Hi,

My client has inherited a property which she put on the market around 1 year ago. Her IS (due to ill health) was stopped as the DWP state she has provided no evidence to suggest that the property is on the market.

This part is easily remedied, but I wonder if anyone knows of any case law to show how long capital can be disregarded while on the market. I know that it is 6 months initially, then as long as is reasonably practicable, but i was hoping for some cases to support this.

If anyone knows of any, I would be very grateful.

As long as the person is taking all practical steps to realise the asset then the disregard can keep being extended by the decision maker. They usually review the situation every 6 months, and the longer it goes on they will make enquiries regarding asking prices and valuations, especially in the current climate where prices are still falling. They may even ask for their own valuation from the Valuation Office Service. As long as the price it a true market price and it is being advertised with agents etc, there is no reason for them not to continue disregarding the value of the asset.

The property seems to be on the market for a reaonable price now - it was slightly ridiculous to start with - but the price has been dropped by over £100,000, which the estate agent believes is an adequte price.

Thank you for your help.

The case law is on the whole unhelpful as it says every case has to be considered on the merits, but does mention the possible relevance of the state of the housing market.

Do you know of any specific case law which discusses the state of the housing market? I'm not finding a lot.

Thanks.

The commentary in Wood suggests that CIS 6908/1995 might have soemthing useful in it, but only in a general way. It looks as if it lists some factors that MIGHT be relevant in deciding whether to extend the disregard, of which the state of the housing market is just one. But that isn't a definite "yes". I'm not aware of anything else.