Housing Benefit query

whattodo02

Ok, here is my situation:

My husband and i have been living together for 8 years, when we first moved in together we had a mortgage, then we decided to move to a smaller property as we were struggling to keep up the repayments.
My mum helped us out by lending us some money to lower our mortgage to lower our repayments and we have been paying her each month for the last year along with our lower mortgage.
My husband is going through depression and is on medication and at the moment has been signed off work by the doctor and is at an all time low. I am worried he will loose his job and we will be struggling financially.
My mum has offered to buy our house and then set up a tenancy agreement so we wouldn't have the burden of the mortgage to deal with.
I just wondered if anyone knows if we would be entitled to any housing benefit help as i can't see how we can carry on without help.
I've never claimed anything before apart from child benefit and basic child tax credits so really have no clue
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

marliepanda

Pretty sure the answer will be no. You're basically expecting benefits to pay your mortgage in a roundabout way.

I don't think you can get HB on a house you've just been living in. You don't mention if your mum will have a mortgage but most mortgage companies won't permit this either

Are you in negative equity? Won't your mum buying the house give you some money to live on?

Caz3121

You cannot claim housing benefit for a property you have owned within the previous 5 years (with the exception of circumstances when repossession is looming and selling is the only option) Also the equity may preclude you from any means tested benefits if your mum was buying the house at market value

GwylimT

No, while you can rent from family it must be shown that the family member has previously rented the property to ensure they are doing this to gain from the benefit system, even if it was shown the property had previously been rented to other people you cannot be charged a lower rental amount based on being family.

Housing_Benefit_Officer

GwylimT wrote: »

...you cannot be charged a lower rental amount based on being family.

Yes you can charge a lower rent.

Housing_Benefit_Officer

GwylimT wrote: »

No, while you can rent from family it must be shown that the family member has previously rented the property to ensure they are doing this to gain from the benefit system,

The property doesn't have to be rented out before.

As long as the Local Authority satisfies itself the tenancy is on a commercial basis and not contrived.

Housing_Benefit_Officer

If your Mother purchased the property and then rented it to you - you would get no Housing Benefit for 5 years.

whattodo02

My mum would not take over our mortgage as she would be able to pay that off.
She would not be giving us any money for the property as we owe her so much money.
although the property is in our name at the moment, we have been paying her back an considerable amount each month up until now as my husband has just stopped working.
we are desperate :-(

whattodo02

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

The property doesn't have to be rented out before.

As long as the Local Authority satisfies itself the tenancy is on a commercial basis and not contrived.

It would all be done properly, she would have a tenancy agreement and would not charge us a lower amount

Housing_Benefit_Officer

whattodo02 wrote: »

My mum would not take over our mortgage as she would be able to pay that off.
She would not be giving us any money for the property as we owe her so much money.
although the property is in our name at the moment, we have been paying her back an considerable amount each month up until now as my husband has just stopped working.
we are desperate :-(

Does the property have any equity?

Housing Benefit won't pay whatever way you do the tenancy as you were previous owners.

Dunroamin

whattodo02 wrote: »

My mum would not take over our mortgage as she would be able to pay that off.
She would not be giving us any money for the property as we owe her so much money.
although the property is in our name at the moment, we have been paying her back an considerable amount each month up until now as my husband has just stopped working.
we are desperate :-(

Even if you could do this (which you can't) you'd run into problems with deprivation of capital if you hand over the equity to your mother.