PART IIIPayments in respect of a dwelling

Rates12

1

The payments in respect of which housing benefit is payable in the form of a rate rebate are the payments by way of rates in respect of the dwelling which a person occupies as his home.

2

Where the person is liable to make payments only of such a kind as are specified in regulation 13(1) in respect of the dwelling which he occupies as his home and which comprises part only of a rateable unit, the proportion of those payments equal to the proportion of the rates payable in respect of the rateable unit as a whole which appears to the appropriate authority to be referable to his dwelling shall be treated as payments by way of rates for the purposes of paragraph (1).

3

Subject to any apportionment in accordance with paragraphs (4) and (5) the amount of a person’s eligible rates shall be the amount of the payments by way of rates referred to in paragraph (1), or, as the case may be, (2).

4

Where a rateable unit consists partly of residential accommodation and partly of other accommodation, only such proportion of the rates payable for that rateable unit as is referable to the residential accommodation shall count as eligible rates for the purpose of these Regulations.

5

Subject to paragraph (6), where more than one person is liable to make payments by way of rates in respect of a dwelling, the rates payable in respect of that dwelling shall be apportioned for the purposes of calculating the eligible rates for each such person having regard to all the circumstances, in particular the number of such persons and the proportion of rates paid by each such person.

6

Paragraph (5) shall not apply to any person so residing with the claimant who is a student to whom regulation 53(1) applies.