- Latest available (Revised)
- Point in Time (09/02/2023)
- Original (As made)
Point in time view as at 09/02/2023.
There are outstanding changes not yet made by the legislation.gov.uk editorial team to The Housing Benefit Regulations 2006. Any changes that have already been made by the team appear in the content and are referenced with annotations.
Changes and effects yet to be applied by the editorial team are only applicable when viewing the latest version or prospective version of legislation. They are therefore not accessible when viewing legislation as at a specific point in time. To view the ‘Changes to Legislation’ information for this provision return to the latest version view using the options provided in the ‘What Version’ box above.
12.—(1) Subject to the following provisions of this regulation, the payments in respect of which housing benefit is payable in the form of a rent rebate or allowance are the following periodical payments which a person is liable to make in respect of the dwelling which he occupies as his home—
(a)payments of, or by way of, rent;
(b)payments in respect of a licence or permission to occupy the dwelling;
(c)payments by way of mesne profits or, in Scotland, violent profits;
(d)payments in respect of, or in consequence of, use and occupation of the dwelling;
(e)payments of, or by way of, service charges payment of which is a condition on which the right to occupy the dwelling depends;
(f)mooring charges payable for a houseboat;
(g)where the home is a caravan or a mobile home, payments in respect of the site on which it stands;
(h)any contribution payable by a person resident in an almshouse provided by a housing association which is either a charity of which particulars are entered in the register of charities established under section 3 of the Charities Act 1993 M1 (register of charities) or an exempt charity within the meaning of that Act, which is a contribution towards the cost of maintaining that association's almshouses and essential services in them;
(i)payments under a rental purchase agreement, that is to say an agreement for the purchase of a dwelling which is a building or part of one under which the whole or part of the purchase price is to be paid in more than one instalment and the completion of the purchase is deferred until the whole or a specified part of the purchase price has been paid; and
(j)where, in Scotland, the dwelling is situated on or pertains to a croft within the meaning of section 3(1) of the Crofters (Scotland) Act 1993 M2, the payment in respect of the croft land.
(2) A rent rebate or, as the case may be, a rent allowance shall not be payable in respect of the following periodical payments—
(a)payments under a long tenancy except a shared ownership tenancyF1...;
(b)payments under a co-ownership scheme;
(c)payments by an owner;
(d)payments under a hire purchase, credit sale or conditional sale agreement except to the extent the conditional sale agreement is in respect of land; and
(e)payments by a Crown tenant.
[F2(f)payments by a person in respect of a dwelling where his partner is an owner of that dwelling.]
[F3(2A) Where a reduction in any of the payments listed in paragraph (1) for which a person would otherwise be liable is applied by a provider of social housing under an approved tenant incentive scheme, for the purposes of paragraph (1) the amount of the payment is to be treated as if no such reduction has been applied.
(2B) For the purposes of paragraph (2A)—
“approved tenant incentive scheme” means a scheme which is—
operated by a provider of social housing and designed to avoid rent arrears by allowing reductions in the payments listed at paragraph (1) or other advantages in return for meeting specified conditions; and
approved by the Secretary of State;
“provider of social housing” means—
a local authority;
a non-profit registered provider of social housing;
in relation to accommodation which is social housing, a profit-making registered provider of social housing;
a registered social landlord;
“registered social landlord” means—
a body which is registered in the register maintained by the Welsh Ministers under Chapter 1 of Part 1 of the Housing Act 1996;
a body which is registered in the register maintained by the Scottish Housing Regulator under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2010;
“social housing” has the meaning given in section 68 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008.]
(3) [F4Subject to paragraphs (4), (5) and (7), the amount of a person's eligible rent shall be—
(a)the maximum rent where a maximum rent has been, or falls to be, determined in accordance with regulations 13 (maximum rent); or
(b)except where sub-paragraph (a) applies, the aggregate of such payments specified in paragraph (1) as that person is liable to pay less—
(i)except where he is separately liable for charges for water, sewerage or allied environmental services, an amount determined in accordance with paragraph (6);
(ii)where payments include service charges which are wholly or partly ineligible, an amount in respect of the ineligible charges determined in accordance with Schedule 1; and
(iii)where he is liable to make payments in respect of any service charges to which paragraph (1)(e) does not apply, but to which paragraph 3 (2) of Part 1 of Schedule 1 (unreasonably low service charges) applies in the particular circumstances, an amount in respect of such charges determined in accordance with paragraph 3(2) of Part 1 of Schedule 1.]
(4) [F4Where the payments specified in paragraph (1) are payable in respect of accommodation which consists partly of residential accommodation and partly of other accommodation, only such proportion thereof as is referable to the residential accommodation shall count as eligible rent for the purposes of these Regulations.]
(5) [F4Where more than one person is liable to make payments in respect of a dwelling, the payments specified in paragraph (1) shall be apportioned for the purpose of calculating the eligible rent for each such person having regard to all the circumstances, in particular, the number of such persons and the proportion of rent paid by each such person.]
(6) [F4The amount of the deduction referred to in paragraph (3) shall be—
(a)except in a case to which sub-paragraph (c) applies, if the dwelling occupied by the claimant is a self-contained unit, the amount of the charges;
(b)in any other case except one to which sub-paragraph (c) applies, the proportion of those charges in respect of the self-contained unit which is obtained by dividing the area of the dwelling occupied by the claimant by the area of the self-contained unit of which it forms part;
(c)where the charges vary in accordance with the amount of water actually used, the amount which the appropriate authority considers to be fairly attributable to water, and sewerage services, having regard to the actual or estimated consumption of the claimant.]
(7) [F4In any case where it appears to the authority that in the particular circumstances of that case the eligible rent as determined in accordance with the preceding paragraphs of this regulation is greater than it is reasonable to meet by way of housing benefit, the eligible rent shall be such lesser sum as seems to that authority to be an appropriate rent in that particular case.]
(8) In this regulation[F5, regulation 12B (eligible rent)] and Schedule 1 (ineligible service charges)—
“service charges” means periodical payments for services, whether or not under the same agreement as that under which the dwelling is occupied, or whether or not such a charge is specified as separate from or separately identified within other payments made by the occupier in respect of the dwelling; and
“services” means services performed or facilities (including the use of furniture) provided for, or rights made available to, the occupier of a dwelling.
Textual Amendments
F1Words in reg. 12(2)(a) omitted (1.10.2007) by virtue of The Housing Benefit (Amendment) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/1356), regs. 1(2), 2(4)(a)
F2Reg. 12(2)(f) inserted (1.10.2007) by The Housing Benefit (Amendment) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/1356), regs. 1(2), 2(4)(b)
F3Reg. 12(2A)(2B) inserted (7.11.2017) by The Social Security and Child Support (Care Payments and Tenant Incentive Scheme) (Amendment) Regulations 2017 (S.I. 2017/995), regs. 1, 20(2)
F4Reg. 12(3)-(7) omitted (7.4.2008) by virtue of The Housing Benefit (Local Housing Allowance and Information Sharing) Amendment Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/2868), regs. 1(3), 4(4)(a) (with reg. 1(6))
F5Words in reg. 12(8) inserted (7.4.2008) by The Housing Benefit (Local Housing Allowance and Information Sharing) Amendment Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/2868), regs. 1(3), 4(4)(b) (with reg. 1(6))
Marginal Citations
The Whole Instrument you have selected contains over 200 provisions and might take some time to download. You may also experience some issues with your browser, such as an alert box that a script is taking a long time to run.
Would you like to continue?
The Whole Instrument you have selected contains over 200 provisions and might take some time to download.
Would you like to continue?
The Whole Instrument you have selected contains over 200 provisions and might take some time to download. You may also experience some issues with your browser, such as an alert box that a script is taking a long time to run.
Would you like to continue?
The Schedules you have selected contains over 200 provisions and might take some time to download. You may also experience some issues with your browser, such as an alert box that a script is taking a long time to run.
Would you like to continue?
Latest Available (revised):The latest available updated version of the legislation incorporating changes made by subsequent legislation and applied by our editorial team. Changes we have not yet applied to the text, can be found in the ‘Changes to Legislation’ area.
Original (As Enacted or Made): The original version of the legislation as it stood when it was enacted or made. No changes have been applied to the text.
Point in Time: This becomes available after navigating to view revised legislation as it stood at a certain point in time via Advanced Features > Show Timeline of Changes or via a point in time advanced search.
Geographical Extent: Indicates the geographical area that this provision applies to. For further information see ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.
Show Timeline of Changes: See how this legislation has or could change over time. Turning this feature on will show extra navigation options to go to these specific points in time. Return to the latest available version by using the controls above in the What Version box.
Explanatory Memorandum sets out a brief statement of the purpose of a Statutory Instrument and provides information about its policy objective and policy implications. They aim to make the Statutory Instrument accessible to readers who are not legally qualified and accompany any Statutory Instrument or Draft Statutory Instrument laid before Parliament from June 2004 onwards.
Access essential accompanying documents and information for this legislation item from this tab. Dependent on the legislation item being viewed this may include:
This timeline shows the different points in time where a change occurred. The dates will coincide with the earliest date on which the change (e.g an insertion, a repeal or a substitution) that was applied came into force. The first date in the timeline will usually be the earliest date when the provision came into force. In some cases the first date is 01/02/1991 (or for Northern Ireland legislation 01/01/2006). This date is our basedate. No versions before this date are available. For further information see the Editorial Practice Guide and Glossary under Help.
Use this menu to access essential accompanying documents and information for this legislation item. Dependent on the legislation item being viewed this may include:
Click 'View More' or select 'More Resources' tab for additional information including: