Redundancy, JSA, rental income

JohnJohnJohn_2

Hello,

I am at risk of being made redundant from my work and trying to prepare for the worst.

My wife and I own two houses (50% each), one of which is rented out and has a capital repayment mortgage. The other is our main residence. The rental income after tax and expenses is insufficient to cover the mortgage repayments and we have to top it up ourselves.

I have been in continuous employment for the last 6 years and have made enough NI contributions to be elligible for Contribution-based JSA. But I am wondering whether I would actually be entitled to it or not given that I owe 50% of both houses (including our rental property)? If not, would it make sense for me to donate my share of our rented property to my wife so that I can claim JSA? Is this even possible? Has anyone been in this situation before and what did you end up doing?

Thanks

HappyMJ

You can claim contributions based JSA without adjusting your assets.

You cannot claim income based JSA as a single person so you'd have to claim that as a couple and if your equity in the property is high enough you wouldn't be entitled to anything.

The house you live in is not counted as an asset for income based benefits.