my client and her son lives in a large home which is under shared ownership between herself, her mother and her brother. The mother is now in residential care and the brother and sister want to sell the house and each buy a smaller home each.

However, my client is on IS and HB and expects a gap between selling one property and buying another, I've advised on the capital rules and benefit but does anyone have any experience of holding the money from the sale of one property with the claer intention purchasing another??

Can you be more specific regarding "holding the money from the sale of one property with the clear intention purchasing another??"

The client will not have been able to buy a home for herself until the sale of the joint home. In the time between selling one home and acquring another the client would like to put the profit into an account of some sort and use it only to buy a home. She would also like to rent somewere while she finds a new place.


The problems comes with how the capital from the sale will be viewed by the benefit agencies. I've looked into trust funds but it seems unlikely she would fall into that categories if she had access to the money. I wondered if there is any way that the capital from a home sale can be ring-marked for a given propose and not seen as income.

Assuming your client remains properly entitled to IS, wouldn't para 3 of Sch 10 (Income Support Regs) cover it?

para 10: Any sum directly attributable to the proceeds of sale of any premises formerly occupied by the claimant as his home which is to be used for the purchase of other premises intended for such occupation within 26 weeks of the date of sale or such longer period as is reasonable in the circumstances to enable the claimant to complete the purchase.


If, for whatever reason, the clmt ceased to be entitled to IS and the LA made it's own assessment for the HB claim, exactly the same provision exists under para 3 of Schedule 6 (HB Regs).

So long as the (genuine) purpose is to use the proceeds of sale to purchase AND occupy other premises, no problem (subject to time limits).

and in any event, whilst the current home is on the market she can be looking for somewhere to buy and try and plan it so that completion on her purchase takes place on teh same day as completion on the sale......

Nearly 20 years ago when I was a student I sold my house and rented a flat in Cardiff. I deposited £9000 in an acount and delcared it when I made my HB claim. The Council initially refused my claim, but when I pointed out that the money was from the sale of a house and that I inteded to buy another , they soon changed thier mind.

I do agree though that its best to plan things so you complete sale and purchase on the same day if you can, but if you cant, then you ought to have a perod of grace that is as long as you reasonablyneed