UC and paying off mortgage

UC rules make clear that paying off debt is not deprivation of capital. Mortgage is debt so, it appears to me, that paying off mortgage with savings should not be treated as deprivation of capital, even if a motivating purpose is to get below capital threshold in order to qualify for UC.

“UC Regulations 2013
Notional capital
50 (2) A person is not to be treated as depriving themselves of capital if the person disposes of it for the purposes of—
(a)reducing or paying a debt owed by the person; or
(b)purchasing goods or services if the expenditure was reasonable in the circumstances of the person’s case.”

Does anybody have any experience of how DWP are treating this in practice?

Bumping this in the hope that there may be someone with experience of this (paying down mortgage and claiming UC) who didn’t spot the query first time round.