HOUSING BENEFIT help please

dippy3103

turkleton wrote: »

It also depends on whether the granny annexe is registered as a separate property for Council Tax. If it isn't then your mother will be living with a close relative so will be unable to claim HB.

Good point!!

Magenta

Thank you so much for all the replies.


The information has certainly given me food for thought.


My mother cannot claim pension credit because she now have some savings.
I think that maybe she would be able to when her savings have gone?


I had also thought about when her brother dies what would happen....I am sure that his inheritors would want to sell the house.


Thanks again, I am in a real quandary because both my mother and her brother like the idea of having each other as company.....

pmlindyloo

Magenta wrote: »

Thank you so much for all the replies.


The information has certainly given me food for thought.


My mother cannot claim pension credit because she now have some savings.
I think that maybe she would be able to when her savings have gone?


I had also thought about when her brother dies what would happen....I am sure that his inheritors would want to sell the house.


Thanks again, I am in a real quandary because both my mother and her brother like the idea of having each other as company.....

Have you checked that your mum is not entitled to Pension Credit? Use the link I gave on your other thread. As I said you can have quite a lot of savings and still be entitled to Pension Credit. Even £1 a week of pension credit would give her full entitlement to Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction. It is not like other benefits and the savings rule of over £16000 does not apply.

Please check

At least then she will have options.

It sounds like the annex is going to be self contained so it is worthwhile applying for HB but ask about it before she gives up her council flat.

It may be that everything will not work out as regards the annex. Is her brother building it solely for her?

Mardle

The fact that your Mum is on DLA may mean that she is entitled to Pension Guarantee Credit. It's definitely worth checking.

PasturesNew

Magenta wrote: »

Thanks again, I am in a real quandary because both my mother and her brother like the idea of having each other as company.....

In that case, I might consider her giving up her current home to move in with the brother as a lodger, paying just a proportion of the bills and a token lodger rent, while simultaneously going on the housing list for sheltered housing and holding out for one close to where the brother lives. She'll have time on her side to wait for the right location to come up (I am thinking in the next 5-7 years) .... and then she can move out and into a sheltered housing place that's the right one.

In the meantime, the brother won't have "lost out" financially as he could still rent the annexe to somebody else and benefit from the companionship of his sister.