Sad for my friends £125k lottery win.

[Sogfree]

£125k win on the postcode lottery.

Single mum to 3 children (all primary age). Works as a TA, so receiving benefits to top up her income.

She would like to use her winnings for a deposit on a house. But due to the benefits rules not being allowed to pay a mortgage, she can't buy a property.

So she's going to spaff the entire lot as quick as she can, and the government will continue to pay rent to a multi property owner and make them richer.

The only asset she'll get to keep is a newer car - not anything fancy as she knows she won't be able to afford the insurance/fuel once the winnings run out.

Her one chance of breaking free of a life on benefits and she's got to throw it away. It feels wrong.

She can have a mortgage, benefits just won’t pay her mortgage like they do her rent so it might feel unaffordable for her. But she isn’t prevented from
owning property or having a mortgage, it’s still totally her choice.

Yes the debts must be provable such as credit cards, loans, car finance, overdue rent or council tax or money owed to courts. They cannot be made up debts to relatives for which no paperwork or bank record exists. Paying off debts which already exist is regarded as a prudent means of spending the money. You are also allowed to buy a reasonably priced family car.

HRTFT but please warn her against spending it quickly. They will assess that the £125,000 should last X amount of time and block access to benefits for that term. If she spends it all in six months she might have years to live on just her salary.

Yes please warn her against splurging the money as she could come to regret it.

The guy in Motherwell has been banned from benefits except Pip since 2017 and he blew 80k

This can’t be serious.. she has a chance to better herself property wise, but is choosing to be very stupid instead, does she want to gift it to me instead?

Ah, now I assumed it was yet another goady disguised-benefits-bashing thread designed to get everyone frothing.

Either way, seems to have worked….

Where in the country does she live? I can't believe it's impossible for to find a good use for the money rather than waste it.
With a 100k deposit couldn't she get a smallish mortgage that she can afford from her salary without housing benefit and then use her universal credit for living costs?
People with mortgages can still get UC you just don't get the housing benefit aspect but you might also get support with mortgage interest..Has she taken any proper advice?

She needs to get proper financial advice before she does anything rash.

Is this rage bait? If she gets rid of the money quickly it will look like deprivation of assets. So why doesn't she just use the deposit for a house or buy a chunk towards a house and a car (which is allowed) rather than trying to get rid of the money to continue to get benefits.

Its just ragebait.

If they think she's bought a house to stay on benefits it could count as deprivation of capital

She’d receive significantly less benefits if she bought a house, and it’s a very valid use of money. So incredibly unlikely they would see it as deprivation of capital.

This is her escape to better herself? Retrain earn more money and keep enough for a house deposit for when she is on a higher salary. Surely being on benefits forever isn’t the answer. Plus when her children are out of education the benefits will reduce significantly and then what will she do!

They'll look at it on a case by case basis I'm pretty sure. The issue is she doesn't want to pay a mortgage because the dwp don't pay them.

The issue seems to be that the OPs friend doesn't want to pay rent or pay a mortgage. She wants the same lifestyle she has at the moment to continue

Not all people who live in council houses are poor..

I know that’s her issue. But it doesn’t mean they’d see buying a house as deprivation of assets, it’s just not going to happen, it isn’t a deprivation of assets.

You can still buy a house outrighr "oop norf" for that sort of money !

She was poor. She isn’t now. Didn’t want to move. I would have. Up to her really.

There are some dwp staff who help out on the benefit boards on reddit. She would get advice there.

@KitsyWitsy she may have used some of her windfall to buy her council house and to put some away for a rainy day, she may have given some of it to charity, made sure friends and relatives are okay

Not everyone who lives in a council house is on benefits

You can buy a house on universal credit with inheritance as long as its your main residence.

If she was already a mortgage payer who had fallen on hard times or low paid and was getting topped up by UC she could legitimately pay off a chunk of her mortgage because a mortgage is a debt. So why the rage because she is a tenant?

you are so right, never heard of this area and i can see some 2 beds for 140k, it does look like a rubbish area though