UC want all my money back…

[MapleHazelLatte]

I applied for UC when I separated from DC’s father 3 years ago. I have since been living with my parents and he stayed in the house we bought together. I’ve been asking him to take my name of the mortgage to give me my share but he just has been dragging his heels about it. I applied for UC when we split up.

i then got a notification to say I was having a review phone call. Apparently someone had accused me of still being with DC’s father. I had to send all my bank statements for the last 3 years and fill out forms regarding the house. Originally I vaguely remember they did say they would disregard the house for 6 months then I heard no more.

a couple of months later I was told I had been overpaid but it was only slightly and a manageable amount to pay back.

I’ve not got another letter saying I shouldn’t have got UC since 2022 and they want ALL the money back other than the first 6 months. It’s “disallowed” I’ve worked this out to be around £30k. I have no idea what I’m going to do. Anyone else been in this situation ??

Of course I did - and I came off benefits as soon as my flat was sold - what's your point? I already explained what happened to me earlier in the thread - people can be spot checked at any time - due to people making fraudulent claims during covid - lots of people are having reviews

But the point is she is able to live on that from DWP point of view she has no housing costs as she lives with parents not paying rent or council tax etc she’s already got about 27k from the DWP that she wasn’t entitled to (using OPs figures I know she is waiting exact DWP figures) she then is set to get capital from her house. The moral rights and wrongs I would not like to judge. Not sure if they can take from child benefit. That’s why CAB are better placed to advised on repaying benefit overpayments.

I have Been through this with the Dwp. I owned a buy to let property with over 400 grand in equity
I could not access the 400 grand in equity and none of the tenants were paying rent during Covid
And therefore it was all disregarded For universal credits payments purposes.
The key is to communicate with them if you talk to them and you explain the situation, a human being evaluate the situation using their brain.
What doesn’t happen Is that a woman with two children is expected to feed herself with £700.
The only reason she is in this situation is cause she hasn’t talked to them.

And to be crystal clear because I can’t edit the other post
The amount was disregarded for a lot longer than six months. It was nearly 3 years in total because I took steps to evict the Tenants and I took steps to recover the money.
And communicated improved all that to the universal credit department
And that’s all the original poster needs to do
Whether she’s still listening or not who knows

I agree there - but she's been told that she's no longer entitled - and she's going to have to fight it - or accept that she's not entitled and repay the overpayment. She's only working part time - that's why her wages are so low

She’s been told because she has an action anything and she hasn’t communicated once she does those two things she will be entitled to universal credits again and they probably will still be able to claw the overpayment back but as I’ve said now three times it will come out of the money that she is paid in universal credit. They are not going to garnish her wages for that amount.
Had she communicated with them from the beginning? She wouldn’t owe the £27,000 now it’s probably 50-50 as to whether she does or not.

She's been told it's because she has an asset that she's not entitled to benefit

Her UC has stopped

Spot checks can be random as well as specific.

OP- there is plenty of reasonable advice on here but as I've already said you need to see a benefits adviser. Its what I do for a living, but you need to access someone in your local area if possible. Some information on here may be well meant but isn't correct.

I was spot checked because when I went back on UC after I sold my flat (it wasn't worth much - none of the flats in my area were). I was accused of spending my remaining savings too quickly - that wasn't the case. I had to go to the dwp with bank statements. Took about an hour to go through everything. I was told my benefits might stop

Then the same day I got a message in my journal saying they owed me almost 1000 pounds - probably because I had reported the cost of living payments in my savings total not realising that I didn't need to

Bloody hell I hope you register a claim via CMS asap so he starts paying towards his DC.

How you own the house and it’s current value and current mortgage all matter.

Again.
because she hasn’t communicated effectively or actioned releasing her on paper equity, of her paper gains within her, on paper split settlement with the father of her children.

She doesn’t physically have the money available to her and therefore once it’s all unpacked and they are aware of the situation and accurate decision can be made based on the actual facts.
Rather than assumptions being made at the moment because the universal Credit people do not have the actual facts.
Good luck OP

She still has an asset. It's irrelevant whether the money is available to her or not

I would say it was highly relevant to the question of whether she needs benefits to live on.

You cannot feed yourself or your children with money you can't access, can you?

Good name, You must live in Cloud Cuckoo land.

Your advice is based on complete bollocks! A person is allowed to live in a mortgaged house and claim UC. If the OP was still living in the house, they couldn’t insist that she sells it and makes herself homeless, you absolute numpty!

@MapleHazelLatte You need to speak to a specialist Independent benefits adviser and take along all your paper evidence in order for them to properly review your case and deal with UC on your behalf. Much better than trying to resolve it yourself.

You are just plain wrong.
She cannot eat on paper gains that have not been actualised and neither can the children.

No you can't but unfortunately dwp rules are what they are. She has an asset and you get six months to sort out a flat sale - those are the rules.

No I'm not - you're wrong

She's not living in the house though - that's what is causing this issue

She works and she lives with her parents. She's not on her uppers. Her ex isn't paying any child maintenance. She's entitled. She's buried her head in the sand and she needs proper legal advice - not advice from anyone on this forum

Yes but this is the same for landlords or property owners experiencing cash flow issues. If you have an asset you are not entitled to UC.
Hiw anyone sorts out their individual situation is not of interest to DWP.

Precisely what I said about 10 pages ago
There are definitely ways of unpacking this and resolving it In the OP’s favour.

The OP is not a landlord, she is someone who has effectively been made homeless as a result of her relationship ending, whose ex partner is refusing to either buy her out or sell.

The rules being what they are doesn't make it possible to force the sale of a property within 6 months, even if you are aware on day 1 that that is what they expect you to do.

Have you ever tried to force the sale of a house occupied by a co-owner who doesn't want to sell, without a lawyer or any money to pay for one?