ESA and mortgage

candygirl

If someone is on means tested ESA, and has a mortgage.Will they still be entitled to ESA if a relative pays their mortgage off in full?My friend is in this situation, and her Nan has offered to pay her mortgage off, as she is finding it difficult to make the payments, and the DWP only pay the interest at the moment.At the moment she is having to find almost £300 a month out of her ESA to pay it, and moving is not an option

pmlindyloo

Can you just confirm?

Nan wants to pay off the whole of the mortgage (how old is Nan and how much is the mortgage?)
or
Nan wants to pay the mortgage every month in full?

candygirl

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Can you just confirm?

Nan wants to pay off the whole of the mortgage (how old is Nan and how much is the mortgage?)
or
Nan wants to pay the mortgage every month in full?

Not sure how old Nan is, but she wants to pay the mortgage off in full.Thinks it's around £40k:p

Torry_Quine

I would think that the best way would be for the money to go from gran's account to the mortgage company. If it were to go into the friend's account and then to the mortgage company then it looks like she has this money for her own spending.

candygirl

Torry_Quine wrote: »

I would think that the best way would be for the money to go from gran's account to the mortgage company. If it were to go into the friend's account and then to the mortgage company then it looks like she has this money for her own spending.

I think that's the plan hun, but she needs to know if it will affect her benefits.I think she will have to ring welfare rights for advice

Torry_Quine

candygirl wrote: »

I think that's the plan hun, but she needs to know if it will affect her benefits.I think she will have to ring welfare rights for advice

Always a good idea to check but sounds alright to me.

candygirl

Torry_Quine wrote: »

Always a good idea to check but sounds alright to me.

What's annoying is her neighbour is renting next door and gets almost £600 a month rent paid.The money thing is making her even more ill:(

pmlindyloo

To be honest, I am not sure about this and would agree that you would be best to check this out with the relevant department.

I do not think it is as easy as nan paying the mortgage company as since your friend is receiving SMI this would be flagged up. They would certainly want to know where the money came from.

Now whether this 'gift' would be treated as deprivation of capital is the part I am unsure of.

Logic tells me that if your friend is receiving this gift then she should be using it to pay for her living expenses/come off ESA and not to pay off her mortgage.

I may be totally wrong about this.

Wait for others to give their opinion or just ring and ask.

benefitbaby

As long as Nan pays it direct to the mortgage lender and the OP notifies DWP that SMI should no longer be paid then there would be no deprivation of capital.

If Nan pays it into the OP's account and then it is used to pay the mortgage balance then the DWP would investigate dep of cap.

candygirl

benefitbaby wrote: »

As long as Nan pays it direct to the mortgage lender and the OP notifies DWP that SMI should no longer be paid then there would be no deprivation of capital.

If Nan pays it into the OP's account and then it is used to pay the mortgage balance then the DWP would investigate dep of cap.

That's fantastic then!!She has been making herself even more ill, with worrying about making the payments every month x::(

[Deleted User]

i would agree that it would be best to talk to the dwp mortgage dept for confirmation