Parents home signed over to Sister

duchy

Idiophreak wrote: »

Sorry, but this is very potato / po-ta-to.

The council could let the houses out at market value. It could use the money to tidy up the streets a bit more, give children a better standard of education, fix some of the 8 squillion pot holes on our roads or...just cut council tax.

Their decision to charge below market rates means they're effectively subsidising those tenants at the expense of other tax payers.

Thing is............
If a council house rent is £400 a month and a similar private rental is £600 then the housing benefit payable would be £200 a month or £2400 a year more -and funded by the council tax - Frankly that's an extra lump of council tax I'd prefer not to be lumbered with.
The council aren't doing anything wrong by charging sensible rather than greedy rents -that shortfall would be picked up by the "tax payer". This way works out better in my book.

Morglin

Idiophreak wrote: »

Sorry, but this is very potato / po-ta-to.

The council could let the houses out at market value. It could use the money to tidy up the streets a bit more, give children a better standard of education, fix some of the 8 squillion pot holes on our roads or...just cut council tax.

Their decision to charge below market rates means they're effectively subsidising those tenants at the expense of other tax payers.

Yes, and us poor bloody savers are subsidising mortgage payers, with the artificially low interest rates being held for years, and now those getting help to buy!

We are all subsidising each other, and it actually costs local taxpayers more (on average) to pay for someone's private rent than a social one.

Our "social housing" rent (HA) here is actually on a par with average private let prices, (our flat was a Millennium project thing, which makes it a sort of half and half thing - half private developer and half social housing) and I wish someone would subsidise my rent lol

Not all of us are eligible for housing or council tax benefits..:whistle:

Lin

Ozzuk

How is this helping the OP?

rpc

duchy wrote: »

Thing is............
If a council house rent is £400 a month and a similar private rental is £600 then the housing benefit payable would be £200 a month or £2400 a year more -and funded by the council tax - Frankly that's an extra lump of council tax I'd prefer not to be lumbered with.

For those that receive LHA, then it is a zero sum.

For those that earn more, the council can make more. While they are probably a minority, there are plenty of people in council housing who could easily make do in the PRS. There are higher rate taxpayers and the late Bob Crow, on his six figure salary, lived in a council house.

My view is that charging a market rent and using LHA to keeps rents down for those that can't afford market rates would free up social housing for those that need it by making it far less attractive to those that don't.

There is a subsidy (albeit an indirect one). It is the lost opportunity cost of charging a market rent.

BigAunty

To the OP - local councils do have a degree of discretion over who they allocate social housing to (due to the Localism Act) though there are national rules that have to be prioritised.

Councils can allocate social housing to those who own property - I've seen on the Housing forum a family who were given social housing despite having a property because they were overcrowded, for example.

As a general (rather than needs based) applicant, they would be least likely to get property, put in the lowest band or not permitted to apply at all. What does the social housing landlord say about home owners in their allocation rules? They usually post their policies online.

The only issue would be if she concealed owning a property when she applied for social housing. Application rules usually ask the applicant to outline their existing and sometimes previous tenure/property status for x number of addresses or years before to try and uncover this type of information.

Your mum is permitted to transfer her property to whom she likes, but as noted several times before, there are means tested benefit issues with this if she undersells the property or transfers it for free. This is known as 'deprivation of capital or deprivation of assets' where those who are seen to have deliberately given away their capital to put themselves in a position to have benefits, will be treated as if they still have means.

If they were to apply for housing benefit and council tax discount, the authorities use the concept of 'notional capital' and perform a calculation as if she received the full market value for the property (less a percentage for estate agent/legal fees).

If you read the Age UK website and see their online information about deprivation of assets whereby a local council will take umbrage if an elderly person says they are too poor to pay for residential care and have recently given away their capital. So if she needs a care home in future or means tested social services supplied care where she lives and can't explain what happened to the money from the house sale, there could be an issue there.

There's no indication on your post that your mother is dependent on benefits due to giving away her property or has applied for her council property fraudulently but I've outlined some potential issues in case there is that risk.

Idiophreak

duchy wrote: »

Thing is............
If a council house rent is £400 a month and a similar private rental is £600 then the housing benefit payable would be £200 a month or £2400 a year more -and funded by the council tax - Frankly that's an extra lump of council tax I'd prefer not to be lumbered with.

...but you're being lumbered with it, anyway. The council have an asset that should bring in £600/month, but they're only taking £400 for it. So the cost to you, over a year, is the same...£200/month.

Mojisola

zippybungle wrote: »

My elderly and disabled Mum owns her own home. My Sister lives with her.
I have recently found out that my Mum has signed over the house to my Sister, and my Mum will be moving into a council home (bungalow).

Did your Mum have independent legal advice before doing this?

I know one family where Mum was persuaded by a son that it would be much easier if she signed her home over to him and he would "see the rest of the family right when she died". He told her it would be "quicker and cheaper to deal with everything" - well, it was because the house was his and the rest of the family got nothing.