I inherited some land last year and it's apparently stopping me from most benefits

hettyGreek

Good morning,

I'm a British born resident and both of my parents moved from Greece to the UK in the 60s.

I'm 37 and have always worked or been in employment or training. I've been made redundant and as of March 2016 I have no job.

I'm a single mum to two children (5 and 7) and rent a 3 bed flat.

I've completed all the forms for JSA, CTS and HB.

My JSA has started from this week.

For CTS and HB they have told me I have "excess income" and can not claim anything.

I have savings of about £3'000.00 and the only other asset I have is an olive grove in Greece that was my grandparents and has been in the family for over 100 years. It generates no income due to location current state, location and actually costs me money to maintain it. On my forms I used the valuation when I received it of about $25'0000.00.

Even though it does not generate any income what so ever and I'm unable to change anything in order to make an income for me.

The benefits office have decided that it generates an income of 50 pounds a week.

Are they correct? It sounds like they have miscalculated my entitlement.

pmlindyloo

Are you on a claim for contribution based JSA with an income based 'top up' for your housing costs?

Has the JSA been calculated to show a £50 a week income?

What amount of JSA has been awarded?

pmlindyloo

Have a read of this:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/365782/hbgm-bw1-assessment-of-capital.pdf

scroll down to W1.400

So have you got evidence of how much the land is worth? (Sorry, just reread your post and it seems that you got a valuation)

The income that they say is being generated has nothing to do with how much income you are getting from the land. It just means that they have used, what is called a tariff income, from the capital.

To claim HB and CTR you need to have less than £6000 in capital - anything above this they take off £1 for every £250 over the £6000 and you do not get any HB/CTR if you have capital over £16000.

As regards the JSA then I am assuming that they have deducted the tariff income from your JSA but because you are eligible for contribution based JSA (which is NOT means tested so the capital doesn't affect it) then you should get the contribution based JSA.

If this all makes sense then you can sell the land (you would have to show evidence that it is up for sale) and then this capital can be ignored for 26 weeks or more.

Or, maybe someone in the family can buy it from you and then you buy it back when you get a job?

Or you need to get a job, any job, asap.

HappyMJ

hettyGreek wrote: »

Good morning,

I'm a British born resident and both of my parents moved from Greece to the UK in the 60s.

I'm 37 and have always worked or been in employment or training. I've been made redundant and as of March 2016 I have no job.

I'm a single mum to two children (5 and 7) and rent a 3 bed flat.

I've completed all the forms for JSA, CTS and HB.

My JSA has started from this week.

For CTS and HB they have told me I have "excess income" and can not claim anything.

I have savings of about £3'000.00 and the only other asset I have is an olive grove in Greece that was my grandparents and has been in the family for over 100 years. It generates no income due to location current state, location and actually costs me money to maintain it. On my forms I used the valuation when I received it of about $25'0000.00.

Even though it does not generate any income what so ever and I'm unable to change anything in order to make an income for me.

The benefits office have decided that it generates an income of 50 pounds a week.

Are they correct? It sounds like they have miscalculated my entitlement.

If you've got more than £16,000 in assets then yes they've calculated it correctly and you get no income based benefits. You will have to think about sellng it to meet your housing costs. If you're still unemployed after 6 months JSA will stop.

Darksparkle

are you claiming tax credits and child benefit?

TELLIT01

Whether the land is generating income is actually irrelevant. You have stated that it has a value of $25,000 (I'm assuming you mean Euros). At current exchange rate of roughly 1.30 Euro to the £, that is approximately £19,000. That would mean you are not eligible for Income Related benefits as the capital limit is £16,000. The only way this could potentially be disregarded is if you could prove that you are unable to sell the land because it is owned by multiple parties and one or more of them is refusing to sell or to buy your interest.
If you are claiming Contribution based benefit this land is ignored anyway.

Alter_ego

I don't think selling the land will make any difference, as you will then have (or be deemed to have) the cash.

dippy3103

Can you sell it? Then you wouldn't need benefits & hopefully you will find a new job soon and be much better off. I accept selling it will probably take time

HappyMJ

Alter_ego wrote: »

I don't think selling the land will make any difference, as you will then have (or be deemed to have) the cash.

I don't even think it's worth what the OP thinks it's worth.

If they were to sell it at auction then a family member could make the highest bid which might be significantly below what the OP has said it's worth. I doubt Olive groves in Greece are in high demand and are hardly going to be worth anything. After a bit of searching there are plenty of properties that are olive groves that are priced at less than £5,000.

They would only be able to take into account what was gained from the sale instead of what it could have gone for had it been on the market for years and a willing buyer found.

Cheeky_Monkey

Alter_ego wrote: »

I don't think selling the land will make any difference, as you will then have (or be deemed to have) the cash.

In which case they wouldn't need the benefits :cool:

TELLIT01

HappyMJ wrote: »

I don't even think it's worth what the OP thinks it's worth.

If they were to sell it at auction then a family member could make the highest bid which might be significantly below what the OP has said it's worth. I doubt Olive groves in Greece are in high demand and are hardly going to be worth anything. After a bit of searching there are plenty of properties that are olive groves that are priced at less than £5,000.

They would only be able to take into account what was gained from the sale instead of what it could have gone for had it been on the market for years and a willing buyer found.

I would assume that the owner of a property has a better idea of it's value than somebody who has Googled "Olive Grove Values". The OP has informed DWP of the value and if he tries to change that valuation now he will need to provide evidence of the 'new' valuation.