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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To use benefits to put down a deposit for a house

435 replies

Bringinglightandpeace · 28/01/2022 14:08

Hello all,

This thread is not about me.

I have a friend who is feeling incredibly guilty. This is how it goes... so she applied for benefits, she has children and a husband,,, well technically partner but anyway she received a huge backlog of benefits. She confided in me that she would like to use the money to to put down a deposit for a help to buy scheme or shared ownership. I told her "well you have to use every opportunity that you can get" but in my conscience, I was thinking, is this right? I am on benefits myself so not judging at all. She feels a bit down about it as it's not her hard on money that she used to put a deposit down..but then again some parents give their children money for a deposit... so I guess it's similar.

However, I feel a bit of itch and thought to myself that I don't think what she is doing is right. But then again, I don't want to come across as jealous. What do you all think?

OP posts:
StoneofDestiny · 28/01/2022 15:35

Really fucks me off that I spent years saving to buy a house and criminals are defrauding the benefits system like this to buy a house! Absolutely disgusting. I hope she gets caught

Yep - stealing our taxes meant for our public services makes my furious. Next time anybody supports benefit fraud think about people waiting for hours on an emergency ambulance, waiting on hospital waiting lists for urgent surgery, when you can't get an NHS dentist, you can't get a school place for your child, when you can't get a police call out to neighbourhood problems etc etc

Namechangehereandnow · 28/01/2022 15:36

She’s committed benefit fraud in not declaring her partner living at her house - therefore her benefit would be taken away or seriously reduced, therefore her back payment would have to be repaid back to the Government.
She now gets PIP - which could be taken away or reduced (depending on her actual condition) if she goes to work.
The Help to Buy scheme doesn’t just let you use a chunk of money for a deposit in the blink of an eye … you have to save it over time - you don’t just open an account, put in a huge chunk and bobs your uncle.
Mortgage companies probably won’t touch her partner given his credit history.

There’s literally flaws and fraud all over your ‘friend’.

I’d either shop her for benefit fraud, or let her crack on and hope it all comes out in the wash further down the line.

She’s despicable.

UndertheCedartree · 28/01/2022 15:36

Hang on....the benefit is PIP? So she is entitled to it and can spend the money how she likes.

Namechangehereandnow · 28/01/2022 15:37

under .. that’s not the benefit in question.

2bazookas · 28/01/2022 15:37

.but then again some parents give their children money for a deposit... so I guess it's similar.

Not in the slightest

It would only be similar the parents were fraudsters / bank robbers who stole other peoples money and gave it to their children as a deposit.

UndertheCedartree · 28/01/2022 15:37

PIP is not affected by partners or work.

Georgeskitchen · 28/01/2022 15:37

So she is claiming fraudulently then, which you did not mention in your initial post. In that case then yanbu in thinking its wrong. Why should the hard pressed taxpayers fund her homeownership?

UndertheCedartree · 28/01/2022 15:38

@Namechangehereandnow

under .. that’s not the benefit in question.
Oh...sorry got confused!
Keepingthingsinteresting · 28/01/2022 15:38

It’s fraud, I think you should report her

Lovemusic33 · 28/01/2022 15:38

This story doesn’t even sound true 🤔

She got a back log of benefits which she has just claimed, what benefits? Surely they don’t back date so far that you would receive enough for a house deposit? A house deposit where I live with be around £20,000 and no benefits are going to amount to even near that amount. Also if you have over £5000 in the bank your benefits are reduced and I think after £8000 you are not entitled to claim? (I maybe wrong). It sounds like your friend (or you) has lied about her partner not living with her, lied about possible savings she has and has committed fraud?

Franklin12 · 28/01/2022 15:38

A better life! On someone else’s money because she has LIED!

Kebabandchipsplease · 28/01/2022 15:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

RantyAunty · 28/01/2022 15:40

Doesn't their religion frown upon this?

Whammyyammy · 28/01/2022 15:40

What a really good original innovative idea, around be on the Martin Lewis show.

Martins new top tips;

  1. Fraudulently claim benefits towards house deposit
  2. Avoid wasting money on rent whilst saving, to speed up the process, by getting housing benefits fraudulently
  3. Use your partners wages to clear debt, whilst the taxpayer's pay your way
Original poster
Bringinglightandpeace · 28/01/2022 15:40

@Lovemusic33

This story doesn’t even sound true 🤔

She got a back log of benefits which she has just claimed, what benefits? Surely they don’t back date so far that you would receive enough for a house deposit? A house deposit where I live with be around £20,000 and no benefits are going to amount to even near that amount. Also if you have over £5000 in the bank your benefits are reduced and I think after £8000 you are not entitled to claim? (I maybe wrong). It sounds like your friend (or you) has lied about her partner not living with her, lied about possible savings she has and has committed fraud?

She said she only needed £10,000 for a a shared ownership scheme... she had PIP but I think her income support was backdated significantly from her PIP claim...I think it was income support anyway,
OP posts:
Whammyyammy · 28/01/2022 15:41

@Kebabandchipsplease

I work in Benefit Fraud, and with a claim that is large enough to be a deposit on a house, then she is looking at repaying all that back, then a civil penalty, prosecution which could end up as a custodial sentence.

The claimant can try and justify it all they want, but the black and white of it is it's a fraudulent claim and she WILL get caught, maybe not in the next week or 2, might not even be in the next year, but it WILL happen

🙏
Quackpot · 28/01/2022 15:41

Reported this thread. Benefit fraud isn't cool. If your friend was my friend I'd have grassed her in and told her about it.

Franklin12 · 28/01/2022 15:42

How much was the backdated amount? The fact that she clearly didn’t need it and is now planning to use it as a deposit is the most shocking thing. What was she living on before? Unless her OH was supporting her.

Original poster
Bringinglightandpeace · 28/01/2022 15:42

@Kebabandchipsplease

I work in Benefit Fraud, and with a claim that is large enough to be a deposit on a house, then she is looking at repaying all that back, then a civil penalty, prosecution which could end up as a custodial sentence.

The claimant can try and justify it all they want, but the black and white of it is it's a fraudulent claim and she WILL get caught, maybe not in the next week or 2, might not even be in the next year, but it WILL happen

Ohno!!! I don't want this to happen to her. I'm going to tell her to either kick the partner out or tell benefits that she now has her partner living with her. The issue is that I didn't want to come across jealous. I was a bit miffed yes. But you get the idea.
OP posts:
Dishwashersaurous · 28/01/2022 15:42

And if she ended up in prison, which is a very real possibility, then the consequences for her children......

RockAndHardPlace1 · 28/01/2022 15:42

Sorry but you need to report her.

This is why benefit claimants have such a bad name because of people like her. AngrySad

Mortgage people won't give them a mortgage with shit credit anyway, it takes years for it to recover from debt.

Kebabandchipsplease · 28/01/2022 15:42

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Dishwashersaurous · 28/01/2022 15:42

Why would you come across as jealous of someone committing a crime

Original poster
Bringinglightandpeace · 28/01/2022 15:42

@Quackpot

Reported this thread. Benefit fraud isn't cool. If your friend was my friend I'd have grassed her in and told her about it.
Why did you report the thread Hmm. I knew I should not have said anything.
OP posts:
bjjgirl · 28/01/2022 15:42

Personally I think it's a really sensible and good thing to use her money for