is this dodgy?

[Pungifries]

Been advised to move this thread over from AIBU for some Mumsnet masterminds to make sense of!

First time poster but long time lurker

Please could some of you clever mumsneters help make sense of this situation

2 years ago FIL sadly died. Due to the way the house was owned, this passed to MIL despite them being divorced for 20 years and her never having contributed to the mortgage (they basically bought it and divorced, he continued paying the mortgage). It was expected that the house would have been left in entirety to DH, BIL and SIL but we weren’t particularly shocked or upset by how it transpired.
MIL did not want the house however as she has a lovey council house on the outskirts of London. She is nearly retirement age and therefore wants her rent paid for this and to stay there. She also has circa £50k debt that she pays at £1 a month through debt management. She did not want to have to repay this due to receiving the house.
Anyway, she decided to rent this property out for approx £1k/month. She has not declared it to debt management company.
As is quite typical of this family, 18 months ago a big argument occurred and DH and myself are now the proverbial black sheep with MIL, BIL and SIL not speaking to us. I’m fairly happy with this situation as they have repeatedly hurt DH and are generally quite a nasty and feuding family, I think it’s better for our mental health that we stay away from them.
Anyway, I received a phone call from the long term partner of SIL as there have been more family rows (surprise surprise). In anger towards BIL, he has let slip that the house has been transferred over to BIL and SIL in trust so that MIL does not have to pay debt.
He tells me that DH, BIL and SIL are beneficiaries of the property when MIL dies but she will continue drawing the rent until then. The house is also up for sale. He says that if it sells, BIL and SIL will reinvest as they see fit.
BIL and SIL had originally intended to borrow £25k each from the property but were unable as they declared there was 3rd party interest in the property (DH) and so the mortgage company would not lend against it.
Does this sound dodgy to you? MIL and I fact whole family except DH have a long history (and a criminal conviction) of benefit fraud and general financial dodginess like illegal subletting.
Can you just give away property to avoid paying debt?
Can you make someone a beneficiary of a trust without informing them?
Can you still claim rent if you have transferred the deeds over to someone else?
Can trustees just sell the property without telling DH

It’s dodgy as fuck which is why they’ve not told him. You can google how to register an interest on a property.

You mother in law could be in a lot of trouble - has she declared the rent to housing benefit, has she stopped her housing benefit claim ? if not then this is benefit fraud and you can't just dispose of an asset like that - it would breach the deprivation of capital rules.

Thanks guys.
It feels really dodgy to me as well. I’ll have a look into registering an interest in the property and about her HB xx

I don’t understand how your DH has anything to do with it and why they declared him as a third party interest. The house was never left to him. It was left to his mother who has put it in trust for two of her children. It doesn’t concern your DH at all and tbh, he is far better not being involved because they are being shady fuckers with this manoeuvre to avoid paying debts and losing housing benefit.

Oh sorry I see that she has named DH as a beneficiary. I would get that changed TBH. He’s never going to get any money from it but it opens him up to being party to their fraud when discovered.

She may also be in trouble for having a council tenancy when she owns another property.

She can rent a council property as she had that before she inherited the property. However the housing benefit rules ask if you own a property so she needs to declare to them.

If the house passed to Mil but is in trust for all 3 kids then they didn't actually do wrong declaring op husband interest. And as it stopped them getting a mortgage, it may have been mil or fil that registered this interest. I can't see why the brother and sister would have done that as it stops them making money.

The dmp was already set up before so mil now having more income from rent does not have to be declared unless they ask.

So it's back to housing benefit fraud in her current property which she has overcome by assigning the property to her children.

Also no deprivation of assets until and if she needs social care or a care home to be paid for.

It sounds dodgy but unpicking it all leaves mil committing benefit fraud for the period she inherited until the assignment if the property.

Thanks everyone. It’s all very complex but your help has been great

Why doesn’t she just sell the house and pay the debt?

The dmp was already set up before so mil now having more income from rent does not have to be declared unless they ask.
Normally they have an annual "confirmation of circumstances" form
which she will have had to have lied on

How on earth has she managed to get a dmp for a £1 a month? Why haven’t her creditors made her bankrupt?

Zoflora
THere is no point bankrupting people who have nothing
a low level DMP (one of my clients had £5 a week for 25 years) means that they keep tabs on you in case of a windfall
but in this case the person has lied on the DMP renewals