Means test

Can someone please confirm if a same sex couple buy a house together and one later becomes unemployed and wants to claim mortgage interest relief, can sw take the partner's earnings into account?

if you are living as a same sex couple as a family. ie in a gay relationship, you will be assessed as a couple.

I stand corrected on this, but it did happen to someone I know who lived with another lady and they had a child from her prev. relationship that they were bringing up together.

she claimed for her and her child, the lady lady with child lost her one parent payment etc......they had known this to be the case when they declared their relationship to sw.....but they could just as easily have not said anything, and the other lady could have been classed as her friend.

there are questions that sw use to ascertain if you live as a couple.......do u live together, share a bed, have a sexual relationship (in a trad, family, if there are children it is usually assumed that there is some sort of sexual relationship) do you holiday together, socialise togather, care for each other if u are sick, care for any children between you, are you known in the locality as a couple, do you share bank accounts, how is the mortgage paid, is it jointly held for eg.

hope that helps a bit

marie

Thanks for your input but from what I have learned since, this actually isn't the case. Thanks again though.

In Ireland, same sex couples are not taken into account as it is not viewed as a valid family situation. Of course, we are still living in the 1800's... people are trying to get this changed at the minute but it probably won't happen anytime soon.