House buying and deprivation

Ames

Hi,

I've started this thread to carry on a conversation that was taking over another one.

Girl From Mars - I understand what you're saying, but I really don't think home ownership is on the cards for me. As I said, I'm suitably housed and it would look like I was doing it just to tie up the inheritance. And I'm not sure it's best for me right now. AIUI, with shared ownership you have full responsibility for the cost of repairs. So if the boiler blows or the roof gets a hole that's a bill for a few thousand on my doorstep. If I buy a part of a house I wont have thousands left to cover that eventuality. Plus if the property were a flat (which is best for me) then I'd have to find potentially hundreds every quarter in service charges. And there's the responsibility of home ownership - needing to keep track of when things need servicing and checking, which I don't think I'm stable enough for.

There's also the problem that my sister is getting a few thousand more out of the estate than me. That will look like deprivation from the get go, because it looks like I've given away money to my sister that I should have had. (Rather than been subject to mental and emotional abuse for three and a half years). I've been told by an experienced welfare rights officer that if that happens then the whole amount is suspect, and I will have to live off it until it's deemed that the full amount that I should have got would be gone.

I really can't tell at this point in time whether home ownership would be better for me in the long run, but while there's the possibility it wouldn't be I think I'd be mad to give up a secure tenancy to buy a huge liability for the rest of my life.

NYM

.....there's nothing like coming in at the tail end of a conversation.

I don't know which thread you were on but just wanted to say that if you own your own home, it could mean that you might be expected to fund any care you might need in the future.

Horseunderwater

Home ownership isn't right for everyone - do what U think is right for you Ames.

GirlFromMars_2

Sorry, I really didn't mean to upset you, just wanted to be sure you'd explored your options without making assumptions about things that you may not have all the answers for.

Firstly, the reason I suggested my housing association is because they are set up for people with physical disabilities, mental health issues, and learning disabilities. Service charges, and repairs to the structure of the building, heating, plumbing and kitchen are covered as part of the rental portion, this is covered by the housing benefit payment. It's not like regular shared ownership, I don't have to worry about an unexpected home ownership related expenditure.

And secondly I think you're second guessing what decision a Decision Maker will make, without actually giving the Decision Maker the chance to make the decision themselves, and possibly offer you the option to own your own home.

Your sister grabbing more of your money than she was entitled to does cause issues (I've had similar problems with family who don't understand that means tested benefits mean we cannot give away money.)

Using the money to buy a home isn't depriving yourself of capital, it is using your capital to effectively house yourself. If you have disabilities, in the long run you will save the Tax Payer money if you don't have to keep paying out money to a landlord (actually in your case you said you're in a council property, so at least that money is going to a housing associate and not a BTL landlord!)

In my circumstances I had to write to the DWP and Local Authority Decision Makers and ask for a decision about whether buying a home for myself to live in was DoC. Both were adamant that it was not. (Yet I had been told over and over by Benefit Advisers that it was.)

In your case if you want to buy a property then you would also need to write to the DWP/LA and ask. I don't know what they would say, and I'm not sure you can be certain what they would say either without actually asking the question.

Anyway, I'm really sorry for bugging you about this. I'm not saying home ownership is the right option for you, but I did want to check that you understood the possible options.

Housing_Benefit_Officer

And once a decision maker has put it down in writing that decision sticks even if it is later found to be incorrect.

GirlFromMars_2

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

And once a decision maker has put it down in writing that decision sticks even if it is later found to be incorrect.

Yeah, that is a piece of paper I am keeping!

And thanks for all your help when I first arrived at the forum freaking out about DoC myself. Buying my own property has changed my life immeasurably, and it's this forum that gave me the confidence to write and ask for a decision.

Housing_Benefit_Officer

GirlFromMars wrote: »

Yeah, that is a piece of paper I am keeping!

And thanks for all your help when I first arrived at the forum freaking out about DoC myself. Buying my own property has changed my life immeasurably, and it's this forum that gave me the confidence to write and ask for a decision.

The biggest problem is call centre staff or even decision makers who have never come across the scenario before and give incorrect advice without asking someone to check the legislation. They might only come across this once or twice in their entire career and most people won't ask because they assume they can't.

GirlFromMars_2

The DWP call centre person I spoke to was spectacularly unhelpful and told me I simply couldn't get a decision or ruling on something that happened yet. She told me I had to buy the flat then get a decision afterwards about whether I'd deprived myself of thousands of pounds. Luckily her supervisor interrupted and told us I just had to write to my Local DWP office and they would write back with a decision. I don't think it took more than a week to get a decision in the end.

The LA call centre were much more helpful, and the person I spoke to got hold of a Decision Maker and got them to call me back the same day to discuss my situation. The DM then asked me to email so that she could email me an official response.

Call centre staff have to have a very broad knowledge base, and I understand they cannot be experts on everything. But it's scary how easy it is to think an answer from them is the final decision, when it's something they simply couldn't know an answer to.

Ames

NYM wrote: »

.....there's nothing like coming in at the tail end of a conversation.

I don't know which thread you were on but just wanted to say that if you own your own home, it could mean that you might be expected to fund any care you might need in the future.

It was this one https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5146034

If I own a home and need care then I wouldn't need the home anymore. It's actually a reason to buy a house really, so that I can get better care if I need it in the future.


Girl From Mars, you didn't upset me. It's just that this whole thing has been going on for four years now, and I just want it to be over. Plus dad sent me a happy birthday text the other day, as if the last year hadn't happened.

I just can't see how I'd possibly get permission to buy a property that suits my needs less than the one I'm in. I'd then also need permission to adapt it.

And as I said - what happens if in ten years the boiler packs in or roof needs replacing? Or since it's likely to be ex LA, what happens when they refurbish an area and give me a bill for 10k for external works? That's just too much uncertainty.

If I'd got what the house was originally valued at, or the amount sister turned down without my knowledge, and I'd be getting close to 60k then home ownership would be viable. But it'll be closer to 45k, and once fees etc for buying are taken into account there's no way I could buy more than a quarter of somewhere remotely suitable, and I wouldn't be able to keep a buffer of 10k for repairs.

There are schemes which are for disabled people, like the HOLD one, but it states clearly that it's to improve living standards. My flat is as good as anything I could hope to part own, so I probably wouldn't qualify anyway. A quick look on Rightmove doesn't show up anything that's in my price range and suitable without me needing to pay for adaptations.

And what it all comes down to is what do I put in a letter to a DM? Surely I'd have to prove that it wasn't for the purpose of claiming benefits. But I can't think of any benefits of home ownership that are strong enough for me to want to take the gamble.

Possibly, if there were help with service charges, then I'd look into Right to Buy. Who knows what's going to happen to benefits and my secure tenancy in a suitable flat could easily end up far less secure. But again, what do I do if/when I get a bill for rendering the flat and developing the shared gardens?

I just want to get my flat sorted, nice carpets over the blood and !!!!!! stains, bright paint on the walls instead of the current black and brown, shut the door and get on with my life. Moving into this flat left me suicidal, I just can't face moving again.

Sorry that this is all a bit stream of consciousness.

racon

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

And once a decision maker has put it down in writing that decision sticks even if it is later found to be incorrect.

Hey, are you absolutely sure about that??
I had a decision many years back that was found to be wrong, not because of the facts but because of the way the decision maker used them. It originally was a supersession back to the date of a change of circumstances, when I queried it as it didn't look right, they then changed the supersession and did a revision of the original decision which left me with a large overpayment.
You could say that the DWP can have more than one bite of the cherry

fed_up_and_stressed

racon wrote: »

Hey, are you absolutely sure about that??
I had a decision many years back that was found to be wrong, not because of the facts but because of the way the decision maker used them. It originally was a supersession back to the date of a change of circumstances, when I queried it as it didn't look right, they then changed the supersession and did a revision of the original decision which left me with a large overpayment.
You could say that the DWP can have more than one bite of the cherry

Decisions on DoC for housing benefit are made by Council Benefit decision makers as Housing Benefit is administered by Local Authorities not the DWP racon.