Separate, UC and joint mortage

[idontknowwhattodo1990]

Hi,

I am separating from DH, not sure for how long or if it will be the end of us. We have a joint mortgage. I am leaving the house and renting. We have 1 DC and I have him more nights than DH.

We have a fair bit of equity on the house: a lot more than £16k each.

Until we know our future together will my equity in the house count against me after six months when it comes to claiming UC?

I can't seem to find a definiteive answer online and AI is giving me mixed messages too.

EDIT: Sorry, the post title should be: Separation, UC and joint mortage

Equity isn’t cash
disregarded in UC calculations

Not true.

It is disregarded for 6 months after separation, until house sells, can be disregarded longer if you can prove that the house is up for sale/going through etc.

After that it is counted and will impact UC entitlement.

Reread the op

The op is asking about equity in the property before selling

You could have 99% equity in a property, and it would not impact UC entitlement.

It is income driven.

The actual selling is irrelevant.

OP has equity in this house. If she wants to move out of that, into rented, and wants UC to fund that choice then UC will only allow that for up to 6 months before they expect the house to be sold so OP can use the equity to support herself. If they don’t want to sell the house then that’s fine, but that is also a choice and not one that UC will fund beyond that 6 months.

Jesus don’t comment on things you know absolutely fuck all about.

"H2114 Where a person has ceased to occupy premises as their home following estrangement from their
former partner, those premises can be disregarded from the calculation of that person’s capital where

1. the person has ceased to occupy those premises within the past 6 months or
2. the person’s former partner is a lone parent and occupies the premises as their home1

. Note: The disregard in 2 applies for as long as the conditions are satisfed and is not restricted to 6 months.

H2115 Where a person is trying to dispose of premises, they can be disregarded from the calculation of
that person’s capital where they are taking reasonable steps to dispose of the premises and those steps
have been commenced within the last 6 months1
.
1 UC Regs, Sch 10, para 6
Is it reasonable to disregard for longer
H2116 The DM may decide to disregard the premises for a longer period where for example the person has done all they can to sell the premises and the asking price is no more than the premises are worth."

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6894a1a7a6eb81a3f9b2e227/adm-chaper-h2-capital-disregards.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjy9pSt7KiQAxXYUUEAHfREEcwQFnoECCkQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1ZqWq19j8eZAljc9gf2ouZ

You'll have to forgive formatting. It's a PDF and the copying goes a bit funny from a phone.

Thanks everyone and thanks @Lougle . Sorry stressed and confused so apologies if I'm being thick…

the person’s former partner is a lone parent and occupies the premises as their home

DH is staying in the house. What does the term “lone parent” mean in this context? Is this referring to parental responsbilities?

I think it means the person who has the children living with them. So if you're going to have your DC more than him, for the equity to be indefinitely disregarded, it would have to be you that stays in the property.

If you have dc more nights, why are you moving out? How old is dc, do you work full time?

Another note. If you are nominated as the main carer, you will have work related requirements based on the age of your child. The parent who is not nominated as the main carer will be expected to have or look for full time work.

I work part-time, DC 10. DH self-employed, full-time.

DH moved out for a period and paid for the mortgage in that time to give me some space but can't afford to pay rent and mortgage together and was getting into debt so has moved back in so now I'm moving out.

It's an ever-evolving situtation, I just wanted to know where I stood.

Thanks everyone who has helped.

Is that still relevant if the child is at school? We do more of a 50/50 split during school hols.

It’s overall, so across the year similar to CMS calculations, overnights.

Depending on the age of children & your current hours you’d potentially be expected to work/earn more to be eligible for UC.

If your child is 10, now is the time to be looking to return to work full time, especially if your separating

I was in this exact position. I claimed whilst renting and waiting for the house to sell (ex bf stayed in the house) it ended up been around 3 months of claiming and then I cancelled my claim when I got my share of the equity. Basically you have to sell the house, it will be better in the long run, it’s a clean break. Word of warning though, when you look at houses to rent be prepared for rejection. I had to get a second job to move out, estate agents didn’t want to know about UC. They wouldn’t even accept 6 months rent upfront.

Thanks everyone. I expected that re working full time.

And it looks like since I am leaving (I couldn't get a mortgage anyway) then I get six months grace where I can claim UC to sort things out.

Until we know our future together

Is a future together even remotely on the cards? If not, go for a clean break rather than is it / isn’t it

@Andprettygood Likely not but I wanted to know where I stood with UC. From the sounds of it max. 6 months as if he buys me out I will have way more than £16k (prob about £80k). I do not earn enough to get a mortgage currently (no reuglar emplyment history, low wage) so I guess I need to either earn more and use that as a deposit else it will get burned up in cost of living until I then qualify for UC when it goes below 16k.

Such is life…

What’s it like currently toy living together? Do you have a thought of when you’ll move out?

It would be better if you stayed in the house, is that impossible? Then it wouldn't matter how much equity you had or for how long.

He paid for me to stay here six months and said that's his limit as he Was paying for a mortgage, an apartment and his bills plus half of mine and it was putting him in debt.

If I stayed and he left, is there no UC difference between renting and having a mortgage? Just seems too good to be true that.

I'll have a think but it's unlikely I can stay and I want to separate, at least for the foreseeable.

You wouldn’t get the housing element if uc for a mortgaged home, where’s as would if renting

Have you looked at shared ownership? If you found somewhere where the purchase portion is covered by your equity I believe UC would pay towards the rent and service portion.