Ex Partner Wants to Sell House

booboo85

Please correct me if i am wrong, however I understand that if I sell the house and I get 30k from the house, i will lose my benefit entitlement...

However, I will have to use this 30k to pay for the increase in rent payments (especially as I lose the benefits), however, when that 30k is down to £16k, I believe I should be able to claim benefits again?

Emmia

booboo85 said:

Please correct me if i am wrong, however I understand that if I sell the house and I get 30k from the house, i will lose my benefit entitlement...

However, I will have to use this 30k to pay for the increase in rent payments (especially as I lose the benefits), however, when that 30k is down to £16k, I believe I should be able to claim benefits again?

In your position I'd be seriously looking at the Shared Ownership route that Ian1246 suggested - investing your £30k there would give you a secure property, rather than needing to burn through money to get benefits, and then being at the mercy of landlords.

Spikeygran

I think you definitely need to be taking some legal advice.  Meanwhile just continue with the maintenance claim.  They are his children he should have been paying his half for them regularly, regardless of the situation with the house.  Work out how much he owes and dates from when he should have started paying.

Start taking notes and back it with bank statements. Dates and proof of when you started paying the mortgage solely, house insurance payments and any house repairs etc you've paid out since he left.   Was he paying his share before he left? Keep any correspondence from him to show to legal.

elsien

booboo85 said:

Please correct me if i am wrong, however I understand that if I sell the house and I get 30k from the house, i will lose my benefit entitlement...

However, I will have to use this 30k to pay for the increase in rent payments (especially as I lose the benefits), however, when that 30k is down to £16k, I believe I should be able to claim benefits again?

That will apply if you are renting. 

if you are planning to buy another house and actively looking, for example shared ownership, then you have a six month disregard on the house sale money being counted by savings. 

sgthammer

elsien said:

if you are planning to buy another house and actively looking, for example shared ownership, then you have a six month disregard on the house sale money being counted by savings. 

How do you prove you're actively looking to buy?

(I'm in a very different situation, but this is an intriguing possibility I hadn't considered.)

Brie

sgthammer said:

elsien said:

if you are planning to buy another house and actively looking, for example shared ownership, then you have a six month disregard on the house sale money being counted by savings. 

How do you prove you're actively looking to buy?

(I'm in a very different situation, but this is an intriguing possibility I hadn't considered.)

I'm guessing but I would suppose it's similar to proving you are looking for work when you're on JSA or similar.  So document what you're looking at, any viewings, texts/emails to substantiate this including mortgage applications.  

saajan_12

What is the value of the house? If the mortgage portion is large, then how are you paying for that? If you can afford mortgage payments which include a capital repayment portion then are you sure you can't afford the rent on a comparable property? Yes benefits may reduce but then you have larger savings which you can use, and if/when that drops, then you can go back to the benefits. 
If the mortgage portion is small, then you may be able to buy a slightly smaller perhaps on a shared ownership basis.. if its litterally mortgage or unowned portion at a small multiple of earnings. 

That would solve the housing children aspect. Ultimately you don't have a right to live in an owned property and for ex to support that by being tied into a mortgage for the forseeable (presumably theres no near term expectation things would change). 
The child support is really separate. If ex wants to make you an offer linking the house and child support then you can choose to accept or decline, but if you decline then the default position is they are separate. 

booboo85 said:

- I know he could take me to court, but would be have to pay the fees, as i cannot afford them?

- If we went to court, would they look in my favour due to the ages of my children?

?

I really wouldn't suggest letting it get to court for a forced sale.. try multiplying the current stress x10 and the fees can become huge relative to the size of your equity, and there's no telling who they'll decide has been more unreasoanble or should face the costs.. liability isn't necessarily on affordability upfront, it may come out of the equity, in which case why not just use your equity to pay rent and have more peace. 

Voyager2002

sgthammer said:

elsien said:

if you are planning to buy another house and actively looking, for example shared ownership, then you have a six month disregard on the house sale money being counted by savings. 

How do you prove you're actively looking to buy?

(I'm in a very different situation, but this is an intriguing possibility I hadn't considered.)

I experienced this many years ago. Essentially, I just explained what I was doing and why, and signed a declaration that I was telling the truth. I was also asked which estate agents I was doing, maybe a few other routine questions that I could easily answer.