Inheritance 30 July 2020 at 9:45PM in Disability money matters 3 replies 203 views

eddieking38

Some advice please.....My ex Husband is about to inherit some money.....he lives in a rented flat but wants to buy his own home.....he is disabled and gets dla/pip. Can he buy his own home without it interfering with his benefits????......thankyou

Spoonie_Turtle

It depends on whether he receives any means-tested benefits, but if it's only DLA or PIP (one or the other, PIP replaced DLA) then this would not be affected.

I can't say for certain as I'm not overly familiar with the legacy benefits but I would think that if he receives means-tested benefits the main difference would be that he would no longer get any help with housing costs.

poppy12345

If he claims any means tested benefits then he will need to report the changes once the money goes into his bank. If the money is £16,000 and over then he will no longer be entitled to any means tested benefits...this includes Universal Credit, Income related ESA/JSA, Income Support, housing benefit and Council tax reduction.

As the money is from an inheritence then there will not be a 26 week disregard if he does decide to buy his home because this is only for those selling their home and them buying another.

If he does use the money to buy his home then it will not be classed as deprivation of capital. If he gives any of it away then this is classed as deprivation of capital.

As has been advised, if he buys his home then he will not be able to claim for any help with housing costs.

Savvy_Sue

Also worth noting that he cannot renounce this inheritance to avoid losing any means-tested benefits, because this would also be deprivation of capital.