PC ground rent and service charge.

catlover57

Hello just asking for a friend.
She is thinking of buying a retirement flat to live in.
Will she be allowed to claim pension credit after buying the flat (inherited £70000)? as she will only have about £3000 capital left.
Also if she can, will they help with ground rent and service charge?
Just to mention she lives with her sister at the moment and won't be pension age until Jan 2024.

HillStreetBlues

If she is under the threshold of income  she would be able to claim pension credit
She can get help with ground rent and service charges, some service charges aren't allowed and from experience DWP don't always work it out correctly.

Spoonie_Turtle

HillStreetBlues said:

She can get help with ground rent and service charges, some service charges aren't allowed and from experience DWP don't always work it out correctly.

At pension age it would be Housing Benefit, through the council not DWP.

Turns out I was wrong, sorry.

HillStreetBlues

Spoonie_Turtle said:

HillStreetBlues said:

She can get help with ground rent and service charges, some service charges aren't allowed and from experience DWP don't always work it out correctly.

At pension age it would be Housing Benefit, through the council not DWP.

No, service charges are different from rent (and OP's friend would own their home).

EDIT 
further info
https://england.shelter.org.uk/professional_resources/legal/benefits/housing_benefit/service_charges_covered_by_housing_benefit

Home owners and help with service charges

Home owners cannot claim housing benefit to pay for service charges or other housing costs, such as ground rent. Claimants might be able to get help with these charges if they are entitled to:

• pension credit

• income support

• income-related employment and support allowance

• income-based jobseeker's allowance

• universal credit

Spoonie_Turtle

HillStreetBlues said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

HillStreetBlues said:

She can get help with ground rent and service charges, some service charges aren't allowed and from experience DWP don't always work it out correctly.

At pension age it would be Housing Benefit, through the council not DWP.

No, service charges are different from rent (and OP's friend would own their home).

Today I learned PC would cover that!  My apologies.

HillStreetBlues

Spoonie_Turtle said:

HillStreetBlues said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

HillStreetBlues said:

She can get help with ground rent and service charges, some service charges aren't allowed and from experience DWP don't always work it out correctly.

At pension age it would be Housing Benefit, through the council not DWP.

No, service charges are different from rent (and OP's friend would own their home).

Today I learned PC would cover that!  My apologies.

Apology not needed
That's what this site is about, learning from others and passing that knowledge on,
I have learnt a great deal from you, poppy, et al and happy to say still learning.

MikeJXE

Would the £3,000 capital left not be gobbled up by charges ? Solicitor etc 

Is it leasehold, dodgy IMO 

My niece lives with her daughter and wants to buy/rent, she hasn't a clue how much it costs to live in your own place and shes only 40 with a full time job 

catlover57

Thank you everyone I'll pass this on to her.
I did a calculation for her on entitledto calculator, and it didn't come up with help for ground rent or service charge.(It did for UC)
Someone told her she may have to wait 9 months for help?
Oh she won't be working she'll be fully on PC.
Mike she will have £3000 after solicitor etc.
Yes it's leasehold(long) and she knows about the horror stories of selling on after she passes away, but her family know about this and said a member would either move in or rent it out.

sheramber

Will her pension income be below the PC limit?

HillStreetBlues

PC won't be quick and will have to keep sending the DWP the annual SC.
Once SC is known come back and we can check if every element is allowed to be claimed.

catlover57

Ok thanks she's going to buy the flat in Jan sometime, so we'll look at what the service charges and ground rent are.