Quandary - any advice gratefully received

NJL1969

My partner's father has recently died and my partner and his brother will inherit his father's flat which he owned outright.

My partner claims ESA.  We assume that his inheritance will end his entitlement to this benefit.

Can anyone offer any advice as to his situation:   he and his brother cannot decide whether to rent the property out or sell it.   As my partner will lose his benefit entitlement, renting it out doesn't really make sense as his only income will be half the rental income and that won't be enough for him to pay his own rent, bills, food etc.

If the property is sold, he will have to use his half share to live on but this won't last forever, probably a few years at the most.

Are there any other viable options available to him regarding this situation, ie:  equity release or anything else?   He has considered moving into the property and paying his brother half the rent that would be due but he would still lose his benefit entitlement presumably as he would have half the equity available to him technically.

Any advice or thoughts anyone has would be gratefully received.   We have both been recently bereaved (my Mum passed away four weeks before his dad) and finding financial matters difficult to deal with at present.   Many thanks.

greatcrested

What is his brother's financial position? They could vary the will so that brother inherits the property and your partner simply continues as at present.

Becoming a landlord does not sound like a wise idea for... oh so many reasons.

Sell, live on the proceeds, and save the taxpayer some money.

akwexavante

Agree with greatcrested but at the same time if you keep it your partners name will be on the properties title, and therefore you have assets of value that i'm thinking you should declare.   You may get away with not declaring the asset, up to you, but then you would have income in the form of rent.........  Why should the rent be paid to your partner, why not have the half share of the rent paid to you instead!?

Do you have debts, a mortgage?  Sell and pay them off with the cash, this could be a way out perhaps.  Do you have a child that you could give it to in trust in some way.  No idea whether that would work either.

Seek professional advice i would, the law's an !!!!!! but it's also full of loopholes here and there to be exploited if you look for them

Nebulous2

What are the prospects for the reason he is on ESA? Is his condition likely to improve?  If he could get into the workforce that would open up more opportunities to benefit from his inheritance. 

I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty sure staying in a flat he owns 50% of wouldn't affect an ESA claim. Lots of people on benefits own their own homes. Means-tested benefits are affected by savings, and don't consider the value of your house.  However he might have difficulty persuading the benefits people to give him money to pay rent to his brother.

It might be worth posting on the benefit forum. They would be more knowledgeable about these things.