Being gifted money to help buy a property.

Imsostressed76

I am a single working parent living in a one bed house with my four year old son.  I am buying a 2 bed property using the money from the sale of my house, taking out another mortgage solely in my name for £90k, my own savings, and my dad has said he will gift me money for the difference and to help towards costs.  I had hoped my dad would be able to pay the costs at the end directly to the solicitor but standard procedure is they do not accept any money from a third party so the total costs of purchasing the house and fees must come out of my account, so my dad will have to transfer the money to my account first.  As I am on Universal Credit, this will take me way over the £16k threshold.  Has anyone been in this situation?  Will the DWP stop my Universal Credit or will they disregard the capital.  My dad has signed a letter for the solicitor to say it is a gift and he has no claim on the house I am buying.  If I wasn't buying a property, I would not be receiving anything from my dad.  My dad will not transfer the money over until he has to.  I am scared of asking the DWP in case they stop my universal credit now, as the mortgage amount I am borrowing has taken UC into consideration, therefore if my UC was to be stopped before the purchase goes through, I would not be able to borrow as much and therefore would not be able to move.  There is a section on the Capital Disregards section that says:

Amount to be used to purchase premises H2119 Where a person has received an amount within the past 6 months which is to be used to purchase premises that the person intend to occupy as their home, that amount can be disregarded from the calculation of that person’s capital where it
1. is attributable to the proceeds of the sale of premises formerly occupied as their home or
2. has been deposited with a housing association (see H2045) or
3. is a grant made to the person for the sole purpose of purchasing a home.

Does the term 'grant' mean the same as a 'gift'? I just don't want anything to risk the purchase/sale going through?  I've spent a few thousand already in searches/safety checks/surveys etc already and the way the house prices have increased, I won't get be able to afford anything on the market now.  If the DWP stop my UC after I've moved, then I would have to manage, but at least I'd be in my new property.  I'm worried about them stopping it before I move and affecting my mortgage offer.

Has anyone else been in this situation?  What did you do, what did the DWP do? 

poppy12345

Your UC calcuation is based on the last day of your assessment period, so providing you do this before that day then it won't make any difference to your UC. Though buying a house will not be classed as deprivation of capital anyway.

calcotti

The important thing, as poppy says, is to make sure you receive the money from you ur dad and then pay it on to the solicitor within the same assessment period so that the money is not in your account on the last day of the period.

A gift does not come under the term grant.

peb

It can be done same day, straight in and out with modern on line banking.  

gbhxu

Why not just get your Dad to pay the solicitor directly?

whizzywoo

gbhxu said:

Why not just get your Dad to pay the solicitor directly?

If you read the opening post you will see that the solicitor will not allow this.

poppy12345

gbhxu said:

Why not just get your Dad to pay the solicitor directly?

This isn't something they allow. My daughter was gifted a small amount of money for her mortgage deposit and it had to come from her. They also wanted a bank statement from the person that gifted it, with a letter saying it was a gift and it didn't have to be repaid back.

calcotti

poppy12345 said:..gifted a small amount of money for her mortgage deposit and it had to come from her. They also wanted a bank statement from the person that gifted it, with a letter saying it was a gift and it didn't have to be repaid back. 

That’s my experience too.

Pollycat

My Mum and I did the same for my sister who was on benefits but not UC. 
I had the money in my account and transferred it to my sister's account who transferred it the same day to her solicitors who had a holding account set up for her.

Both Mum and I had to do letters for whichever organisation was paying sister's benefits to state how much we'd gifted.

Imsostressed76

poppy12345 said:

gbhxu said:

Why not just get your Dad to pay the solicitor directly?

This isn't something they allow. My daughter was gifted a small amount of money for her mortgage deposit and it had to come from her. They also wanted a bank statement from the person that gifted it, with a letter saying it was a gift and it didn't have to be repaid back.

Hi Poppy,
Was this the Solicitor who wanted the bank statement and letter or the DWP?  My dad has provided both to Solicitor. 

poppy12345

It was the solicitor. My daughter doesn’t claim any means tested benefits.