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CAPITAL, usable to access value of house
my client has a house in which his former partner lives, jointly owned, the partner is unwilling to move or sell , HB has refused teh award on grounds of capital over £16.000
does my client have a case to argue as he can’t access teh capital
The short answer is: yes, there is an argument, but it all depends on the facts.
The house can’t be sold without the consent of the partner, as they are joint tenants. In theory, your client can sever the joint tenancy and they then become tenants in common. Your client can then, again in theory, put their interest up for sale. Whether, in reality, anyone would buy the beneficial share is a question of fact. I don’t know of any case where that has actually happened.
The other theoretical possibility is for your client, having severed the joint tenancy, to apply to the county court for an order for sale. In reality there are massive financial obstacles to doing this. Legal aid is not available, the potential costs run to thousands of pounds, and the outcome is uncertain.
If neither of these possibilities are realistic the house is unsellable so the value is zero.
See this thread for more: https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/16454/
Thanks Paul sounds good, also council tax support has bene stopped so I am thinking of an appeal to the Valuation tribunal, any ideas anyone ????????????
If neither of these possibilities are realistic the house is unsellable so the value is zero.
That’s a bit too blunt. There will be a value but it will probably be much lower than a 50% share. You’d have no problem finding someone to give you a fiver for the possible future gain.
Hopefully, a realistic valuation will be low enough to have little effect on the benefits situation.
You need to refer to some of the previous threads on this thorny issue in the first instance. I am not sure it would be helpful just to have a re-run of them.
As Gareth says, the UT does not accept that we can still get away with declaring it unsaleable and moving on.
OK Elliot, I need to get an appeal lodged, so will rely on the nil value to start with and see if we can add anything else to the pot as it progresses
any ideas on the council tax side, can the valuation tribunal disregard teh value of teh house ???????
It’s exactly the same issue. If the capital is worth £X for HB, then it is also worth £X for CTS. You would not expect a separate appeal to be required.
This thread is probably worth reading as well.