Is buying a home deprivation of capital?

MaireAA

I currently have over the £16,000.00 threshold of savings ( equity from house sale with ex-partner) so I am not currently entitled to any benefits. I work part time ( single mum) and
I am currently using my savings to top up bills & rent.
1) If i put the money into a mortgage for a house i will live in with my young children (dependants) is this deprivation of capital? A family member will be helping with house purchase as mortgage guarantor, as I am low income. 
2) the only way i can keep on top of bills will be to claim for benefits once i have put the money into a mortgage will this be allowed ?? I am not  going to claim mortgage assistance just UC & child benefit.
Will this be possible ??
I hate the idea that my alternative is to wait until my savings are gone and then claim for rental help and everything else. 
I dont want to risk buying a house and then finding out I am unable to claim UC.
  

poppy12345

Duplicate thread here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6181263/is-buying-a-house-deprivation-of-capital#latest

MaireAA

Someone suggested to re-post here 

poppy12345

When was the sale of the house? when are you planning on buying the new house?

This just sounds very scary. You're only working part time and are planning on borrowing the money from a family member to help with the deposit. How will you pay them back only working part time? having a mortgage to pay, children to clothe and feed, house repairs (if anything happens) and you'll need to claim UC to help with bills.

Being a single parent myself for close to 20 years (all grown up now) i know i wouldn't want the worry of a mortgage, along with everything else.

calcotti

You get no help with mortgage payments from UC. After 9 months on UC, and only if you have no earnings at all in that time, do you get access to Support for Mortgage Interest which is a government loan on which interest is charged.

Spoonie_Turtle

Just FYI, if you decide against buying a house, you can still have £15999 in savings and claim UC which is not at all the same as hving to use up all your savings before you can claim anything.

The sentence that rang alarm bells for me was that you'd need UC to survive once you have a mortgage. How then are you planning to pay off the mortgage? Do you know what your UC entitlement would be? I suggest looking into it properly if you haven't already, because it doesn't exactly 'top up' income to a certain level (which sometimes people seem to think is how it works).

calcotti

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Just FYI, if you decide against buying a house, you can still have £15999 in savings and claim UC which is not at all the same as hving to use up all your savings before you can claim anything.

Actually you can have £16,000 of capital(savings, current account etc.). You cannot have more than £16,000. But that's just picky of me, the point you have highlighted is an excellent one.

Spoonie_Turtle

calcotti said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Just FYI, if you decide against buying a house, you can still have £15999 in savings and claim UC which is not at all the same as hving to use up all your savings before you can claim anything.

Actually you can have £16,000 of capital(savings, current account etc.). You cannot have more than £16,000. But that's just picky of me, the point you have highlighted is an excellent one.

Ah, but then the 1p interest (which is all you'll get at the moment!) would tip it over

I'm kidding, thanks for highlighting that. I genuinely thought it was *up to* £16k.

poppy12345

calcotti said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Just FYI, if you decide against buying a house, you can still have £15999 in savings and claim UC which is not at all the same as hving to use up all your savings before you can claim anything.

Actually you can have £16,000 of capital(savings, current account etc.). You cannot have more than £16,000. But that's just picky of me, the point you have highlighted is an excellent one.

Thanks for that! I also thought it was £16,000 and always advise others this too. I'll remember that in future.

poppy12345

Spoonie_Turtle said:

The sentence that rang alarm bells for me was that you'd need UC to survive once you have a mortgage.

That's exactly what did it for me and also needing to "borrow" money from a family member for the deposit on the mortgage... .. oh dear.