Hello

We've had a prospective resident asking about her HB entitlement.

Her circumstances are as follows:
She is in receipt of incapacity benefit and DLA.
She has a joint mortgage with her husband of 28 years which is ongoing.
He is still living at the mortgaged property.
She has been in hospital for the last 4 weeks due to alcohol/substance misuse problems.
She would like to move into our drug treatment property for treatment that would last 9 months.

It is unclear at this stage whether her husband is throwing her out or if she will be returning to the original address to live with him.

Can anyone advise whether having a joint ongoing mortgage would prevent her from claiming HB on a rented property?
If she is able to claim HB, how would the mortgaged house affect her HB assessment? (if at all?).
Would she be assessed as a single claimant for HB purposes even if she is not estranged from her husband? Is the husband's income also taken into account?
Does it make any difference whether she has been thrown out by her husband or if she is simply getting 'rehab' for 9 months with an intention to return?

Thanks to all for any input.

Not being familiar with the set up you refer to (re rehab), a bit more info would help.

When you say "drug treatment property", is this a recognised stay of medical care?

Leading on from this, but a separate question, what is the basis of her stay at your property?

Is there a tenancy?

Is there a liability to pay rent (distinct from medical costs)?

What happens when her rehab program ends - can she still stay at the property or is she expected to "return home" (either to her original property or to another property)?

What is the status of her relationship with her husband?

Regards

Thanks Kevin

In answer to your questions:

is this a recognised stay of medical care?
Do you mean 'recognised by the LA'? It is a service offering a therapeutic drug treatment programme in a residential environment. I'm not sure whether the LA treat it as equivalent to a hospital stay. Either way, it is not the same as a hospital stay in that there is a rent due. The issue is about getting HB for the rent liability at the treatment centre rather than getting HB at the original address whilst temporarily absent (she is not claiming HB at her original address anyway).

what is the basis of her stay at your property?
She would like to use the service to tackle her alcohol/drug problems. It is likely to be a 9 month stay in order to complete the program.

Is there a tenancy?
Is there a liability to pay rent (distinct from medical costs)?
Each resident has their own self-contained flat. There is a separate rent liability and licence agreement for each flat.

What happens when her rehab program ends - can she still stay at the property or is she expected to "return home" (either to her original property or to another property)?
Usually people there is a 3 month resettlement phase at the end of the program in order to find appropriate accommodation. They would not be expected to stay on at the property for longer than the 9 months. In this case, (at present) she would like to return to the original address, although intentions often change during the process of rehabilitation.

What is the status of her relationship with her husband?
It appears there are no estrangement or other problems with her husband.

It may be that the ownership of a house with her husband would put her out of scale for HB anyway (that is, if the house would be counted as capital). Would she need to be seen to be selling the house/estranged from her husband in order for the house to be disregarded as capital?

Thanks