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Property disregard. UC refused due to uninhabitable 2nd property

benefitsadviser
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Sunderland West Advice Project

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Quick question. client renting property while they fix her house that’s uninhabitable
could take a while

she has been denied uc as the value of the property cant be disregarded as its not up for sale

Im at home so have no UC regs book

Can anyone confirm if it is disregarded, and point me to the regs please if so

thanks

Tom B (WRAMAS)
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WRAMAS - Bristol City Council

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Can be disregarded for 6 mths. See reg 48(2) & sch 10 para 4(1)(c)

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/376/pdfs/uksi_20130376_310319_en.pdf

CHAC Adviser
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Caseworker - CHAC, Middlesbrough

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UC Regs 2013 Schedule 10 Paragraph 4(1)(c) would seem to fit the bill I think?

4.—(1) Premises that a person intends to occupy as their home where—

...

(c) the person is carrying out essential repairs or alterations required to render the premises fit for occupation and these have been commenced within the past 6 months.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/376/schedule/10/paragraph/4

(DRH 19/20 page 131 also refers)

Failing that you could always run the market value argument? Who is going to buy a house that is uninhabitable without serious money being spent on it? This would depress the value of the property and potentially take them below the capital limit. That argument would probably take a while though as every time I’ve run a variant of it it’s gone all the way to Tribunal! So definitely the first step is to argue the regulations which I think are clearly on the clients side in this.

[ Edited: 24 Mar 2020 at 10:55 am by CHAC Adviser ]
benefitsadviser
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Sunderland West Advice Project

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Apologies for lack of detail
she has lived in her rented property for 2 years, so it will be hard to argue she has commenced repairs within last 6 months…..
She now has zero income and no entitlement to anything so far…..

CHAC Adviser
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Any possibility to argue that the delay is reasonable? The DWP have discretion to disregard for longer.

Paul_Treloar_AgeUK
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Information and advice resources - Age UK

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Sorry if I’m asking the bleeding obvious but how can she pay for the property to be repaired if she has no money and no income? Might it not be more realistic to say she’s putting it on the market, advertise with estate agent, and get 6-month’s disregard from now to at least get the UC claim up and running?

Gareth Morgan
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Agree with Paul