Houing Benefit sanctions and intentionally homeless.

Hello all

I was certain that if you were a home owner and you left your home by handing in your keys and then moved into a rented accommodation, your housing benefit or LHA could be sanctioned as you have made yourself intentionally homeless. Now I need info on this, having problems finding this in CPAG. Could someone possibly point me in the right direction please, and do the same rules apply if you sell your house, rather than handing the keys back to the buliding society.

Hi plymmark,

I think you might be confusing the intentionally homeless rules where people who leave in these circumstances can be found not to be in priority need of housing as they’ve effectively made themselves homeless.

The houses in either case could lead to a decision being taken that the claimant has capital (either actual - case 2 or national).  A lot will depend on what equity is/was available in the property and if money’s been spent whether this was spent in order to increase benefit income.

Handing in the keys is never the best way to proceed and it can probably be argued that this is either taking the necessary steps to dispose of the property or that the value to the claimant is negligable as people don’t generally hand the keys back unless they have nothing left to lose!

So, case by case evaluation of the facts probably.

Mairi

I didn’t think that this was a Sale and Rent Back case, where the rules apply to renting a previously owned property, but to moving into a different rented property.

That’some really useful info. Thank you every one for your replies.

A potential issue here is depriivation of capital (see HB Reg 49 and commentary in Findlay)

The deprivation would arise if there was equity in the property, and it could only arise after the sale (since the capital value of the dwelling occuped as a home is disregrded), but there will be a period however brief when the capital held is in the form of a liquid asset in the bank. 

Any issue of deprivation will depend as to how, when and why the claimant disposed of those liquid assets