Can I claim Housing Benefit if I'm a legal co-owner of a property?

Gilganjn

Here's the situation just to explain things. My sister, husband and kids have been renting the property for past 10 years and they've been paying about half price rent for all this time. All the money goes to my dad who moved to another country 6 years ago. I never received an income from the property.

My mum bought the house 15 years ago and unfortunately passed away soon afterwards. After she died we changed the names on the deeds so that the 3 of us (dad, me, sister) we were all legal co-owners of the property for tax purposes, on advice of a solicitor. Since then we initially rented it out to random people but my sister and family have been living there for the past 10 years (and saving a substantial amount of money for the space & location).

Unfortunately for me I was hit with some hard times both physically and financially and had to move in there at the beginning of the year. I haven't benefited from the property financially before but right now I'm unable to afford to pay rent. Without going into too much detail, I want to move out as quickly as possible. I'm currently on JSA.

What would happen if I try to claim Housing Benefit on the property so that I can use that money as a deposit on a bedsit once I've accumulated enough funds?

PasturesNew

You won't get a penny.

a] You own part of the house.
b] The fact another of the co-owners gets all the rent is irrelevant
c] The fact the rent being paid is under market value is irrelevant

Gilganjn

PasturesNew wrote: »

You won't get a penny.

a] You own part of the house.
b] The fact another of the co-owners gets all the rent is irrelevant
c] The fact the rent being paid is under market value is irrelevant

What if I didn't declare that I owned part of the house? Could I slip by undetected for about 3 months after which I'd stop the HB?

Because I haven't told the JSA that I'm a co-owner of the house, I've just said I'm living with friends.

I don't want to cheat the system, I want to use the HB money as a deposit on my own bedsit. The money would literally be used for housing me.

RAS

You MIGHT get LHA for a few months but only if you can convince the HB that the property is on the market and you genuinely intend to sell. I think they allow 6 month to sell.

There is a Housing Benefit Advisor on the Benefits forum who will help you but expect a lot of flak.

RAS

Gilganjn wrote: »

What if I didn't declare that I owned part of the house? Could I slip by undetected for about 3 months after which I'd stop the HB?

Because I haven't told the JSA that I'm a co-owner of the house, I've just said I'm living with friends.

I don't want to cheat the system, I want to use the HB money as a deposit on my own bedsit. The money would literally be used for housing me.

If you are on contributions based JSA, there is no problem. If mean-tested, not sure as you are living there?

How old are you as if you are under 35 they will only pay enough to get a room in a shared house. What is the LHA rate for that area?

pmlindyloo

Gilganjn wrote: »

Here's the situation just to explain things. My sister, husband and kids have been renting the property for past 10 years and they've been paying about half price rent for all this time. All the money goes to my dad who moved to another country 6 years ago. I never received an income from the property.

My mum bought the house 15 years ago and unfortunately passed away soon afterwards. After she died we changed the names on the deeds so that the 3 of us (dad, me, sister) we were all legal co-owners of the property for tax purposes, on advice of a solicitor. Since then we initially rented it out to random people but my sister and family have been living there for the past 10 years (and saving a substantial amount of money for the space & location).

Unfortunately for me I was hit with some hard times both physically and financially and had to move in there at the beginning of the year. I haven't benefited from the property financially before but right now I'm unable to afford to pay rent. Without going into too much detail, I want to move out as quickly as possible. I'm currently on JSA.

What would happen if I try to claim Housing Benefit on the property so that I can use that money as a deposit on a bedsit once I've accumulated enough funds?

Lots of problems here.

First of all, the three of you are co -owners therefore any rent received should be divided between the 3 of you, not given to your dad.

Next, you cannot claim HB on a property that you own.

You say that you do not want to cheat the system but if you are on income based JSA then you have already done so by not informing them that you have capital, ie the house. Is there a mortgage on the property? I presume not.

You need to sort this out with your sister and your father. Sell the property and divide up the proceeds or sort out the rent situation.

Gilganjn

RAS wrote: »

If you are on contributions based JSA, there is no problem. If mean-tested, not sure as you are living there?

How old are you as if you are under 35 they will only pay enough to get a room in a shared house. What is the LHA rate for that area?

I'm on means-tested JSA. I'm living there at the moment but want to move out as quickly as possible.

I'm over 35 and apparently the LHA rate for the area is £233.83 per week per week after I just checked on the LHA calculator. That's a lot, maybe I did something wrong, but if I could get that for one month then I could move out very quickly.

I have never had HB before so I might have calculated wrong? I filled out number of couples, singles, kids. Click Calculate. It then says 3 bedroom entitlement. It says "Select how many bedrooms you are entitled to under LHA." Then I select "One Bedroom" (because only I would be claiming it) from the drop down list and it gave me the £233.83 per week per week figure. Did I do that correctly, is that a normal amount?

SerialRenter

Would any of your family be interested in buying your share of the property from you?

KMMT

If you only need around £1000 do what other people do & borrow it off your relatives (who must of saved some money by paying minimum rent), get a loan, or save it yourself. You know you shouldn't be doing it at all so maybe don't do it.

Gilganjn

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Lots of problems here.

First of all, the three of you are co -owners therefore any rent received should be divided between the 3 of you, not given to your dad.

Next, you cannot claim HB on a property that you own.

You say that you do not want to cheat the system but if you are on income based JSA then you have already done so by not informing them that you have capital, ie the house. Is there a mortgage on the property? I presume not.

You need to sort this out with your sister and your father. Sell the property and divide up the proceeds or sort out the rent situation.

It's a strange situation believe me. My sister acts as if she is literally the sole owner of the property - she even sneers when I mention I'm a co-owner legally (after she has started some sort of argument). She is sort of a manipulative person, uses emotional blackmail and says it's "my dads house" even though she's been benefiting from the property for years by paying about half price rent and having the luxury of using the property, garden, all to herself and her family. And now she's got so comfortable in the situation that she almost convinced herself that it's really her house, and that I'm sort of a guest just visiting her. I mean it's been 10 years they've been there so maybe it's somewhat understandable but it's awkward.

I try not to push the issue because I don't want to cause her kids and husband stress and stress on the marriage in that way. But technically you're right, we should all benefit equally from the property. What's happening now is that my dad gets the rent that my sister and husband pay but they only pay about half the rent that any other family would who was living in the house. So basically, they are keeping that amount every month for themselves.

WelshPaul

You better hope they don't check the land registry!