The Housing Benefit (Consequential Provisions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006

Eligible Rent N.I.

4.—(1) Subject to the following provisions of this paragraph, the eligible rent of a person—

(a) who was entitled to housing benefit on both the first date and the second date; or

(b) who is liable to make payments in respect of a dwelling occupied by him as his home, which is exempt accommodation,

shall be determined in accordance with—

(i) regulations 13 and 14 of the Housing Benefit Regulations (rent and restrictions on unreasonable payments), or, as the case may be,

(ii) regulations 13 and 14 of the Housing Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations (rent and restrictions on unreasonable payments),

as set out in paragraph 5.

(2) Sub-paragraph (1)(a) shall only apply in a case where—

(a) either—

(i) the dwelling occupied as his home by a person to whom sub-paragraph (1)(a) refers is the same on both the first date and the second date, or

(ii) the dwelling so occupied was not the same by reason only that the change was caused by a fire, flood, explosion or natural catastrophe rendering the dwelling occupied as the home on the first date uninhabitable; and

(b) the person—

(i) was continuously entitled to and in receipt of housing benefit between the first date and the second date in respect of the dwelling to which head (a) applies;

(ii) was not entitled to or receiving housing benefit for a period not exceeding 4 weeks, but was in continuous occupation of the dwelling to which head (a) above refers between the first date and the second date, or

(iii) is a person to whom sub-paragraph (3) applies.

(3) This paragraph applies in the case of a person (“the claimant”) who becomes, or whose partner becomes, a welfare to work beneficiary, and—

(a) the claimant ceases to be entitled to housing benefit in respect of his residence in the dwelling he occupies as his home;

(b) the claimant subsequently becomes re-entitled to housing benefit—

(i) in respect of the same dwelling, or

(ii) in respect of a different dwelling in a case to which sub-paragraph (2)(a)(ii) applies; and

(c) the first day of that entitlement is within 52 weeks of the claimant or his partner becoming a welfare to work beneficiary.

(4) A person shall be deemed to fulfil the requirements of sub-paragraphs (1)(a) and (2), where—

(a) he occupies the dwelling which he occupied on the relevant date;

(b) this paragraph applied to the previous beneficiary on the relevant date; and

(c) the requirements of sub-paragraphs (5) and (6) are satisfied in his case.

(5) The requirements of this sub-paragraph are that the person was, on the relevant date—

(a) the partner of the previous beneficiary; or

(b) in a case where the previous beneficiary died on the relevant date, was a person to whom regulation 14(10)(b), (c) or (d) of the Housing Benefit Regulations as specified in paragraph 5, applied and for the purposes of this sub-paragraph “claimant” in that paragraph of that regulation shall be taken to be a reference to the previous beneficiary.

(6) The requirements of this sub-paragraph are that a claim for housing benefit is made within 4 weeks of the relevant date and where such a claim is made it shall be treated as having been made on the relevant date.

(7) The eligible rent of a person to whom—

(a) regulation 10A of and Schedule A1 to the Housing Benefit Regulations(1), or, as the case may be;

(b) regulation 10A of and Schedule A1 to the Housing Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations,

apply, shall be determined in accordance with—

(i) regulations 13 and 14 of the Housing Benefit Regulations, or, as the case may be,

(ii) regulations 13 and 14 of the Housing Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations,

as set out in paragraph 5.

(8) Sub-paragraphs (1) to (7) shall continue to have effect in the case of a claimant who has ceased to be a welfare to work beneficiary or whose partner has ceased to be such a beneficiary where the claimant is entitled to housing benefit at the end of the 52 week period to which sub-paragraph (3)(c) refers.

(9) In this paragraph—

“exempt accommodation” means accommodation which is provided by a housing association, registered charity or voluntary organisation where that body or a person acting on its behalf also provides the claimant with care support or supervision;

“the first date” means 1st April 1996, except in a case to which sub-paragraph (4) applies, in which case it shall be the relevant date;

“imprisoned” means detained in custody pending sentence upon conviction or under a sentence imposed by a court;

“previous beneficiary” means a person—

(a)

who died, left the dwelling or was imprisoned, as the case may be;

(b)

who was on that date in receipt of housing benefit or was on that date within 52 weeks of having become a welfare to work beneficiary; and

(c)

to whom this paragraph applied on that date,

and, in this paragraph, a reference to a person occupying a dwelling as his home shall be taken to include a person who is treated as occupying a dwelling as his home by virtue of regulation 7 of the Housing Benefit Regulations or, as the case may be, regulation 7 of the Housing Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations;

“the relevant date” means the date—

(a)

of the death of a previous beneficiary;

(b)

on which a previous beneficiary who was the claimant’s partner left the dwelling so that he and the claimant ceased to be living together as husband and wife; or

(c)

on which a previous beneficiary, other than a beneficiary to whom regulation 7(13) of the Housing Benefit Regulations or, as the case may be, regulation 7(13) of the Housing Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations applied, was imprisoned, but only where on that date he was the partner of the claimant,

as the case may be;

“the second date” means any day after the first date for which a claimant’s entitlement to housing benefit falls to be determined;

“state pension credit” means state pension credit under the State Pension Credit Act (Northern Ireland) 2002;

“welfare to work beneficiary” means a person to whom regulation 13A(1) of the Social Security (Incapacity for Work) (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1995(2) applies.

Commencement Information

I1 Sch. 3 para. 4 in operation at 20.11.2006, see reg. 1(1)

(1)

See, for regulation 10A and Schedule A1, paragraph 2(1) to (3) of Schedule 4 to these Regulations

(2)

S.R. 1995 No. 41; regulation 13A was inserted by regulation 4(2) of S.R. 1998 No. 324 and amended by regulation 2(6) of S.R. 2000 No. 4