Universal Credit Question

[takemeonholiday]

Hi all. Just wondering if anyone can give me some advice about claiming UC. It's not for me it's for my Sister so I might not have all info!

Basically my sister is separating from her husband and they are selling the house, she then wants to move into rented with my nephew (5).

The question she cannot find the answer to is can she claim UC now before the house is sold? If she can then she can move out and rent somewhere now otherwise it's going to take months until the house is sold. She works part time at the moment and takes home £1100 per month.

Does anyone know? She has tried Citizens Advice but they were next to useless!!

Yes she can. The house will be disregarded until sold but then she will have to declare any capital from the sale which will be taken into account.

When the house is sold and money deposited into account - then it’ll be a change of circumstances and sis will have to tell IC straight away

Depending on how much she receives will effect whether she can still claim, under that amount and on a sliding scale her benefit will be altered

She can’t get rid of the money either, it would be seen as deprivation of assets

Thanks so much for the replies, that's brilliant news as it means her and my nephew can get out of the house much sooner. Once the house is sold she will just let them know about the change of circumstances and stop claiming.

It's so hard to get information from "official" people!!

She can, but take note of the fact that when the house sells she may have to pay it all back come April!

No she won't have to pay it back. Capital is only taken into account from the date she receives it.

UC only take into account income for that month. She won't have to pay it back.

If she had to pay it back then the money from the house would go pretty quick and then she would have to claim again!

I think there are special rules about money from the sale of a house you should have a look on gov.uk .