benefit form help please

ianswing

having to fill in a form for housing benefit and there's a question about property overseas,before i drop myself in the muck could anyone tell me if a caravan in spain is classed as property ?? I'm unsure if the question relates to bricks and mortar (ie a house) and cant find an answer on the dwp or housing benefit web site ???????? Ian.

ceecee1

I'm not sure about Housing Benefit but I would imagine that it follows the same rules as for means tested DWP benefits.

If a caravan is on a site which can be occupied for 52 weeks of the year it is a capital asset and needs to be declared. If occupation is restricted then it is classed as a personal possession.

To be on the safe side (and to prevent any problems in the future) I would declare it

ianswing

it's a large touring van we took across a couple of years ago but due to 2 heart attacks i was unable to fetch it back,we left it sited but when it became apparent i couldnt travel until given the ok,so we had it moved and left in a parking area on site,site is a 52 weeks site though,very confusing, I do also claim ESA with the support bit added on

princessdon

Do you ever rent it out?

ianswing

no,your not allowed to rent out,but im in a catch 22 as to sell it over there would be a large drop on what its worth so keeping it where it is on a nominal "parked up rent" made sense,van cost £29000 when new and as you can imagine sales of anything in spain is very slow and cheap to say the least, idea originally was to use it as holiday place and when wife recieves her pension in 18 months we would up sticks,take a private pension and move over there and possibly p/ex for one of the static homes that are on site..thanks for your reply... Ian

princessdon

ianswing wrote: »

no,your not allowed to rent out,but im in a catch 22 as to sell it over there would be a large drop on what its worth so keeping it where it is on a nominal "parked up rent" made sense,van cost £29000 when new and as you can imagine sales of anything in spain is very slow and cheap to say the least, idea originally was to use it as holiday place and when wife recieves her pension in 18 months we would up sticks,take a private pension and move over there and possibly p/ex for one of the static homes that are on site..thanks for your reply... Ian

I suppose that's one thing favourable as I suspect if you treat it as a commercial property it would have muddied waters.

I guess all you can do is declare its a mobile van on a 52 site and see what decision they make as the fact it's mobile could make it a difference.