Benefits if being gifted a property??

[ProseccoStorm]

We have a relative who is on benefits as they are autistic and unable to hold a full time job.

They are living in a council property but hate it, and for various reasons it is making their mental health worse. They desperately want to move closer to where they have family.

Another family member could potentially buy them a property in their ideal location, but we don't know if this would impact their benefits. We can't afford to cover their living costs, and they aren't able to work. They could own the property (it would be gifted to them) or they could pay rent, whichever worked best.

Does anyone have any experience of this? I'm struggling to find accurate information on if they'd still be able to claim benefits in this situation.

@kitcat15 why should they? Because why should you be paying taxes to pay for benefits for someone sitting on £10 million pounds? Because benefits are supposed to be something a just society pays out to ensure no one is left in poverty. Because we as a society should contribute what we can to help those in need. Someone sitting on £10million pounds shouldn't be taking from you

I guess she wont be able to reclaim ESA though , it will be Universal credit so she can claim once savings is under 16k.

I'm not originally from the UK. I come from a country that does provide benefits for those in need. People with massive houses are not considered in need. The citizens would be outraged at funding someone who had so very much more than they did. It really has come as a surprise to me. In many countries, people are expected to pay their way unless they can't. They can't ring-fence part of their assets as not counting.

Asset rich, money poor.
You can't eat bricks.

Just in case you are genuine.
It costs significantly more in benefits if you make people homeless along with needing benefits Dumdum and as you've already been told pension is a benefit, one that you get by paying taxes. 🙄

I have autism and am unable to work. A family member bought me a house. I still claim ESA and PIP.
Its not a million pound house.
The person who bought it for me isn't crazy either @HollowTalk . They love me and want to leave me with security.

So downsize?
It’s these kind of rules that leave the poorest behind. If you can’t save to get on the property ladder as rent makes up a significant proportion of your income (and you’d been sensible and had saved money to try and get on the property ladder) but a person who lives in a fully owned home can get benefits it doesn’t make sense except to those who have money already.

I’m not counting pensioners in this as I don’t count the state pension as a benefit as you have to have 37 years (or thereabouts) of NI contributions to get the full state pension.

Yes or gold or paintings. There's a savings limit, but not other assets

Lots of people support family members with disabilities. My grandad paid his wheelchair bound sister a "salary" from his company her entire life.

This used to be the case but is not necessarily now.

It is up to the council to decide whether or not they will pay housing benefit if the property is owned by a relative.

What do you suggest? People's benefits based on house value? Where would it stop?
Would everything you own be taken into account before you can make a claim for benefits? So basically, before you could get ESA/UC, you would be expected to sell everything you own first.
Sounds great. Only get help when you are living off gruel and sleeping on bare floorboards.

Yeah, it might be different now, especially if the person buying the property is charging market rate and will evict if there is non-payment. I suppose it is hard to prove some of that.
I tried to claim the housing element of UC. Was told no, as I live in the house I shared with my ex.

"I’m not counting pensioners in this as I don’t count the state pension as a benefit as you have to have 37 years (or thereabouts) of NI contributions to get the full state pension."

Actually they're all called benefits, whether it's the state pension or other contributory benefits (eligibility based on NI record), or means-tested benefits... but I get the impression that you associate "benefits" with "scroungers", the means-tested ones are for the "undeserving poor", the ones who didn't "earn" them 🙄

Funnily enough, in my years of working in this field, I haven't come across anyone who claims UC or similar and lives in a million pound house they own outright 🙄

Completely wrong. Assets such as gold and paintings would be counted.

But why would you be homeless if you were sitting on a mansion. Downsize, free up a few hundred thousand and live in a decent house?

What you are saying makes sense but it is very difficult to decide who should down size and who shouldn't.

Where do you draw the line?

Should someone in a half a million pound house downsize and move to a cheaper area away from all their family and friends?

I just think it would be too complicated to draw up legislation which decided who should downsize and who shouldn't.

Also unless you are very disabled most benefits will not give you a decent lifestyle. Therefore most people would downsize in any case if they were living in a mansion so that they could spend their money have they wanted.

If they lived alone, their housing benefit would be capped at a 1 bed rate anyway. They would be expected to make up the shortfall themselves, hence the "bedroom tax".

What if the house is the right size that you need?
What if you get cancer after 20years of paying tax?
Move to a cheaper area away from family friends all potential carers? Get rid of a couple of your kids?
Cause extra financial hardship to someone who meets the already restrictive criteria?

If they own the mansion they wouldn't get housing benefit anyway.
No

I suggest getting legal advice from solicitors who specialise in the field . They usually deal with wills but would slowly be able to advise in this situation.
It might be that the property could be put into a specific disabled person's trust for example which might provide a home for life but safeguard against your relative being targeted by unscrupulous others in the future.

That too. The hypothetical lone disabled person living alone in a £10 million mansion is not likely to exist tbh .

State pension isn’t a benefit.

No, but those bricks could be sold to release cash, and fewer bricks bought to still live in

If a relative could buy a property it would best to give him “beneficial use” which means he does not own the property, I’m not sure about housing benefit but it would not affect his disability benefits.
There may also be some incentive for providing accommodation for a disabled relative

Yes, bricks can be sold, so can your car, your gaming PC, your flat screen TV, your clothing etc
Where does it end?