The Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996

Housing costs not met

4.—(1) No amount may be met under the provisions of this Schedule—

(a) in respect of housing benefit expenditure, or

(b) where the claimant is in accommodation which is a residential care home or a nursing home except where he is in such accommodation during a temporary absence from the dwelling he occupies as his home and in so far as they relate to temporary absences, the provisions of paragraph 3(8) to (12) (circumstances in which a person is to be treated as occupying a dwelling as his home) apply to him during that absence.

(2) Subject to sub-paragraphs (3) to (12), loans which, apart from this paragraph, qualify under paragraph 14 (loans on residential property) shall not so qualify where the loan was incurred during the relevant period and was incurred—

(a) after 7th October 1996;

(b) after 2nd May 1994 and the housing costs applicable to that loan were not met in income support by virtue of the former paragraph 5A of Schedule 3 to the Income Support Regulations(1) or paragraph 4(2)(a) of that Schedule in any one or more of the 26 weeks preceding 7th October 1996, or

(c) subject to sub-paragraph (3), in the 26 weeks preceding 7th October 1996 by a person—

(i) who was not at that time entitled to income support, and

(ii) who becomes, or whose partner becomes entitled to a jobseeker’s allowance after 6th October 1996 and that entitlement is within 26 weeks of an earlier entitlement to income support for the claimant or his partner.

(3) Sub-paragraph (2)(c) shall not apply in respect of a loan where the claimant has interest payments on that loan met without restrictions under an award of income support in respect of a period commencing before 7th October 1996.

(4) The “relevant period” for the purposes of this paragraph is any period during which the person to whom the loan was made—

(a) is entitled to a jobseeker’s allowance, or

(b) is living as a member of a family one of whom is entitled to a jobseeker’s allowance,

together with any linked period, that is to say a period falling between 2 such periods of entitlement to a jobseeker’s allowance separated by not more than 26 weeks.

(5) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (4)—

(a) any week in the period of 26 weeks ending on 7th October 1996 on which there arose an entitlement to income support shall be taken into account in determining when the relevant period commences, and

(b) 2 or more periods of entitlement and any intervening linked periods shall together form a single relevant period.

(6) Where the loan to which sub-paragraph (2) refers has been applied—

(a) for paying off an earlier loan, and that earlier loan qualified under paragraph 14, or

(b) to finance the purchase of a property where a previous loan secured on another property was paid off (in whole or in part) with monies received from the sale of that property,

then the amount of the loan to which sub-paragraph (2) applies is the amount (if any) by which the new loan exceeds the earlier loan.

(7) Notwithstanding sub-paragraphs (1) to (6), housing costs shall be met in any case where a claimant satisfies any of the conditions specified in sub-paragraphs (8) to (11), but—

(a) those costs shall be subject to any additional limitations imposed by the sub-paragraph, and

(b) where the claimant satisfies the conditions in more than one of these sub-paragraphs, only one sub-paragraph shall apply in his case and the one that applies shall be the one most favourable to him.

(8) The conditions specified in this sub-paragraph are that—

(a) during the relevant period the claimant or a member of his family acquires an interest (“the relevant interest”) in a dwelling which he then occupies or continues to occupy as his home, and

(b) in the week preceding the week in which the relevant interest was acquired, housing benefit was payable to the claimant or a member of his family,

so however that the amount to be met by way of housing costs shall initially not exceed the aggregate of—

(i) the housing benefit payable in the week mentioned at sub-paragraph (8)(b), and

(ii) any amount included in the applicable amount of the claimant or a member of his family in accordance with regulation 83(f) or 84(1)(g) in that week,

and shall be increased subsequently only to the extent that it is necessary to take account of any increase, arising after the date of the acquisition, in the standard rate or in any housing costs which qualify under paragraph 16 (other housing costs).

(9) The condition specified in this sub-paragraph is that the loan was taken out, or an existing loan increased, to acquire alternative accommodation more suited to the special needs of a disabled person than the accommodation which was occupied before the acquisition by the claimant.

(10) The conditions specified in this sub-paragraph are that—

(a) the loan commitment increased in consequence of the disposal of the dwelling occupied as the home and the acquisition of an alternative such dwelling, and

(b) the change of dwelling was made solely by reason of the need to provide separate sleeping accommodation for children of different sexes aged 10 or over who belong to the same family as the claimant.

(11) The conditions specified in this sub-paragraph are that—

(a) during the relevant period the claimant or a member of his family acquires an interest (“the relevant interest”) in a dwelling which he then occupies as his home, and

(b) in the week preceding the week in which the relevant interest was acquired, the applicable amount of the claimant or a member of his family included an amount determined by reference to paragraph 16 and did not include any amount specified in paragraph 14 or 15,

so however that the amount to be met by way of housing costs shall initially not exceed the amount so determined, and shall be increased subsequently only to the extent that it is necessary to take account of any increase, arising after the date of acquisition, in the standard rate or in any housing costs which qualify under paragraph 16.

(12) Paragraphs 5 to 19 shall have effect subject to the provisions of this paragraph.

(1)

Paragraph 5A was inserted by regulation 2 of S.R. 1994 No. 138 and revoked by Schedule 4 to S.R. 1995 No. 301