Advice on inheritance affecting benefits

[luisa778]

Hi I know that receiving inheritance money affects benefits but does inheriting a house affect benefits also? I am currently in a flat with my child and receiving housing benefit and esa, would I be forced to sell my mother's home and live off that money if I inherited it? Thank you for any help and no snide comments please, I'm only looking for some advice.

I think it would be ok for you live in your mother's house and continue to collect benefits. You wouldn't be eligible for housing benefit any more because you're not paying rent, but homeowners are entitled to benefits.

Agree it would be much better to live there unless it's worth a fortune and you can start something with that money?

If it's 'only' worth 80k you would be spending it on daily living for 2/3 years until you fall below the threshold again.

And actually worse than that they'd expect you to account for every penny so they couldn't make a case against you for spending it deliberately quickly on 'frivolous' items (totally arbitrarily decided by them) like holidays/cars/clothing worth more than 5p

I'm fairly sure that you could sell the house and buy another as well - assuming your mother's house was unsuitable in some way - wrong location or something.
As long as there wasn't a gap between selling one house and buying another to live in and the two houses were similar in price that is.
What wouldn't be allowed would be for you to rent out you mother's house, as that would count as income.
Check with the CAB

Thanks for the replies, would i be allowed to stay in my flat and leave my mother's house sitting empty until I decided what to do? I wouldn't want to move into it as it is in a different area to my child's school.

You'd be entitled to some benefits depending what they are.

However, the house is an asset so would be taken into account when calculating your entitlement.

It's a change of circumstances, so would need to be declared.

Do a benefits calculation using entitledto or similar, or visit CAB for a check.

If you inherit a house you would no longer need benefits. If you don't want to move into the house you could sell it and live off that money

You would have report change of circumstance anyway so you need talk then when it is legally yours. They should be breathing space as you aren’t better off until you sell.

As other have said you would be expected to live on it once you have capital unless you are using it to buy home.

I would actually write or call them and ask what would happen once you inherit as there is most likely some time allowed before it is taken into account as even if you were selling it, you would not get the capital for several months. Also ask what the situation is if you were to use the money to actually buy your own home.

Wishfornow if it was a choice between selling it and moving in I would definitely move in then.

You might have some time to think about it as doesn’t probate take a while So you may not officially own the house until that was completed. Is it in a good area? Nothing wrong with changing schools for your DC. It will give you all a secure future.

I think there maybe something about 6 months to give you time to decide. Not sure though. Hopefully someone else will know!

Don't forget that if you leave it empty you will have to pay council tax on it at some point - used to be 12 months after death of occupant but I've a feeling that may have changed/shortened. Unless there was any cash inheritance how will to afford that?

Thanks for the replies, would i be allowed to stay in my flat and leave my mother's house sitting empty until I decided what to do?

You do have some time to think about it but it's not very long .. maybe 6 months?

You need to be wary of deliberately reducing your capital in order to remain entitled to benefits.

I would get down to Citizens Advice and get some proper advice. They will be able to look at recent case law.

My son inherited some money and he has a lifelimiting illness so lives off of benefits. We put the money in a trust fund - the money didn't go through his hands at all. So you might be able to sell the house, get a solicitor to deal with all of the finances & get them to open a trust fund so that the money doesn't touch your hands so to speak.
You have 2 people who look aftet the fund which can be anyone you trust or even a solicitor. We can access the trust for my son for anything- in his case treatment etc. But in effect you could put it away until you decide what yo do with it. In your case the only problem being that the house will accumulate money with inflation & if its inan account it's not likely to make vety much!
If I were in your shoes I'd get some proper advice - pay to see a solicitor or financial adviser. Its an investment.
Or you could try the site legalbeagles - there's some good advice on there.
If you want the details of the trust fund group pm me