benefits if you own flat or house outright

tiger135

If you own your property outright,no mortgage and have under 6k in your account, what can you claim if you lose your job?
I understand you can have your council tax paid. 
What about service charges on a flat? If not covered then I guess that makes owning a freehold house better.
So I guess you just need help with bills , food and transport. 
I know that if you have a mortgage you dont get a lot of help with that.

poppy12345

tiger135 said:

If you own your property outright,no mortgage and have under 6k in your account, what can you claim if you lose your job?
I understand you can have your council tax paid. 
What about service charges on a flat? If not covered then I guess that makes owning a freehold house better.
So I guess you just need help with bills , food and transport. 
I know that if you have a mortgage you dont get a lot of help with that.

You mention having under 6k here but in previous threads of yours you said you had close to 200k and you were asking how to invest it in one thread and asking about buying a property in another.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6481909/investing-instead-of-buying-a-flat-or-house#latest

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6489475/any-reason-to-consider-2-bedroom-flat-over-1-bed-house#latest

Have you recently sold a property you were living in and plan on buying another?

New style JSA isn't means tested but whether entitled to payments will depend on your NI contributions in tax years 2020/21 and 2021/22. Please also be aware that the benefit year changes on the first Sunday in January to 2021/22 and 2022/23.

elsien

I suspect the OP is overthinking things again on the house buying journey and if they ever do get round to buying a property what might happen if they lost their job. For example.

tiger135

Hi yes if the 200k is sunk into a property And I did lose the job next year  thats what my question is based on.
Main question was about service charges/ground rents. 
Which, if no help with , is another reason to favour a freehold. 
any one clarify that question? 
thanks 

HillStreetBlues

tiger135 said:

Hi yes if the 200k is sunk into a property And I did lose the job next year  thats what my question is based on.
Main question was about service charges/ground rents. 
Which, if no help with , is another reason to favour a freehold. 
any one clarify that question? 
thanks 

With UC you can get help with service charge but not ground rent.

tiger135

Thanks hillstreet , do you know if its 100% help like it is with council tax? 

HillStreetBlues

tiger135 said:

Thanks hillstreet , do you know if its 100% help like it is with council tax? 

It will depend on what the SC consists of. The rule of thumb is if it's communal then it's allowed, if personal it's not.
EG cost of communal garden maintenance allowed, private garden not allowed.
Exceptions would be  like if the property had a communal swimming pool, this wouldn't be allowed.

poppy12345

tiger135 said:

Thanks hillstreet , do you know if its 100% help like it is with council tax? 

Council Tax reduction isn’t always 100%. For the majority of LAs you have to pay a small amount. 

Unwell2023

HillStreetBlues said:

tiger135 said:

Hi yes if the 200k is sunk into a property And I did lose the job next year  thats what my question is based on.
Main question was about service charges/ground rents. 
Which, if no help with , is another reason to favour a freehold. 
any one clarify that question? 
thanks 

With UC you can get help with service charge but not ground rent.

How do you apply for it? I've been on UC before and never knew you could get help with service charge when out of work. 

HillStreetBlues

Unwell2023 said:

HillStreetBlues said:

tiger135 said:

Hi yes if the 200k is sunk into a property And I did lose the job next year  thats what my question is based on.
Main question was about service charges/ground rents. 
Which, if no help with , is another reason to favour a freehold. 
any one clarify that question? 
thanks 

With UC you can get help with service charge but not ground rent.

How do you apply for it? I've been on UC before and never knew you could get help with service charge when out of work. 

It's dealt with in the housing element. So you would need to show proof of liability and proof of costs.
You can claim for it at the same time you claim UC.
If you already claim UC it will be a CoC (where you live and what it costs).

Unwell2023

@HillStreetBlues Thank you greatly for the detailed post.