The Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit (Consequential Provisions) Regulations 2006

Amendment of the Rent Officers (Housing Benefit Functions) Order 1997

11.—(1) The Rent Officers (Housing Benefit Functions) Order 1997 M1 shall be amended in accordance with the provisions of this paragraph.

(2) In regulation 2 (interpretation)—

(a) for the definition of “hostel”, substitute—

““hostel” has the same meaning as in regulation 2(1) of the Housing Benefit Regulations or, as the case may be, regulation 2(1) of the Housing Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations;”;

(b) after that definition insert—

““the Housing Benefit Regulations” mean the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006;

“the Housing Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations” means the Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006;”;

(c) for the definition of “relevant date”M2 , substitute—

““relevant date” means the date specified by a pathfinder authority in an application for a local housing allowance determination made in accordance with regulation 13A(4)(a) of the Housing Benefit Regulations M3 or, as the case may be, regulation 13A(4)(a) of the Housing Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations M4 ;”;

(d) for the definition of “rent”, substitute—

““rent” means any of the periodical payments referred to in regulation 12(1) of the Housing Benefit Regulations or, as the case may be, regulation 12(1) of the Housing Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations;”.

(e) omit the definition of the “1987 Regulations”.

(3) In regulation 3A (transitional arrangements for determination of single room rents with effect from 2nd July 2001) M5 , for “regulation 12A of the 1987 Regulations”, substitute “ regulation 14 of the Housing Benefit Regulations or, as the case may be, regulation 14 of the Housing Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations ”.

(4) In regulation 4A (substitute determinations and substitute redeterminations) M6 , for “regulation 12C of the 1987 Regulations”, substitute “ regulation 17 of the Housing Benefit Regulations or, as the case may be, regulation 17 of the Housing Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations ”.

(5) In regulation 4B(4) (broad rental market area determinations and local housing allowance determinations) M7 —

(a) in paragraph (a), for “regulations 11A(4)(a) of the 1987 Regulations”, substitute “ regulation 13A(4)(a) of the Housing Benefit Regulations or, as the case may be, regulation 13A(4)(a) of the Housing Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations ”; and

(b) in paragraph (b), for “regulations 11A(5) of the 1987 Regulations”, substitute “ regulation 13A(5) of the Housing Benefit Regulations or, as the case may be, regulation 13A(5) of the Housing Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations ”.

(6) In regulation 4C (board and attendance determinations and notifications) M8 —

(a) in paragraph (1), for “regulation 11A(6) of the 1987 Regulations”, substitute “ regulation 17(6) of the Housing Benefit Regulations or, as the case may be, regulation 13A(6) of the Housing Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations ”;

(b) in paragraph 2(b), for “regulation 12A(1) of the 1987 Regulations”, substitute “ regulation 14(1) of the Housing Benefit Regulations or, as the case may be, regulation 14(1) of the Housing Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations ”; and

(c) in paragraph (4) for “regulation 12A(1) of the 1987 Regulations”, substitute “ regulation 14(1) of the Housing Benefit Regulations or, as the case may be, regulation 14(1) of the Housing Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations ”.

(7) In regulation 4E (substitute board and attendance determinations and substitute board and attendance redeterminations) M9 , wherever “regulation 12C of the 1987 Regulations” occurs, substitute “ regulation 17 of the Housing Benefit Regulations or, as the case may be, regulation 17 of the Housing Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations ”.

(8) In regulation 6 (exceptions)—

(a) in paragraph (2) for “regulation 7(3) of the 1987 Regulations”, substitute “ regulation 9(4) of the Housing Benefit Regulations or, as the case may be, regulation 9(4) of the Housing Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations ”; and

(b) in paragraph (3), for “the 1987 Regulations”, substitute “ the Housing Benefit Regulations and the Housing Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations ”.

(9) In regulation 7 (special cases), for regulation 10(1) of the 1987 Regulations, substitute “ regulation 12(1) of the Housing Benefit Regulations or, as the case may be, regulation 12(1) of the Housing Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations ”.

(10) In Schedule 1—

(a) in Part 1, in paragraph 4(4) (local reference rents), for the definition of “non-dependant”, substitute—

““non-dependant” means a non-dependant of the tenant within the meaning of regulation 3 of the Housing Benefit Regulations or, as the case may be, regulation 3 of the Housing Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations;”;

(b) in Part 2, in paragraph 7 (ineligible charges and support charges) M10 —

(i) in sub-paragraph (1), for the definition of “ineligible charges” substitute—

““ineligible charges” means service charges which are ineligible to be met by housing benefit by virtue of regulation 12(3) (rent) of and Schedule 1 (ineligible service charges) to the Housing Benefit Regulations or, as the case may be, the Housing Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations except in the case of a tenancy where the rent includes payments for board and attendance, and the rent officer considers that a substantial part of the rent under the tenancy is fairly attributable to board and attendance, charges specified in paragraph 1(a)(i) of Schedule 1 to the Housing Benefit Regulations or, as the case may be, in paragraph 1(a)(i) of Schedule 1 to the Housing Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations (charges for meals).”; and

(ii) in sub-paragraph (3)—

(aa) for “regulation 12A(7A)(b) of the 1987 Regulations”, substitute “ regulation 14(9)(b) of the Housing Benefit Regulations or, as the case may be, regulation 14(8)(b) of the Housing Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations ”; and

(bb) for “regulation 12A(1A) of the 1987 Regulations”, substitute “ 14(2) of the Housing Benefit Regulations or, as the case may be, regulation 14(2) of the Housing Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations ”;

(c) in Part 3, in paragraph 9(1)(c) (notifications), for “paragraph 1(a)(i) of Schedule 1 to the 1987 Regulations”, substitute “ paragraph 1(a)(i) of Schedule 1 to the Housing Benefit Regulations or, as the case may be, paragraph 1(a)(i) of Schedule 1 to the Housing Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations ”; and

(d) in Part 4, in paragraph 11(5)(b) (indicative rent levels), for “regulation 3 of the 1987 Regulations”, substitute “ regulation 3 of the Housing Benefit Regulations or, as the case may be, regulation 3 of the Housing Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations ”.

(11) In Schedule 3A(categories of dwelling) M11 , in Part 1, in paragraph 1(2)(b), for “regulation 3 of the 1987 Regulations”, substitute “ regulation 3 of the Housing Benefit Regulations or, as the case may be, regulation 3 of the Housing Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations ”.

Marginal Citations

M1 S.I. 1997/1984.

M2 The definition of “relevant date” was inserted by S.I. 2003/2398.

M3 For regulation 13A, see Schedule 10, paragraph 7.

M4 For regulation 13A, see Schedule 9, paragraph 7.

M5 Regulation 3A was inserted by S.I. 2001/1325 and amended by S.I. 2001/2317.

M6 Regulation 4A was substituted by S.I. 2000/1.

M7 Regulation 4B was inserted by S.I. 2003/2398.

M8 Regulation 4C was inserted by S.I. 2003/2398.

M9 Regulation 4E was inserted by S.I. 2003/2398.

M10 Paragraph 7 was substituted by S.I. 2000/1. A relevant amending instrument is S.I. 2003/478.

M11 Schedule 3A was inserted by S.I. 2003/2398.