Benefit on 2 Homes

I have an owner occupier client who has Multiple Sclerosis and receives IS with Mortgage Interest Relief.  She is thinking of selling her property as she can no longer manage to live there and is considering moving into rented accommodation.  If she moves before her property is sold will she still be able to claim the Mortgage Interest Relief and Housing Benefit on her new home until her property is sold?

She won’t get help with mortgage interest on the property she moves out of unless she can show that having two liabilities was unavoidable, and then only for 4 weeks

If she could show then that she could no longer stay in her own home because of her health problems so had to move to a flat would that be accepted?

What constitutes “unavoidable” is very much down to the judgement of the decision maker - it certainly seems a reasonable argument in the broad, but I don’t think you can guarantee the 4 weeks payment of mortgage interest. I think your client would have to specifically request it when she moves, and set out clearly why she thinks it was unavoidable to have a liability to make payments on two dwellings at the same time.

After the 4 week period, I can’t think of any help from income support with the mortgage interest

“If she could show then that she could no longer stay in her own home because of her health problems so had to move to a flat would that be accepted?”

Not in iteslf.  For HB it is the liability for the housing costs on the dwellings which is the focal point.  The reasons for moving are relevant but not determinative.

She should be able to claim HB on the rented property for 52 weeks as long as she can show that her property is on the market to be sold and that she could not occupy that property herself for medical reasons.

The mortgage assistance for a property she is not occupying would not be paid as this in effect only reduces the equity in the property.