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Original poster

House deposit saved up while cheating benefits

247 replies

PaulinesPenStash · 11/07/2019 14:00

Firstly I want to say I am as left wing as they come, a card carrying member of the Labour Party, and i am in full favour of benefits for everyone that needs them.

But this is an absolute piss take ...🤦🏻‍♀️ I have just found out that someone I am close to, her partner (and father of her children) has been claiming to live at his mums for about 5 years. he's been working the whole time while living with her rent free and living off her income, and a bit of his. They've saved up enough for a house deposit as he's saved most of his earnings and they've just had an offer accepted on a house

I don't want to go in to how I know in case it's in any way outing, because let me be clear I would not want to grass the person up despite how disgusting i find it

I am just very shocked and really want to tell someone but I can't so I'm posting it on here to kind of get it off my chest

The deposit amount is £50,000 btw 🤦🏻‍♀️

(The one positive is it will free up a council house !)

OP posts:
Pollywollydolly · 11/07/2019 14:48

This is THEFT pure and simple. You should report it.

MyOpinionIsValid · 11/07/2019 14:49

Yes, but has the mortgage been approved yet? Their bank statements will be checked and banks do look for this type of fraud.

claiming to live at his mums for about 5 years. he's been working the whole time while living with her rent free and living off her income, and a bit of his

The bank statements will go to Mums house and mums never charge proper rent. This isn't what 'banks look out for' . The banks are not defacto investigators for the DWP.

glittertissues · 11/07/2019 14:49

I’m despairing at some of the replies here and how some people seem to think this is ok.

LauderSyme · 11/07/2019 14:49

For the confused, OP's friend has been living with her partner (who works full time) for at least the last 5 years. But she has been claiming benefits as a single mum, meaning she would have got all of her rent paid, most of her council tax, income support (£73 per week) and a fair amount of tax credits (probably £160 ish per week). If she had declared that she lived with a partner her awards would have been calculated according to his income and she would have got much less.

EveryFlightBeginsWithAFall · 11/07/2019 14:49

My ex claimed to live with his mum while actually living with his gf, son and her children. Someone reported it but they couldn’t prove it.

hazell42 · 11/07/2019 14:51

Benefit fraud is not huge and the bill is much less than the savings made by not paying benefits to people who are entitled to them.
And that's without even talking about people who evade their taxes

diddl · 11/07/2019 14:52

I think that you should report them.

Doesn't it just make you furious that other people are facing cuts and these people are knowingly taking what they're not entitled to?

helenandbackagain · 11/07/2019 14:53

I cycled everywhere, lived in a room in a shared house, and tea bags were on the "luxury" list for 3 years. I managed to save a deposit without thieving from taxpayers. Or rather...from the disabled...elderly...NHS...schoolchildren ...etc

Fuckers.

Report them.

WalksWithDinosaurs · 11/07/2019 14:53

how the hell did they get s much benefits! mum is disabled, receives benefits (very hard fought for) and even with my income added onto that, its an endless slog of hand to mouth!! Saving up for a house deposit on the meagre income of benefits is somewhere in the land of plying pigs and unicorns!!!

snowone · 11/07/2019 14:54

It's an absolute piss take and is absolutely disgraceful! I personally would report them, why should they bleed the system dry whilst others are struggling to make ends meet?? Angry

Indigo2019 · 11/07/2019 14:55

Out of interest, how would universal credit prevent someone doing this?

ScottishMummy12 · 11/07/2019 14:58

My sisters neighbour did this. She was living in a council house while her partner lived with her and saved up for a deposit. Then once he bought the house he rented it to her and she claimed housing benefit. So effectively the government were paying the mortgage. Someone did report them and they had to pay the money back.

TheCraftyLass · 11/07/2019 15:03

I read it as couple living together for those 5 years, but she has been claiming benefits as a single parent and he had supposedly been living at his mum's during this time.
He has been working, but as she has been claiming housing benefit to cover rent he hasn't had to pay this. They have for the most part been living off her benefits and so most of his income (wages) have been saved towards the deposit.

As so many people had said that they didn't understand what possible fraud could have taken place, I went back and reread the original post; and can see how some may have misread it as he WAS staying at mums, paying mum no rent contribution, living off mum's income, and saving - if this was the case and mum was 'helping out' in this way in order to enable the saving for a deposit for them to subsequently purchase house for the couple to then move in together then fair enough.
Equally, if even though he was working but earning at a rate which entitled them to claim some benefits AND they were claiming together - fair enough.

The possible fraud would be if my original understanding of the scenario was the case. In which case, if the op believes the information is correct, she should report them.
I don't earn much but I work hard for my money, I pay my taxes, I think those who need assistance should get benefits, and I happily donate to charity or help out those who need it in any way I can
BUT this is wrong. They haven't 'saved' £50k for their deposit - they stole it
Benefit fraud is theft.

(£10k a year would go a long way for those who actually we're entitled to it!)

wellbuggerme · 11/07/2019 15:03

I`d report them. You can do it annominously

TheCraftyLass · 11/07/2019 15:07

@stucknoue

Are the kids his? If not perhaps the relationship wasn't as permanent as you thought, legally you can have your boyfriend stay over as long as they maintain another home and it's not every night

OP states he is the father of 3 kids

LauderSyme · 11/07/2019 15:11

I can't understand why you would not report her. Is your decision to turn a blind eye a personal or a political one OP?

@Purpletigers Funnily enough an awful lot of money is lost to the taxpayer each year from private landlords failing to declare rental income and pay appropriate tax on it. Despite many of those same landlords receiving exorbitant Housing Benefit payments funded by the taxpayer.

Lots of people are on the fiddle but poorer people get way more vilified for doing it. That doesn't mean I condone them, or anyone else.

user1471449295 · 11/07/2019 15:12

This is disgusting. Yabu not to report.

LauderSyme · 11/07/2019 15:16

Saving up for a house deposit on the meagre income of benefits is somewhere in the land of plying pigs and unicorns!!!

You misunderstand. They used the income she was claiming from benefits to live on, and saved up all of her partners income from working. Her benefits were subsidising 100% of his living costs so he didn't have to fork out a penny from his own pocket. Hence saved £60k in 5 years.

kiki22 · 11/07/2019 15:16

My friends brother and sister in law done this bought a 3 bed detached with a massive garden gutted it and redone the whole thing to make an extension. She swans around showing off about her beautiful house and all the money they put it to it.

So fucking annoying. In there case the mortgage went solely in his name and looked as if he had saved due to living at home.

Rachelover40 · 11/07/2019 15:20

You're not unreasonable to feel shocked by the cheek of this but I'm glad you wouldn't grass them up, neither would I. In a crafty way they've been quite enterprising, managed to save a deposit for a house so they won't need social housing any more and that's a positive outcome.

What they did, though dishonest, doesn't impact my life (or yours), nobody died so nothing to be irate about.

Good luck to them.

Isatis · 11/07/2019 15:21

Including housing benefit, tax credits and income support that's about £1000 a month, and that's a conservative estimate based on what I got as a single mum a few years ago with just the 2 dc, this couple have 3.
£1000 a month for 5 years is more like 60k

But that assumes they don't actually need any of that for food, clothes, outings, presents, etc. Didn't they?

CitadelsofScience · 11/07/2019 15:26

glittertissues why are you despairing at the replies?

The Op hasn't told us how she knows this, does she even have evidence? Without it it's just supposition.

mydogisthebest · 11/07/2019 15:30

I can't believe a poster says "good luck to them". For cheating the system and buying a house they don't deserve?

I know someone who honestly can only work part time because she has such ill health and yet gets almost nothing because the so called medical experts say she is fit to work (this is apparently because she managed to make it to her appointment on time and was clean and tidy!). Her parents are paying the rent on her 1 bed place because she can't afford it.

I would definitely report them. I wouldn't even think twice about it. People like that make me sick. Good job we don't all decide to cheat the benefit system isn't it?

SuperSara · 11/07/2019 15:36

@Rachelover40

You're not unreasonable to feel shocked by the cheek of this but I'm glad you wouldn't grass them up, neither would I. In a crafty way they've been quite enterprising, managed to save a deposit for a house so they won't need social housing any more and that's a positive outcome.

What they did, though dishonest, doesn't impact my life (or yours), nobody died so nothing to be irate about.

Good luck to them.

Fucking hell.

I hope you're just a GF and don't really think that.

Fucking disgusting attitude.

And yes, it affects everyone. It's not 'free' money that just appears from nowhere!

charlestonchaplin · 11/07/2019 15:38

You assume they’re going to give up the council house. They may not.

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