Universal credit help

jacko1892
jacko1892 Community member Posts: 1 Listener

So bit of a tricky one… my grandfather & grandmother passed away leaving their house to my father. However, he hadn’t realised that this would impact his universal credit. The plan was always that the deeds would go straight to my sister and not be in his name anyway, but the wills did not reflect this.

The property is valued over £16k which is causing the issue and stopping universal credit.

My sister has moved into this house and is slowly paying him for the property (marginal, like £200 per month). As the sale is more of a family goodwill (grandparent’s wishes), there hasn’t been a formal sale of the house.

In order for universal credit to restart, he plans to transfer the deeds of the house to his daughter (my sister).

Does anyone know if this would allow for the universal credit to restart again?

From what I can see online this should be fine and an appeal should be lodged to citizens advise to restart the UC, but always good to get insight from others.

Comments

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 61,873 Championing

    He will not be able to just transfer the house to anyone’s name because this will be treated as deprivation of capital and he will still be treated as having that capital. With it being more than £16,000 there will still be no entitlement to UC. Same applies to council tax reduction.

  • IndignantPigeon
    IndignantPigeon Community member Posts: 59 Contributor

    Sorry Jacko but afraid poppy is right… I presume your Dad already has his own home? If not, if by any chance he's renting or mortgaging, the best thing he could do is move into the inheritance himself, then it will be discounted for UC.