Terms & Conditions

[Anonymous]

We have a claimant who has left her husband and moved to rented accommodation. Her and her husband did own and run an hotel. She part owns the hotel which was purchased for £195k. She was a partner of the business but since they split up she has provided evidence that she is no longer a partner and he is now sole trader. Theyhave no plans to divorce and at the moment she is working in the hotel as the cook and is being paid a wage by her husband. We have taken her half share as capital which takes her over £16K. Our fraud team are also looking at it.

Should her half share in the property be classed as capital and therefore take her over the 16K limit or should it be disregarded as a business asset?

Your views would be appreciated and which particular regulation I should be focussing on in the submission?

[Anonymous]

The general rule is that business assets fall to be disregarded whilst the person remains self-employed and the business continues to trade.

Your lady is no longer self-employed, so I feel you would now have to use her capital in the HB / CTB assessment – (if it is still hers) – unless you feel you should grant her a reasonable length of time to dispose of them, in which case you willhave to make a decision based on what is a reasonable time to do so, given the condition of the market for this sort of business opportunity in your area etc. 8)

[Anonymous]

Thanks – she does’nt seem to have any immediate plans of disposing of it and is happy for her husand to continue running the business. I think we are therefore correct to view it as capital.

[Author]

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