have client who left the marital home on 17/05/04 after she/daughter suffered period of verbal/mental abuse from husband. moved into private rented accomm. and claimed housing benefit. after moving out of marital home client consulted solicitor re:housing rights to the marital home,but this ceased after question arose over clients eligibility for legal aid? property has been in dispute since separation because client/husband have been unable to agree a settlement figure,also,husbands mother has charge on property whivh entitles her to a share from any profit made on the sale of the home.local authority have now informed client that her housing benefit ceased on 15/11/04 because in her circs a person can only receive a max of 26 weeks housing benefit. client due approx. £18.000.00 from sale of home (not received yet) and local authority are saying that even if client was entitled to housing benefit after 15/11/04 this capital would take her above the capital limit and therefore no entitlement to benefit. can anyone think of argument where it would be reasonable for the local authority to pay housing benefit for more than the 26 week period? thanx for your time, pete...

I am not quite clear from your post whether the dispute over the property is still ongoing or whether that is now settled and it is a case waiting for a sale to go through. So my next two paras try to cover both eventualities, but this question is quite crucial to how the LA should be assessing HB entitlement.

If the property is still in dispute then its capital should be disregarded for HB purposes for as long as it remains in dispute - period. There is no time limit for this.

If it is a case of the property being up for sale but not sold yet then - yes - the disregard period is 26 weeks, but the LA has a discretion to extend that if it seems reasonable. In any case it is highly arguable that this 26 weeks only starts once any dispute has been settled anyway, because nothing can really happen while the dispute is still ongoing.

I think the situation regarding the property both at the time of the separation and what the situation is now needs to be fully explained to the LA concerned. It may be they are misunderstanding the situation and applying the wrong bit of the regs.

Even if the house can't continue to be disregarded after the 26 weeks under para 24 of sch.5, para's 25 or 26 may still be applicable.

If none of the disregards apply, then the 'market value' of the property will have to be carefully defined. The market value has been held to be the price commanded by "a willing buyer and a willing seller (sorry, can't remember the reference)". If the remaining partner doesn't want to sell, how is your client going to find a willing buyer...? I would be arguing that the capital value is extremely low - perhaps even nil. The value would be even lower becuase of the charge held by the occupants mother. I think (though don't quote me on this as it may have changed and I haven't dealt with such a case recently) that where capital is jointly held, the value is split equally; even where one party only has a minor interest. This may help in bumping up the mother's 'share' and so reducing the capital for your client.

cheers all. the dispute over the sale of the home has been ongoing since separated but client just received and completed necessary forms to allow the sale of the property and release her share of the equity... £18.000.00,which should be received in the next few weeks. personally,given the clients circs i feel it is reasonable to expect the l.a to extend the 26 week period... will now submit appeal and see what happens???