Jobseekers Allowance & Second Property

My wife is just finishing her one year on Jobseekers Benefit having been laid off. She is filling out the form to apply for JA but has a query in regards to one section, ownership of second properties. She has a 1/5 share in a home with her siblings but the value of the house is less than the mortgage. She also owns our old family home (which we tried to sell but couldn't find a buyer) with me, again the rental income is less than the mortgage.

My query is,
1) does Social Welfare take the rental income only into account for her JA claim or
2) is it the value of the properties or
3) the value of the properties less the outstanding debt?

Sorry meant to say, no income is being derived from these properties as both are costing us every month.

Thanks in advance

Property not used personally is assessed on the capital value minus outstanding mortgage.

The rental income is not assessed.

Many thanks for your reply, my wife feels a bit better now!! Using the following example: -

House Mkt Value €200,000 - O/S mortgage €235,000 - Monthly Rent €850

No bearing on your application?

House Mkt Value €200,000 - O/S mortgage €150,000 - Monthly Rent €850

€50,000 capital value to be assessed against your claim for JA?

Yes, that's how it's worked. You can ignore the monthly rent, as it's not taken into account at all, even if there is no capital value to be assessed (as in your first example).

If there is a positive capital value (as in your second example), there is a scale of assessment to determine weekly means.

The scale can be found on this webpage, under the heading "capital and property not personally used"

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/e...ents/means_test_for_jobseekers_allowance.html

gipimann said:

Yes, that's how it's worked. You can ignore the monthly rent, as it's not taken into account at all, even if there is no capital value to be assessed (as in your first example).

If there is a positive capital value (as in your second example), there is a scale of assessment to determine weekly means.

Click to expand...

So when filling out the JA form, should you leave out properties that would have no impact on the assessement (first example) and only include those that have (second example) or mention everything? (perhaps in a table with headings (i) Mkt Value (ii) Debt (iii) Equity??)

My wife is quite nervous about filling out the form in that she knows that any mistakes and her claim will be delayed

She should declare everything, even properties that are likely to have no impact on means.

Many thanks, you've been a great help.