A grandmother who made almost £27,000 through fraudulent benefit claims will only have to pay £150 of it back.

Glenis Chard, 64, of Rossiter Grange, Bishopsworth, was given a suspended jail sentence in August after illegally drawing £9,874 in housing benefit, which she then used to make mortgage payments while she pretended to be a tenant.

But at a confiscation hearing at Bristol Crown Court yesterday, the prosecution said her overall benefit amounted to £26,942.35.

But arthritis sufferer Chard's current assets only amount to £150, as the house she lives in and owns is in negative equity. Judge Julian Lambert ordered her to pay £150 within 28 days or she will be sent to prison for seven days.

Chard received the housing benefit from Bristol City Council between December 2005 and September 2007. She submitted a tenancy agreement between herself and Chew Valley Estates – run by her son and daughter – which she said was her landlord's agent.

In 2006, Chard reapplied for housing benefit regarding another home in Rossiter Grange, submitting a tenancy arrangement with the same agent. But an investigation revealed both houses were in fact in Chard's name.

On Tuesday, her son Nicholas Rowland-Fry and daughter Samantha Newport, were found guilty by magistrates of aiding and abetting her.

The pair told their bank through a self-certification mortgage form that their 64-year-old mother was a full-time employee at their estate agent business to enable her to get a mortgage to buy the two properties in question.

Rowland-Fry, 43, of Orchard Close, Felton, and Newport, 44, of Yanley Lane, Long Ashton, could not afford to buy the properties through Chew Valley Estates.

They said their intention was for house deeds to be transferred to their company as soon as possible.

The agreement was for Chard to pay them her housing benefit as rent, but the court heard there were no legal documents setting out the agreement and in fact the £430 per month benefit was used for mortgage payments.

Since the scam was uncovered, one of the houses has been handed back to the mortgage company but Chard still lives in the other.

Rowland-Fry and Newport were sentenced to 18 weeks in custody, suspended for two years, and ordered to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work. They were also ordered to each pay £3,613.66 in costs.