Claiming housing benefit after the sale of a house

pmlindyloo

The absence of any formal agreement between you and your ex. is the 'sticking point' as I see it.

If I were you I would retrospectively write down some kind of agreement as to how the profit from the house was split. You are now saying that your ex wants £4000 more.

This kind of mishmash agreement could be a problem when claiming benefits.

Get some kind of agreement made and signed by your ex. It might even be worth going to a solicitor to get this done properly.
It might also be sensible to sort out child maintenance at the same time.

This will then prevent your ex. coming back to you for more money and having to explain the loss of any money to the council. The agreement needs to include who is paying for what (debts) and how the profit is (was) split.

Since the council will have access to your bank statements you may have to have evidence of where the money has gone. You have receipts for your expenditure on your house which is good. Now get the remainder sorted out.

If you are surviving on Carer's Allowance at the moment plus Child tax Credits plus CB and child support (hopefully) then write down an income and expenditure plan so that your future 'spends' can be clearly shown. Hopefully when your savings have diminished then you can claim HB with no problem.

smileyrach_2

Also because i am a carer its hard to get a job because of my commitment there and also i have no one who could take and fetch my son from school or have him in the school holidays. I could get work to the value of 100 pound a week no more or the careres allowance would stop but then i still face the above issues plus where would i find the time to work after caring 35 hours a week or more already ?

Kazzaroo

smileyrach wrote: »

thankyou that is exactly what i am not trying to do milk the system! just to know that there is help there should i need it. I have never claimed anything in my life i worked from the age of 16 to 28 i had my son then i became a carer for my mother.

Like most mothers,work until you have a child and then look after child,IMO you are being very responsible in looking at your POSSIBLE options should you need to use them

smileyrach wrote: »

I have to look at any help we can get in the future isnt that what any parent would have to do?

YES! a childs needs come before a parents pride,no point having pride if your child has no roof over their head,Im sure claiming benefits (HB,CTB etc) is one of the last things you want to do but you want some security for your child and know there is a safety net should you need to use it!

Kazzaroo

smileyrach wrote: »

Also because i am a carer its hard to get a job because of my commitment there

I wouldnt worry about it,I dont know the personal circumstances of your mother but im assuming if you didnt care for her then Social services/elderly care would be involved in caring for her and so would cost more than a HB claim would be,The goverment are wanting family members to take more of a role in looking after other members of family and so should be doing all they can to encourage it.


Im fully with you

smileyrach_2

Exactly kazzaroo you seem to understand exactly where i am coming from! thankyou for being so understanding and helpful about this. You are right i dont WANT to have to claim but if needs must my son comes first i can starve as long as he has a meal a roof over his head all the things he needs etc just so we can get by is enough for me i dont want to let my son down like his father has by splitting up this family i want him to know i will always do whats in my power for him and us

Dunroamin

smileyrach wrote: »

Hi there i apologise if this question has already been asked but i wondered if anyone could give me some advice.

I split up from my husband and we sold our house in august we got 34k profit,I gave 6k to him straight away. We had joint debts which i payed off that amounted to around 4k. I am renting privately now which is 500 a month,i have also had to buy everything from settees,wardrobes,mattresses,drawers,dryer,cooker,etc all the things me and my son needed as we had nothing.

I have around 16k left i have receipts for everything more or less i have not just squandered the money its been spent on things we need plus i owed few people money etc,also my husband wants another 4k!

What i want to know is in a month or so i want to apply for housing benefit can anyone see a reason i wouldnt get this? the only other income i have is carers allowance as i am a carer for my mother, thanks in advance for reading xx

If you have used some of your capital to pay off non priority debts, particularly those in joint names, you may well have problems if is it's considered that you've deprived yourself of capital to claim benefits. The fact that you have sold a house but then you've gone out and bought all new furniture (what happened to the furniture from your old house?) could also prove difficult, receipts or not.

I think you're going to run into problems with this, quite honestly.

pmlindyloo

Dunroamin wrote: »

If you have used some of your capital to pay off non priority debts, particularly those in joint names, you may well have problems if is it's considered that you've deprived yourself of capital to claim benefits. The fact that you have sold a house but then you've gone out and bought all new furniture (what happened to the furniture from your old house?) could also prove difficult, receipts or not.

I think you're going to run into problems with this, quite honestly.

I hope Housing officer comes along because I believe she has said (in the past) that paying off debts, even if non priority, is not a problem with HB.

She will also comment on buying furniture - personally I don't see how this is a problem unless you've furnished it from Harrods.:)

however, I agree to some extent that claiming HB might be a problem since there will have been some large sums going out (a further £4000 to ex) which she may have to account for.

It could be messy and could have been avoided if a proper financial agreement had been reached with ex. The all the money could have been 'sorted' on the sale of the house.

smileyrach_2

Dunroamin wrote: »

If you have used some of your capital to pay off non priority debts, particularly those in joint names, you may well have problems if is it's considered that you've deprived yourself of capital to claim benefits. The fact that you have sold a house but then you've gone out and bought all new furniture (what happened to the furniture from your old house?) could also prove difficult, receipts or not.

I think you're going to run into problems with this, quite honestly.

because some of the furniture was left as part of the house sale cooker,the wardrobes were fitted,the settee and bed my husband had and why shouldn't we have new things we didn't ask for this to happen so i don't see what i've done wrong in buying things we needed? so what if they were new i think me and my son deserved that after all we have been through

notanewuser

Why didn't you take any of the advice given to you in May?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4601865

RAS

smileyrach wrote: »

because some of the furniture was left as part of the house sale cooker,the wardrobes were fitted,the settee and bed my husband had and why shouldn't we have new things we didn't ask for this to happen so i don't see what i've done wrong in buying things we needed? so what if they were new i think me and my son deserved that after all we have been through

Hi

I happen to disagree with Dunroamin on this (based on the advice from Housing Benefit Officer on the Benefits forum) but you need to get it firmly in your head that what you think you deserve and what you are allowed legally are two very different things.

Assuming you are in England and Wales, the courts will take no count of the fact that your ex committed adultery; the allocation would be on the basis of your respective need not on the grounds of fault or fairness.

Ditto, you may well be asked to prove that your ex refused to let you have the furniture and that the other goods were part of the house sale. Otherwise the benefits staff may well assess your entitlement based on the fact that you still have the money you used.