Reply To: Capital gifted – deprivation?
pbirksId work backwards – at the point you had the initial claim she didnt declare she had a 2nd property.
Had sh done so, its unlikely she would have had any HB award.
She sells the property
the plans have changed as she intended for the house to be sold once she died and monies to be split between family then. thats what normally happend, will or not – its just the ewill states who gets what rather than everything going to the legal NOK
but she sold and moved to rented.
presumably she owned the house outright so didnt have any housing costs apart from uusual running costs.
So maybe she assumed that as a pensioner with limited incoem she wouldnt have to pay her full rent.
we corrected that assumption when you revised the original claim and advised her she wasnt entitled because of the capital value of the house.
So at that point she continues to give away over £100k in 5 months. Appreciate £100k to 4 or 5 family members isnt a massive inheritance for them to receive, but its a huge amount to give away
How did she expect to pay her rent if she gave away the capital that ended her HB award?
getting HB doesnt have the be the sole intention – it maybe that she wanted to give the money away and being able to get HB again is a “bonus” side effect – rather than giving it away with the dsole intention of getting HB – but the regs dont say it has to be the sole purpose.
Id treat is as notional capital /diminishing notional capital – but with £100k its unlikey to give any aentitlement in the short term.