thanks for the answers

sourpuss2021

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poppy12345

£16,000 + in total is a lot to receive especially as a regular gift. As you said there's a regular payment cycle with a standing order set up then they may question where the money has come from. You will of course need to send the bank statements like they asked for and then wait for their decision. Yes, your HB could be suspended.

nayathepsychic

If your council is anything like mine you will have to account for every penny. I had to prove that a series of small payments into my account from some eBay sales wasn't a regular income. The amounts ranged between 4 and 9 pounds. 

GhibliFan

The point is that OP's payments are gifts.  If gifts are disregarded then they shouldn't affect benefit entitlement.  According to the "Entitled to" article that OP linked to, these payments should be declared as 'savings', not income.  And savings below £10k/£16k don't need to be declared.  

If Entitled to are correct, OP should be ok.  Are they correct?

poppy12345

GhibliFan said:

savings below £10k/£16k don't need to be declared. 

That's not correct. Savings of under £6k don't need to be declared because they are ignored. (working age people) For every £250 or part there of over £6k there's a £1/week deduction in benefits. Over £16k and entitlement to all means tested benefits end.

Yes, gifts are ignored but regular gifts of large amounts of money over a short period of time and questions could be asked.

Lifematters

You can submit your own letter with the bank statements explaining that the credits are gifted from your parents and as such are totally disregarded as income. They are included as capital though. 

I am staggered that you have spent £10k refurbishing a rented property. The kind of money your parents are sending you could go towards covering a small deposit on flat and mortgage repayments depending where in the country you are.

poppy12345

sourpuss2021 said:

Lifematters said:

You can submit your own letter with the bank statements explaining that the credits are gifted from your parents and as such are totally disregarded as income. They are included as capital though. 

I am staggered that you have spent £10k refurbishing a rented property. The kind of money your parents are sending you could go towards covering a small deposit on flat and mortgage repayments depending where in the country you are.

Just to add, I've remembered reading that money from family which is a loan will be counted as capital.  However if the money is simply gifted, then it is not. 

Presuming that it has been spent, and the amount is under £6k, then it is invisible for HB purposes.

Though now I'm confusing myself with the loan/gift distinction. Because if my parents had loaned me £17k, and I had spent it and owed them this sum, I don't see how that could be treated as capital either. 

Gifts are not income, they are capital. As i advised because the amounts were regular amounts over a period of time they may question why you didn't receive it as a lump sum. You said the total amount you've received is more than £16,000, which is a huge amount of money to spend on a house you're renting.

unforeseen

This isn't a gift and surely should be declared

1) my parents are holding on to money of mine from past employment or sale of a property, or are collecting rent from a property I own, and are feeding it back to me.  But I’ve  never had a high-paying job (as will be shown by my NI records and tax returns), and have never owned property; or

This sounds like a case of not correctly declaring your income and pretending its gifts when it is not the case. That is savings and should have been declared

poppy12345

sourpuss2021 said:

Lifematters said:

You can submit your own letter with the bank statements explaining that the credits are gifted from your parents and as such are totally disregarded as income. They are included as capital though. 

I am staggered that you have spent £10k refurbishing a rented property. The kind of money your parents are sending you could go towards covering a small deposit on flat and mortgage repayments depending where in the country you are.

Though now I'm confusing myself with the loan/gift distinction. Because if my parents had loaned me £17k, and I had spent it and owed them this sum, I don't see how that could be treated as capital either. 

Of course it could be, why wouldn't it be classed as capital/savings? Any money you have in all your bank accounts, money at home, money your parents give you is all classed as savings.

I just find it quite strange that your parents are giving you money to live, money to reburbish flats that don't belong to you and you're also in debt. For your debt, i'd advise you to post on the debtfree wannabe board, there's some very knowledgable people over there.

Jyana

sourpuss2021

If everything works out with my prospective new lodger who hopefully will pay up and move in this week, then once the figures have been crunched my HB will reduce by about £400 a month anyway.    That's fine by me but I wouldn't want it to end (it's helpful for example if I have void periods in future).

So the council have been paying you Housing Benefit for two flats for the last couple of years, rather than just the one? Sorry, if I'm misunderstanding, my head is a little fuzzy this evening so I may be misunderstanding.

sourpuss2021

£17k that has been gifted and spent, I don't think would be regarded as capital.  Or if it is, it still doesn't matter, because it's never held at the same time.  In fact never more than £2k is held at one time.

That may depend on whether the assessor decides that the way the funds have been spent will be regarded as Deprivation of Assets or not, I think. Someone else may have a better understanding of this though, I'm not wholly on firm footing when it comes to Notional Capital and the way it effects HB, as I think it is slightly different to ESA,UC, etc?

peteuk

Without meaning to poke the bear and i do realise that this is a snap shot of life and not the full picture.

The Impression is your living outside of your means, your focusing on the wrong things and somewhat living a life most would only wish for..  And I understand this may not be through any fault of your own, but many may be quick to point the finger.

As a warning (to everyone)) if you rent a property either privately or through council this is not your home.  Although you know this, come Christmas your land lord may terminate your rental agreement (I doubt in this case he will but it is a risk) The money you spent you will never see again.

If this does happen, emergency housing, move to another location etc. seems extreme but is a possibility. 

The money your parents gift you, could have been used to pay off the debt rather than improving someone else house.  If the repairs are needed then the owner of the property is liable for it.  

I would definitely try and sort out your debt, for which you will need a statement of affairs posting on the debt free pages for a lot of help and support.