Buying a Shared Ownership home while not working, disabled and receiving UC

JamesM_2

I currently live with my ex partner who I share a home we own.

We are selling up to move apart.

I am unemployed and disabled, so unlikely to be working in the near future. I receive PIP and UC.

After we sell up I won't have enough money to buy the kind of house I want/need.

I have heard of Shared Ownership homes but don't know much about them.

My question is, if I bought, say 40% of a shared ownership home, would UC then help me out with the rent I would then have to pay on the remaining 60%? Would they also help with ground rent and service charges?

Also, if I at some point got an inheritance, could I buy more shares in the home without UC considering me as intentionally depriving myself of assets?

Anything else I should be considering? 

Browntoa

Do you meet the affordability requirements if taking out a mortgage? 

Or are you buying your share with a lump sum from your sale ? 

kingstreet

This organisation helps disabled people on benefits into home ownership. No recommendation intended, simply a reference point;-

https://mysafehome.info/

teaselMay

You'll need to meet the general criteria and pass an affordability assessment and if you're looking to buy with a mortgage you'd need to be able to get a mortgage without the UC housing allowance being taken into account, as I've recently discovered. This effectively means that it needs to be much more affordable than if you had a wage - 30% of my income is discounted in the calculations. But yes UC housing allowance covers the rent, and I believe service charge but I'll find that out soon hopefully.

It sounds as though you'll have a sizable deposit which puts you in a much stronger position than I am.

teaselMay

kingstreet said:

This organisation helps disabled people on benefits into home ownership. No recommendation intended, simply a reference point;-

https://mysafehome.info/

It was their page that I first found when trying to sort out my impending lack of housing. Their model is much worse and more complex than normal shared ownership, expecting folk to have an interest only mortgage and claim help with mortgage interest, which is a loan. But the biggest barrier is that they say you need 17K before you start, with 17K savings your UC claim closes and so you lose the income that you're intending to buy the house with. The standard shared ownership is possible with just UC and PIP as income, difficult but possible

JamesM_2

Browntoa said:

Do you meet the affordability requirements if taking out a mortgage? 

Or are you buying your share with a lump sum from your sale ? 

Lump sum, we own our current home outright. I'd rather not get a mortgage but didn't realise it was even a possibility when just getting benefits.

JamesM_2

teaselMay said:

kingstreet said:

This organisation helps disabled people on benefits into home ownership. No recommendation intended, simply a reference point;-

https://mysafehome.info/

It was their page that I first found when trying to sort out my impending lack of housing. Their model is much worse and more complex than normal shared ownership, expecting folk to have an interest only mortgage and claim help with mortgage interest, which is a loan. But the biggest barrier is that they say you need 17K before you start, with 17K savings your UC claim closes and so you lose the income that you're intending to buy the house with. The standard shared ownership is possible with just UC and PIP as income, difficult but possible

Thanks for that. They put a lot of barriers in to getting their information and the Website doesn't look very professional.

I don't like the sounds of their idea either.

HillStreetBlues

JamesM_2 said:

My question is, if I bought, say 40% of a shared ownership home, would UC then help me out with the rent I would then have to pay on the remaining 60%? Would they also help with ground rent and service charges?

Also, if I at some point got an inheritance, could I buy more shares in the home without UC considering me as intentionally depriving myself of assets?

Anything else I should be considering? 

There is no help with ground rent in UC,
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/376/schedule/1/paragraph/3

3.  The following are excluded from being “rent payments”—

(a)payments of ground rent;
(b)payments in respect of a tent or the site on which a tent stands;
(c)payments in respect of approved premises;
(d)payments in respect of a care home;