Form E

Her income is £20k per annum. His last year was £3k profit from his business. She is getting £536.11 tax credits looking at her statements and £134.80 child benefit. CSA has been calculated at £5.71 a week and is paid to her weekly. He is self employed plumber and not much work around for just him, so not much chance of him being able to find plumbing work for anyone else, although he is actively looking. Additional problem is that he has periods where he cannot work as he is ill (currently been signed off sick from doctors since March 2012)meaning that someone is unlikely to want to employ him. He is under the care of the hospital and they are trying to stabalise his condition. He has days when he would be able to work and days when he couldn''t but this is very much on a day to day basis ie he can be ok one day but sick the next. He has applied for sickness benefits. He currently gets WTC and an exemption from paying council tax and his mother has been helping him out with money for diesel and food and paying his rent. All other bills have remained unpaid as he cannot afford to pay them which is where the debt has arisen. He will be homeless when the home he rents is sold so needs equity from family home (approx £75k if he gets half of equity)in order to rent privately. He would not pass a credit check if renting through an agent so would probably need to stump up 6 months rent in advance

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply

I would think that as she is able to afford the mortgage, because there are two children who mainly live with her, she would be able to stay in the house at least until the childen leave home when she could sell.

The childrens needs always come first and they need a place to live.

Can your partner claim housing benefit?

He would be able to claim housing benefit for a 1 bed house only as the children technically reside with their mum even though he has them stay over 6 nights out of 14 so he would have to find the difference. As he is renting from me when he applied for housing benefit they turned him down even through we provided copy of tenancy agreement etc. The rent I charge him is less than he would have to pay for another 3 bed semi but the house has to be sold as I can no longer afford the mortgage payments on it

jamdan123 wrote:

He would be able to claim housing benefit for a 1 bed house only as the children technically reside with their mum even though he has them stay over 6 nights out of 14 so he would have to find the difference.

It might be worth speaking to the local council and presenting a case asking that they use their discretion to award the additional entitlement. The arguement would have to include something like ''clear expectation of the court that the children spend substantial time with father...best interests of the child...exceptional level of need''. If you go down this road wouldn''t hurt to speak to legal aid/shelter beforehand.

Thats excellent advice - many thanks ill ask him to do that.