Holiday letting and housing benefit

twinklie1

Hi, I am in real need of a bit of advice. I am self employed as is my partner, who I do not live with. He has a house in Spain as his business - he's setting up holiday lets. If we were to move in together does anyone know if his holiday lets business would get in the way of us claiming housing benefit? It would only be for a short while obviously until the business started making money. Its not making anything at the moment. Any advice would be very welcome. Thank you.

Caz3121

How much equity is in the house in Spain. If over £16k you are unlikely to qualify for housing benefit as this will be classed as capital

twinklie1

I thought that would be the case, its worth I guess about £40,000 and will hopefully be a good enough business so I can finally get off of any benefits, its just getting to that point thats a struggle!

Caz3121

They can ignore the capital for a period if the property is up for sale but don't believe they can ignore it if you plan on keeping it

Housing_Benefit_Officer

Capital from properties would disqualify you from any means tested benefits. Income from rents also taken into account as income.

twinklie1

Seems a bit mad - its not like I can live in Spain ... and the rent would be declared as its a business I was hoping would finally enable me to move on from claiming. But, I understand.... Thanks for your response.

BillJones

twinklie1 wrote: »

Seems a bit mad - its not like I can live in Spain

I know, they won't give me any benefits just because I have three rental properties in Swindon, and a hundred thousand pound in an account in Geneva. It's not as though I could live in Swindon either!

northerntwo1

Yes of course it will count, you say you don't live with him. Have you made a joint tax credits claim? If so then you need to declare him living with you now (with his capital) or you could end up being investigated.

nannytone_2

i would hardly call 1 property in spain a business!
it is purely and simply capital!
as the equity is only 40k its safe to assume that there is a substantial mortfafe.
after mortgage payments you think 1 property would give enough income for you to live from?

marliepanda

nannytone wrote: »

i would hardly call 1 property in spain a business!
it is purely and simply capital!
as the equity is only 40k its safe to assume that there is a substantial mortfafe.
after mortgage payments you think 1 property would give enough income for you to live from?

You wouldnt call a holiday lets business in Spain a business? Course it is! All letting is a business!

To call it purely capital is daft if it provides an income, and inaccurate.

nannytone_2

iy is a hobby rather than a business.
there is no way that 1 property will pay enough income to provide a living wage, and 'work' wise would take up more than an hour a week