Claiming - inheritance- claiming

Gaurdio

I have received an inheritance of £70K which has stopped my HB and CTB.

Obviously I have to live off my inheritance (savings) to pay for rent and Ctax as well as other living costs.

I'm worried about the future, as obviously this sum of money will not last for ever.

Q1. What is the presumed amount per month/year that is deemed to be acceptable for using this capital in the eyes of the authorities presuming the need to return to claiming HB and/or CTB in the future?

Q2. If I instead used £60K of this sum to buy a 75% share ownership property, and within the next few weeks/months my remaining capital/savings fell below £6K, would it be allowable to claim again for HB (for remaining 25% rent portion) and CTB ? .... is this an allowable use of the capital?

Thanks for any advice. Guardio

pmlindyloo

Gaurdio wrote: »

I have received an inheritance of £70K which has stopped my HB and CTB.

Obviously I have to live off my inheritance (savings) to pay for rent and Ctax as well as other living costs.

I'm worried about the future, as obviously this sum of money will not last for ever.

Q1. What is the presumed amount per month/year that is deemed to be acceptable for using this capital in the eyes of the authorities presuming the need to return to claiming HB and/or CTB in the future?

Q2. If I instead used £60K of this sum to buy a 75% share ownership property, and within the next few weeks/months my remaining capital/savings fell below £6K, would it be allowable to claim again for HB (for remaining 25% rent portion) and CTB ? .... is this an allowable use of the capital?

Thanks for any advice. Guardio

It would be helpful if you could tell us your circumstances - single? partner? working? children? claiming any other benefits?

To answer your questions in a general sense.

Q1 There are no 'rules' about how much you could spend per month/year. They would be looking to see that your expenditure before you reclaimed was 'reasonable'. So, basically no extravagant spending. You would be able to reclaim HB if your savings were below £16000 but between £6K and £16K there would be a reduction to your HB. Council tax reduction varies from authority to authority regarding capital limits so you would need to check with your LA about this.

Q2 Yes, you would be allowed to buy a house with your savings as long as you intended to live in it as your home. In such a case your savings would be disregarded for 6 months (or longer if it were reasonable)

See here for one LA's info:

http://www.manchester.gov.uk/info/500180/housing_benefit/4265/how_savings_investments_and_property_affect_your_housing_benefit_and_council_tax_support/4

If you are wanting to buy a property then it would be sensible to let your LA know about this so they can apply the disregard. It might also be a good idea to let them know that this would be a shared ownership property and you might need help with the rent and get confirmation that this would not be deprivation of capital - get this in writing for future reference.

TELLIT01

Penitent wrote: »

pmlindyloo - I don't think the 6 month disregard would apply here, as the money was inherited, rather than being from the sale of their previous home.

That's my understanding too. It's cash from the sale of a property, intended for the purchase of another property, which is disregarded for 6 months.

pmlindyloo

I could be wrong.............

Deprivation of capital is the intention to do something in order to get/ retain benefits.

Only a decision maker would be able to decide whether the OP was deliberately depriving themselves of capital in order to obtain benefits.

In court cases about this the deprivation of capital is based on that and whether what the potential claimant was doing was unreasonable.

I 'hold up my hand' that it will be down to a decision maker to make this decision so the OP should get the decision in writing before proceeding with the purchase of a shared ownership house.

PS. OP, when you telephone the LA make sure you speak to a supervisor/manager about this. The call handlers are unlikely to know the answer.

Ames

If you're in a full service universal credit area (or if the area goes full credit while you're not on HB) then you won't be able to reclaim HB it would have to be UC.

I agree with Tellit and Penitent, my understanding of the six month disregard is that it only applies if the capital came from a house you were living in.

marliepanda

Ames wrote: »

If you're in a full service universal credit area (or if the area goes full credit while you're not on HB) then you won't be able to reclaim HB it would have to be UC.

I agree with Tellit and Penitent, my understanding of the six month disregard is that it only applies if the capital came from a house you were living in.

If you are in a UC area I would check that you can get help with the rent and service charge as these may not be claimable housing costs.

Whiteknight

Keep receipts or other evidence (transactions on bank statements) which show what has happened to the capital

teddysmum

You also need to know whether the rent to be paid is fully covered by the HB amount.

Afraid_of_Kittens

When I used to post under the user name Housing Benefit Officer I gave advice to someone with exactly the same query. They purchased a shared ownership home and successfully claimed Housing Benefit for the rental element. I will try and find the thread and post a link.

Afraid_of_Kittens

Here is the thread...

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4752764

Sncjw

What about buying a property to live in that doesn!!!8217;t require you to obtain housing benefit. There!!!8217;s plenty you could buy for 70k then you don!!!8217;t have to worry about mortgage or renting or meeting rules for housing benefit.

If your single you will get the 25% single rate