Financial Disclosure to Council

Chellebe

I’ve requested succession of tenancy of a council property from my Dads name  who sadly passed away at Christmas, to mine.  I have now received a form to complete that is asking not only for my salary, which i understand, but also how much is in my bank a/c and also in any savings a/c’s that I may have, which I don’t understand. I don’t want them to have this private information. Will my bank be legally required to disclose this information if requested by the council? I’m not  receiving/applying for any benefits at all.

tunde10

I had to do the same on my housing association form. The amount you have doesn’t affect your entitlement so best to tell the truth. You will need to show bank statements.

In my case, I also thought it was none of their business and stated a lower amount. I’d waited 8yrs and built up decent savings by then. They noticed when going through statement that I had some transfers to savings which added up to more amount quoted savings  and queried this. So I had to come clean saying I didn’t feel comfortable with revealing the amount as it’s not linked to entitlement.

This delayed everything as she had to refer it higher up but I knew my rights and send them a formal letter and eventually they made decision to accept me. 

But basically just be honest, there is no law against having too much savings currently.