The Social Security (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004

Amendment of the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations

3.—(1) The Housing Benefit (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987(1) shall be amended in accordance with paragraphs (2) and (3).

(2) In regulation 2(1) (interpretation) –

(a) after the definition of “disability living allowance”(2) there shall be inserted the following definition –

““dwelling occupied as the home” means the dwelling together with any garage, garden and outbuildings normally occupied by the claimant as his home, including any part thereof not so occupied which it is impracticable or unreasonable to sell separately, together with –

(a)

any agricultural land adjoining that dwelling, and

(b)

any land not adjoining that dwelling which it is impracticable or unreasonable to sell separately;”;

(b) the definition of “premises”(3) shall be omitted.

(3) In Schedule 5 (capital to be disregarded) –

(a) for paragraph 1(4) there shall be substituted the following paragraph –

“1.   The dwelling occupied as the home but, notwithstanding regulation 19 (calculation of income and capital of members of claimant’s family and of a polygamous marriage), only one dwelling shall be disregarded under this paragraph.”;

(b) paragraph 24(1)(5) shall be renumbered as paragraph 24 and sub-paragraph (2) shall be omitted.

(1)

S.R. 1987 No. 461; relevant amending Regulations are S.R. 1988 Nos. 117, 186 and 314, S.R. 1989 No. 125, S.R. 1992 No. 6 and S.R. 2003 Nos. 197 and 418

(2)

Definition of “disability living allowance” was inserted by regulation 11(2) of S.R. 1992 No. 6

(3)

Definition of “premises” was inserted by regulation 2(b) of S.R. 1988 No. 117 and amended by regulation 2 of S.R. 1988 No. 186

(4)

Paragraph 1 was substituted by regulation 10 of S.R. 1988 No. 117

(5)

Paragraph 24 was added by regulation 5 of S.R. 1988 No. 186 and amended by regulation 8(a) of S.R. 1988 No. 314 and regulation 12 of S.R. 1989 No. 125