Are we entitled to Council Tax Support under these circumstances?

home_bird

Following on from my question in the employment section, I was wondering the following:

Can we (my husband and I) claim Council Tax support without claiming any other benefit under these circumstances?

£48,000 in overpayment in our mortgage which I doubt if the mortgager will release now due to my husband losing his employment yesterday.

We have approximately £7000 in savings (which will quickly diminish I'm sure as we currently have no income).

I have two children (7 & 9). No childcare.

Even if we get some help to reduce our council tax bill would go some way to relief our current financial situation.

Thank you in advance for any advice.

home_bird

bump...anyone?

I suppose what I want to know is will the overpayments in the mortgage be counted (as savings?) even though it can't be released under the stricter criteria?

pmlindyloo

home_bird wrote: »

bump...anyone?

I suppose what I want to know is will the overpayments in the mortgage be counted (as savings?) even though it can't be released under the stricter criteria?

In theory council tax reduction can be paid if you are on a low income.

It is means tested so will depend on whether you are working or not.

Will your OH be entitled to contribution based JSA? I have read your previous thread and it seems that he was dismissed in the end. What was the reason for dismissal?

As regards the overpayment of the mortgage. Was this done with a lump sum recently? if the overpayments were made on a monthly basis whilst your OH was working then I cannot see this as being regarded as savings. Perhaps you could explain this a bit more?

home_bird

pmlindyloo: Thank you for taking the time to reply.

No, I have been a SAHM since my youngest was born (now 7).

Over the years (we have had this mortgage for 6 years) and when we can afford it, we would put over £500 a month into it and sometimes larger sums. In October, we took £35,000 out (before the stricter criteria came in) to lend to my husband's brother for refurb for the restaurant and this was repaid in April this year, which we paid straight back into the mortgage.

Just to add, April was the last time we made any overpayments to the mortgage.

pmlindyloo

home_bird wrote: »

pmlindyloo: Thank you for taking the time to reply.

No, I have been a SAHM since my youngest was born (now 7).

Over the years (we have had this mortgage for 6 years) and when we can afford it, we would put over £500 a month into it and sometimes larger sums. In October, we took £35,000 out (before the stricter criteria came in) to lend to my husband's brother for refurb for the restaurant and this was repaid in April this year, which we paid straight back into the mortgage.

Just to add, April was the last time we made any overpayments to the mortgage.

In that case I cannot see that they would use the deprivation of capital rules.

However, it might be a little more complicated if the £35000 shows up in your bank account. Hopefully you have the paperwork showing it was a loan.

Even if it was questioned then since it was done in April when presumably there was no indication that you would be claiming benefits then the deprivation of capital rules would not apply. To be found to have deprived yourself of capital it has to be shown that you did this to get benefits/keep benefits/increase benefits. This does not apply in your case as far as I can see.

Your husband should put in a claim for JSA. (can be done on line) They will sort out whether he would be sanctioned or not (no mention of gross misconduct in his dismissal letter?)

Since your child is seven years old could you work whilst your OH covers the child care?

rogerblack

Council tax support is localised.
The rules depend on where you are.

home_bird

The repaid loan was a cheque that went straight back into the mortgage account, so it didn't go into my husband's bank account at all. Although when we lent it to his brother in October, the money came out of the mortgage account into his bank account before it was sent out to his brother's account. Would that complicate things?

Certainly we had no intention of depriving assets in order to claim benefits at the time.

I am certainly looking around to see what is available, as is my husband. This may just be the turning point for us to turn a negative situation into a positive one. My husband won't have to put up with the brother's wife's bullying behaviour any more, which in turn stresses me out when he returns home in a foul mood after work.

Horseunderwater

Do you have an offset mortgage or just a normal repayment of capital sort? If the latter, then technically you do not have £48k in savings, but if former then council may say you do. I think that this may be the problem area with council tax reduction in your case, but I'm not an rxpert. All you can do is go to local auth website & see if they do ab ob line aplication & fill it in. If his dismissal letter does not state gross misconduct, then OH should be OK to aply for JSA contributions type. I assume that you live in a city with plenty of job opp's in his area of expertise. Good luck in sorting it all out.

home_bird

Thank you horseunderwater.

It's a repayment mortgage.

In fact, there is nothing written in terms of my husband's termination of employment. It was his brother's restaurant and they don't exactly do things by procedure.

Housing_Benefit_Officer

Council Tax Support is localised therefore each Local Authority uses different rules. Some have a capital limit of just £6,000 others still have £16,000. It is now very difficult to work out is someone still qualifies due to all the different rules.