Gifted money for a deposit, but will lose disability benefits please help

AlwaysNeedingHelp

Me and my partner are on disability benefits as we are both long term disabled, Im physically disabled and rely on a wheelchair or walking aid and my partner has neurological conditions so we both get disability benefits 

After the death of both grandparents, in a short space of time , our parents are gifting us around £60,000 from the sale of grandparents  house so that we can put a deposit down on a house of our own and get a mortgage , as we until this point have always rented privately 

the problem we have is that we do not want to touch that money, this was an unexpected windfall and we’ll never again be in the position to buy our own home or receive that kind of money. It’s our one and only chance of buying a home 

our problem is that we are currently renting privately and we receive benefits that are means tested so as soon as that money hits our account 90% of our income will stop as we’re over the £16,000 threshold for benefits 

So we’ll lose almost all of our income and we would have to live off that  deposit money and fritter it away on rent and bills and watch our one and only chance of getting our home disappear.

unless we found a suitable home within literally a week or two of receiving it , we’re going to have almost all of our money cut off

is There anything we can do? Is there any scheme or trust or anything we can put the money into and not touch it until we’ve found a house? And keep our disability benefits ? As we need to live and pay bills and rent on our rented house until we find one

We’re absolutely despondent at the thought of being gifted such a potentially life changing amount of money and for it to essentially just disappear and not change anything at all 

elsien

Have you checked you will be able to get a mortgage if you are claiming benefits? 

If your parents are gifting you the money, why can’t they just hang onto it for now while you look to see what’s out there? 

If it’s a straightforwards gift and not an inheritance left in trust then no I don’t think there’s any way of keeping your benefits 

calcotti

If your parents are gifting you the money can you ask them to hang onto it until you need it? If you find a place to buy you may be able to get your parents to pay the money directly to the solicitor or if, as is sometimes the case, the solicitor will not accept that arrange for them to gift it to you and for you to pass it to the solicitor immediately.

Your actual disability benefits (DLA, PIP or AA) are not means tested and are not therefore affected.

theoretica

Is there a reason your parents need to gift you the money now?  Could it stay in their accounts as a gift you know will be coming when you are actually buying the property?

Alice_Holt

OP -  Is it a gift from your parents, or were you named as a beneficiary in your grandparents will ?

What benefits are you both receiving ?

If you are in receipt of ESA - is it income-based or contribution-based ?

AlwaysNeedingHelp

Unfortunately my mother who’s gifting us the money is lifetime heavily disabled herself  and was living with our grandparents until their death

she’s in the same boat where she’ll lose her disability benefits herself and she needs to find a small bungalow or flat now that the house is for sale 

We seem to be stuck in between a rock and a hard place 

We’ve always been so careful with money, we don’t drink , smoke or do drugs and have never had loans or debt of any kind, but no matter how careful we are we’ll never get an opportunity like this again

we were hoping there was some way, some loophole some thing we could do for 6 months even , just until we can find a house . 

calcotti

AlwaysNeedingHelp said:

.. she’ll lose her disability benefits herself 

Again, actual disability benefits are not means tested and are not affected.

AlwaysNeedingHelp said:

Unfortunately my mother who’s gifting us the money is lifetime heavily disabled herself  and was living with our grandparents until their death

she’s in the same boat where she’ll lose her disability benefits herself and she needs to find a small bungalow or flat now that the house is for sale 

We seem to be stuck in between a rock and a hard place 

We’ve always been so careful with money, we don’t drink , smoke or do drugs and have never had loans or debt of any kind, but no matter how careful we are we’ll never get an opportunity like this again

we were hoping there was some way, some loophole some thing we could do for 6 months even , just until we can find a house . 

In your opening post you referred to the gift coming from your parents. The later post refers to your mother only. Can you clarify whether your parents live together or whether your mother lives alone? What benefits doesn’t your mother claim? The value of the existing house is ignored while she is living in it. If she doesn’t move out until she has a new property then the only money that will affect benefits is the surplus money - or is there other money in the estate?

Nannytone

Unless you have been left the money in a will, your mother will lose her means tested benefit by gifting you 60k.
It would be drprivation of capital and she would be treated as of she still has it

theoretica

I am sorry to point out that your mother will need to be careful about 'deprivation of assets' - if she gives money away and then claims means tested benefits she could be treated as though she still has that money.  Leaving her in a really horrible position.

calcotti

Nannytone said:

Unless you have been left the money in a will, your mother will lose her means tested benefit by gifting you 60k.
It would be drprivation of capital and she would be treated as of she still has it

Completely overlooked that (duh!).

AlwaysNeedingHelp

I didn't want to go into details as its personal, but my mother is a long-term drug addict, which began over 30 years ago with a painkiller addiction stemming from her disability.

This is well documented, she's in all the relevant programs, and her doctors, the DWP, etc are all aware of this and always have been. 

This is the main reason that she wanted to gift us this money, so that we can make something better of our lives than she has and because if she keeps hold of that money, we all know exactly where it will go... and it will all go.  

We are on ESA, which we will lose as it's not contribution-based.
We'll also lose our Housing Benefit and council tax benefit as well which will only leave us with PIP which once the rent is paid, we won't have enough to live on let alone pay other bills. 

My mother is on PIP also, and will be looking to rent privately until she gets a council flat or bungalow so she too would be looking to claim housing benefit as soon as the grandparent's house is sold. 

Due to her unstable financial history, her well-documented addiction, would they still consider it deprivation of assets? 
What if she was somehow able to hold onto the money until we found a home, and essentially then paid the deposit directly for us...would that still be deprivation of assets? 

it seems so illogical and impossible, that receiving this money is making everyone worse off. 

I am not sure what main disability benefit my mother is on, but I can find out if it's DLA she'll be able to keep that alongside her PIP as it's not means-tested right? 

But she'd lose anything that is means-tested, so universal credit, ESA, housing benefit etc? 

Thank You for everyone that's took the time to reply.