25% house owner - benefits 20 February at 2:59PM in Benefits & Tax Credits 24 replies 1.3K views

HouseTargaryen

I have a friend and their mum died and put a quarter of her house in their name. And a quarter in his brother's name. The other half is in the dad's name and he lives at the property.

My friend lives alone and is in a wheel chair and has other health issues. He gets PIP and universal credit. When this happened, the benefits office said that owning a quarter of the property will not affect his benefits because he can't access the capital...as his dad is still living in the property.

However, the dad is getting older and needs a bungalow or some form of assisted living. So he wants to sell the house and move. This would result in around £90k to my friend.

He is worried his benefits will stop and the money will be wasted if he keeps it. He's always struggled for money and wants to know what he could spend it on without being deprivation of capital. And if there's a way to keep his share in his dad's new house so the arrangement stays the same. He said he wants to get gold plated rims on his wheel chair...luckily he's joking

_shel

HouseTargaryen said:

I have a friend and their mum died and put a quarter of her house in their name. And a quarter in his brother's name. The other half is in the dad's name and he lives at the property.

My friend lives alone and is in a wheel chair and has other health issues. He gets PIP and universal credit. When this happened, the benefits office said that owning a quarter of the property will not affect his benefits because he can't access the capital...as his dad is still living in the property.

However, the dad is getting older and needs a bungalow or some form of assisted living. So he wants to sell the house and move. This would result in around £90k to my friend.

He is worried his benefits will stop and the money will be wasted if he keeps it. He's always struggled for money and wants to know what he could spend it on without being deprivation of capital. And if there's a way to keep his share in his dad's new house so the arrangement stays the same. He said he wants to get gold plated rims on his wheel chair...luckily he's joking

 How is living off your own money wasting it? 

Mojisola

HouseTargaryen said:

I have a friend and their mum died and put a quarter of her house in their name. And a quarter in his brother's name. The other half is in the dad's name and he lives at the property.
However, the dad is getting older and needs a bungalow or some form of assisted living. So he wants to sell the house and move. This would result in around £90k to my friend.
And if there's a way to keep his share in his dad's new house so the arrangement stays the same.

It depends on how the will was written.  When a tenant in common leaves their share of the house to someone other than the spouse, there is usually direction about allowing the spouse to stay in the house as long as they want and also to be able to sell and buy another property using the full capital.

DJ13x

His benefits would stop if he has £90k in the bank as he would no longet be struggling for money. If he does get that money...defeats the point of him claiming benefits....no?

HouseTargaryen

_shel said:

HouseTargaryen said:

I have a friend and their mum died and put a quarter of her house in their name. And a quarter in his brother's name. The other half is in the dad's name and he lives at the property.

My friend lives alone and is in a wheel chair and has other health issues. He gets PIP and universal credit. When this happened, the benefits office said that owning a quarter of the property will not affect his benefits because he can't access the capital...as his dad is still living in the property.

However, the dad is getting older and needs a bungalow or some form of assisted living. So he wants to sell the house and move. This would result in around £90k to my friend.

He is worried his benefits will stop and the money will be wasted if he keeps it. He's always struggled for money and wants to know what he could spend it on without being deprivation of capital. And if there's a way to keep his share in his dad's new house so the arrangement stays the same. He said he wants to get gold plated rims on his wheel chair...luckily he's joking

 How is living off your own money wasting it? 

Because his mum and dad spent their life working that money and to see it not benefit his dad or him in any material way is very sad. 

_shel

HouseTargaryen said:

_shel said:

HouseTargaryen said:

I have a friend and their mum died and put a quarter of her house in their name. And a quarter in his brother's name. The other half is in the dad's name and he lives at the property.

My friend lives alone and is in a wheel chair and has other health issues. He gets PIP and universal credit. When this happened, the benefits office said that owning a quarter of the property will not affect his benefits because he can't access the capital...as his dad is still living in the property.

However, the dad is getting older and needs a bungalow or some form of assisted living. So he wants to sell the house and move. This would result in around £90k to my friend.

He is worried his benefits will stop and the money will be wasted if he keeps it. He's always struggled for money and wants to know what he could spend it on without being deprivation of capital. And if there's a way to keep his share in his dad's new house so the arrangement stays the same. He said he wants to get gold plated rims on his wheel chair...luckily he's joking

 How is living off your own money wasting it? 

Because his mum and dad spent their life working that money and to see it not benefit his dad or him in any material way is very sad. 

 Food, rent, sky tv a new couch or cooker etc is quite material. 

 What else does he want to spend it on? 

baza52

why not use the capitol to buy or buy a share in a flat or house for himself?

kaMelo

HouseTargaryen said:

_shel said:

HouseTargaryen said:

I have a friend and their mum died and put a quarter of her house in their name. And a quarter in his brother's name. The other half is in the dad's name and he lives at the property.

My friend lives alone and is in a wheel chair and has other health issues. He gets PIP and universal credit. When this happened, the benefits office said that owning a quarter of the property will not affect his benefits because he can't access the capital...as his dad is still living in the property.

However, the dad is getting older and needs a bungalow or some form of assisted living. So he wants to sell the house and move. This would result in around £90k to my friend.

He is worried his benefits will stop and the money will be wasted if he keeps it. He's always struggled for money and wants to know what he could spend it on without being deprivation of capital. And if there's a way to keep his share in his dad's new house so the arrangement stays the same. He said he wants to get gold plated rims on his wheel chair...luckily he's joking

 How is living off your own money wasting it? 

Because his mum and dad spent their life working that money and to see it not benefit his dad or him in any material way is very sad. 

I'm sure most people would like to keep their earnings to spend on nice things whilst the state picks up the tab for mundane things like housing and utility bills. Unfortunately that's not how it works though, the expectation is that people support themselves and their families. Where this is not possible for whatever reasons then the state provides support until you can support yourself again at which point the state would stop providing support.

I know this is not a discussion board but frankly it's becoming ridiculous. The number of posts recently about how someone can dispose of assets to keep their benefit entitlement it's clear why strong rules regarding deprivation of assets are needed. Some people are simply taking the !!!!!! and unfortunately for the majority of benefit claimants who don't do so, they get tarred with the same brush.

Spoonie_Turtle

kaMelo said:

I know this is not a discussion board but frankly it's becoming ridiculous. The number of posts recently about how someone can dispose of assets to keep their benefit entitlement it's clear why strong rules regarding deprivation of assets are needed. Some people are simply taking the !!!!!! and unfortunately for the majority of benefit claimants who don't do so, they get tarred with the same brush.

On the other end of the spectrum we get people not knowing they don't have to use every last penny of their savings before they can claim benefits.  The board is here to ask for advice, and thank goodness it is.  If people went ahead with things that would be DoC they'll get themselves into a much worse situation than simply no longer being able to claim one or more benefits; equally if people wrongfully thought they would lose entitlement to all benefits (people often ask about inheritances or savings affecting their PIP) and never knew to claim them once they became eligible again, they would lose out.  This board is here to help people get what they are legitimately entitled to, and that's all people are asking.  Generally they are not asking how to commit fraud, and (apart from one occasional moron who advocates keeping cash so DWP can't track it - still fraud!) the advice will always be about what people are legally entitled to, that's it.  Hopefully in the process people are reassured that 'losing' benefits will not be the end of the world that they initially feel it will be.

Rubyroobs

kaMelo said:

HouseTargaryen said:

_shel said:

HouseTargaryen said:

I have a friend and their mum died and put a quarter of her house in their name. And a quarter in his brother's name. The other half is in the dad's name and he lives at the property.

My friend lives alone and is in a wheel chair and has other health issues. He gets PIP and universal credit. When this happened, the benefits office said that owning a quarter of the property will not affect his benefits because he can't access the capital...as his dad is still living in the property.

However, the dad is getting older and needs a bungalow or some form of assisted living. So he wants to sell the house and move. This would result in around £90k to my friend.

He is worried his benefits will stop and the money will be wasted if he keeps it. He's always struggled for money and wants to know what he could spend it on without being deprivation of capital. And if there's a way to keep his share in his dad's new house so the arrangement stays the same. He said he wants to get gold plated rims on his wheel chair...luckily he's joking

 How is living off your own money wasting it? 

Because his mum and dad spent their life working that money and to see it not benefit his dad or him in any material way is very sad. 

I'm sure most people would like to keep their earnings to spend on nice things whilst the state picks up the tab for mundane things like housing and utility bills. Unfortunately that's not how it works though, the expectation is that people support themselves and their families. Where this is not possible for whatever reasons then the state provides support until you can support yourself again at which point the state would stop providing support.

I know this is not a discussion board but frankly it's becoming ridiculous. The number of posts recently about how someone can dispose of assets to keep their benefit entitlement it's clear why strong rules regarding deprivation of assets are needed. Some people are simply taking the !!!!!! and unfortunately for the majority of benefit claimants who don't do so, they get tarred with the same brush.

Totally agree with your last paragraph.

sheramber

He wouldn't have to struggle for money ant more.  How is that not a benefit to him?
He can replace worn out items. He can treat himself to new carpets, new furniture, new appliances.
He won't need to worry  if he can pay his utility bills
There may be aids that could make his life easier that he could buy.