Right to Buy - Northwest

sarbaloosa

If my uncle and aunt want to buy their home but neither of them work and live on benefits - can they do it?

If someone outside of their family wanted to help them out with the repayments, can they do it? I understand there may be a rule stating the person or family member helping out should be able to prove that he has lived at the same residence in the past 12 months but I am not sure if this and absolute requirement,

Thanks

G_M

I doubt it.

Maybe a family member could act as 'guarantor', but I suspect the mortgagee would still need some income (other than benefits).

See an independant mortgage advisor. Go with the guarantor.

monty-doggy

What benefits are they on?

sho_me_da_money

monty-doggy wrote: »

What benefits are they on?

Not too sure. I think DLA and income support.

ACG

Ive done a mortgage for someone whos sole income was DLA.

Speak to a broker, there could be a way to do it and at normal rates.

AlexMac

Will they lose Housing benefit and help with Council tax when they will own a home? http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/housing_benefit_and_local_housing_allowance/what_is_housing_benefit/understanding_housing_benefit
If so, can they afford to live?

monty-doggy

They may qualify for the interest the paid on the mortgage in lieu of housing benefit but they won't pay the capital. Your relatives will have to find that themselves.

BigAunty

monty-doggy wrote: »

They may qualify for the interest the paid on the mortgage in lieu of housing benefit but they won't pay the capital. Your relatives will have to find that themselves.

If you are talking about 'support for mortgage interest' scheme, then the OP will need to check whether or not they would qualify for it from the outset. AFAIK, it is not designed to assist those who bought their properties with no means to service the mortgage from that point on....

But then again, the types of qualifying benefits for SMI will generally be ones that claimants can't get a mortgage with in the first place.

The OP needs to check out the position and note that the govt intend to change SMI in the future as they don't believe claimants should receive it as a long-term benefit - they feel mortgages should be paid off through employment so they are going to bring in more restrictions and conditionality (I don't know what type, though).

Currently, there are over 200,000 households receiving SMI and over half of those are on pension credit which means that there are 100,000 plus pensioners who didn't have the forethought to ensure they'd paid off their mortgage before they retired....

BigAunty

AlexMac wrote: »

Will they lose Housing benefit and help with Council tax when they will own a home? http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/housing_benefit_and_local_housing_allowance/what_is_housing_benefit/understanding_housing_benefit
If so, can they afford to live?

Housing benefit isn't payable to home owners. They are bound not to fulfill the terms of the Support for Mortgage Interest scheme either.

Owner-occupiers of a sole property with a low income can qualify for council tax discount - the equity in it is not classed as capital.

Dovah_diva

In addition, if a family member wants to be included on the RTB application they have to prove they have lived at the address for the last 12 months.

BigAunty

sho_me_da_money wrote: »

Not too sure. I think DLA and income support.

Income support is a means tested benefit paid to those with low incomes, such as the disabled. Sums of capital over 6k reduce entitlement to IS and other benefits like housing benefit and council tax benefit while a sum of capital over 16k rules out any entitlement to IS, HB, CT, etc.

There is some confusion on related posts as to whether the couple who reside in the council property you mention are also the same relatives who live in social housing who inherited a property from a parent some years ago.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4839829

If this is the case, then they would have received all their means tested benefits fraudulently from the date that the administration of their parent's estate took place when they became property owners, failing to declare their change of circumstance as required to the local council and DWP.

If they do not own a property elsewhere, then clearly there is no issues with their receipt of benefits. Or again, if they do own property elsewhere and only claim non tested benefits, paying their own rent in the social housing property and council tax in full.

DLA is not means tested, nor is Carers Allowance if the household receives this award, for example. It does, however, remain to be seen how the elderly couple could afford to pay their rent and council tax on their council property given that they permit their son to live rent free in the property they inherited and their only source of income is DLA.