86 year old dad facing eviction

Keep_pedalling

So either the OP has made the whole thing up or their father has been fraudulently occupying a HA property, depriving someone in greater need of a home.

Keep_pedalling

Oh! Dear, it gets worse.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5686734

PasturesNew

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

So either the OP has made the whole thing up or their father has been fraudulently occupying a HA property, depriving someone in greater need of a home.

As he's had the HA home for 30 years it's possible he inherited the £750k house AFTER his tenancy started - and you can do that. That was in the rules/allowable...

But the two posts do give different home addresses for the father.

So, we need full clarification....

And, if he does happen to also own a £750k house then a lot of benefits he might've been receiving since he inherited it might have been "fraudulently" claimed. e.g. if he used the inherited house as a holiday home only, which would be "OK", he couldn't then claim housing benefit on the HA house.

But it might simply be he's been "reported" as owning the other house - which is fine if he got it after his HA tenancy started .... so long as he's paying his way.

There's no law against people on older tenancies inheriting a house and keeping it, so long as they're not then claiming things like Housing Benefit or Council Tax benefits or income top ups as the 2nd home would be seen as generating an income.

Indeed, many council tenants can buy BTL houses once they've got their council house, or win the Lottery.

EDIT: Ah, he DOES claim all those extra benefits, which is fraudulent. Pension Credit, Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit.

So the question is - how much, for how long? It will need to be repaid if he has had a £750k house all along. They will assume a level of income from that house (whether rented out or not).... let's take an arbitrary figure of £2k/month income could be generated from renting it out... which would've negated all those benefits claims due to having a "high income".

Lunchbox

But the OP says he was living in the 750k house 6 years ago, but here says he has also had the HA house for 30 years.

worried_jim

Somebody has been rumbled!

Keep_pedalling

What's the worse case scenario.

He get evicted, then gets prosecuted for benefit fraud. Sells the family home to pay fines and pay back decades of fraudulent benefit payments (could be as much as 20years for PC)

As his primary residence has been the HA property for the last 30 years there will almost certainly be a large CGT bill to pay as well, as well as disqualifying that home from primary residence relief for IHT purposes.

haras_nosirrah

ah - if the threads are all correct then dad is in a bit of hot water. He apparently gets housing benefit and all sorts of other benefits while residing in a council home and also owning another home worth probably about £1m. I wonder if he has had the council property, inherited the other property as it has been in the family for 120 years, given the property to the op as they don't want it taken away to pay for potential care home fees and then moved back into the housing association property and claimed benefits.

Mojisola

Londonsu wrote: »

The Cinnamon Trust who have been walking his dog every day for over a year, picking the dog up and dropping him off and even in April this year helped him to rescue a new dog and helped him repair the fence in his garden to he could have one.

The Salvation Army who have been picking him up from his address twice a week to take him to a day centre and the Officers who come and see him every 2 or 3 weeks to chat to him

Seriously - he has inherited a house worth £750k and he's using volunteers to do things he could pay for?

Claiming benefits is illegal but using volunteers who could be helping someone in real need is totally immoral. Being used in this way puts people off from volunteering.

PasturesNew

When I got my mum to an Age Concern daycentre there were two prices, £5 for those on benefits, £20 if you paid for it yourself.

So twice a week could be another, say, £30 extra/week or £1500/year's worth he shouldn't have got.

jimbo747

worried_jim wrote: »

Somebody has been rumbled!

Lol. Tell dad to get digging.