroamin

clutton wrote: »

:)sometimes it takes a stranger to see the bleedin' obvious !!

And they don't come much stranger than me!;)

BurnleyBob

Clutton - Assuming he'll bag £16K or more, he wouldn't be entitled to Housing Benefit as he'd have no rent to pay and he wouldn't be entitled to Council Tax Benefit because the money he spent purchasing his home would be regarded as notional capital that he chose to deprive himself of so he'd be treated as if he still had the money available to him.

Their (LA or DWP) position will be that he should carry on renting even though by purchasing his home he'd be saving the state xxxx amount per year in Housing Benefit.

Whatever his inheritance amounts to above that £16K he'll have to spend down to under £6K before being able to claim full Housing and Council Tax Benefit again along with any other means-tested benefit he might require in future and he'd have to spend it very wisely as once alerted to the situation then the LA/DWP will take a great interest in his expenditure once he submits a new claim.

BurnleyBob

I should have added the obvious other possibility, that's him using the proceeds to buy his home. That would mean he'd be denied any Council Tax Benefit for a number of years and could impact any other means-tested benefit he might claim for several years too. The upside is he'd own it and it'll become his asset.

cattie

Mojisola wrote: »

Are you sure? I thought an inheritance could be disregarded if a house is bought within a reasonable time. It represents future savings for the government as housing benefits will no longer be needed.

Money from the sale of an existing property that has been your family home can be disregarded for up to 6 months if it's purpose is to purchase another family home with. With an inheritance it is different as you have suddenly come into money, which will be classed as savings as soon as you bank it.

clutton_2

cattie - thank you for more useful information - do you work in this field ?