Income treated as capital for JSA

Hi all,

We have a client who was left with a quarter of a property in a Will.  This property is rented and he receives a quarter of the rental income, which amounts to £220.00 P/M.

His entitlement to JSA has been stopped as a decision has been made that he has capital over £16,000.  I have checked this decision and it appears to be correct.  However, what I can’t understand is how the DWP calculate this.  How can a monthly income of £220.00 p/m amount to over £16,000 in capital???

Sorry this may be a silly question, but we can’t seem to find any answers.

Any ideas as to how this is worked out?

Thank you

Nikki

Hi,

Are they considering the value of his share in the property as a capital asset as well as taking into account the rental income? If so he may be able to get the value of his share disregarded if he is not able to realise the capital (i.e sell his share).

Lucy.

Hi Lucy,

Thanks for your reply.  I am not entirely sure as I am looking into this for another adviser.  However, I will investigate this further.

If the DWP are considering the value of our clients share in the property as a capital asset, would this be disregarded if the others did not want to sell the property?  As I believe this is the case.

Thanks for your time

Nikki

Hi Simon,

Thanks for your feedback. Very much appreciated I will pass it on.  I have been out of the benefit game for a while, so I’m extremely rusty!!

Thanks again

We had a similar case recently, and would urge caution over an estate agent’s valuation.  Most local estate agents only provide a valuation for sale with vacant possession.  They don’t even seem to understand that the valuation when there is an occupier is different.

In the case we saw, the DWP had obtained a valuation from the Valuation Office, and even their valuer wasn’t entirely clear as to the assumptions than had been made in reaching the valuation.  We discovered that the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors operates a Chartered Surveyor Voluntary Service which gave us the name of a local surveyor who could help us.  The advice he gave was invaluable.

Details about CSVS, which is a registered charity, are available at   http://www.rics.org/site/scripts/documents_info.aspx?categoryID=234&documentID=501  .