The Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006

Circumstances in which a person is or is not to be treated as occupying a dwelling as his home

7.—(1) Subject to the following provisions of this regulation, a person shall be treated as occupying as his home the dwelling normally occupied as his home—

(a) by himself or, if he is a member of a family, by himself and his family; or

(b) if he is polygamously married, by himself, his partners and any child or young person for whom he or any partner of his is responsible and who is a member of that same household,

and shall not be treated as occupying any other dwelling as his home.

(2) In determining whether a dwelling is the dwelling normally occupied as a person’s home for the purpose of paragraph (1) regard shall be had to any other dwelling occupied by that person or any other person referred to in paragraph (1) whether or not that dwelling is in Northern Ireland.

(3) Where a single claimant or a lone parent is a student, other than one to whom regulation 53(1) of the Housing Benefit Regulations (circumstances in which certain students are treated as not liable to make payments in respect of a dwelling) applies, or is on a training course and is liable to make payments (including payments of mortgage interest or analogous payments) in respect of either (but not both) the dwelling which he occupies for the purpose of attending his course of study or, his training course, or as the case may be, the dwelling which he occupies when not attending his course, he shall be treated as occupying as his home the dwelling in respect of which he is liable to make such payments.

(4) Where a claimant has been required to move into temporary accommodation by reason of essential repairs being carried out to the dwelling normally occupied as his home, and is liable to make payments (including payments of mortgage interest or analogous payments) in respect of either (but not both) the dwelling which he normally occupied as his home or the temporary accommodation, he shall be treated as occupying as his home the dwelling in respect of which he is liable to make payments.

(5) Where a person is required by a court to reside in a dwelling which is a hostel, he shall not be treated as occupying that dwelling as his home.

(6) Where a person is liable to make payments in respect of 2 (but not more than 2) dwellings, he shall be treated as occupying both dwellings as his home only—

(a) for a period not exceeding 52 weeks in the case where he has left and remains absent from the former dwelling occupied as his home through fear of violence in that dwelling or by a former member of his family and—

(i) it is reasonable that housing benefit should be paid in respect of both his former dwelling and his present dwelling occupied as the home, and

(ii) he intends to return to occupy the former dwelling as his home;

(b) in the case of a couple or a member of a polygamous marriage, where he or one partner is a student, other than one to whom regulation 53(1) of the Housing Benefit Regulations applies, or is on a training course and it is unavoidable that the partners should occupy 2 separate dwellings and reasonable that housing benefit should be paid in respect of both dwellings;

(c) in the case where, because of the number of persons referred to in paragraph (1), they have been housed by the Executive in 2 separate dwellings;

(d) in the case where a person has moved into a new dwelling occupied as the home, except where paragraph (4) applies, for a period not exceeding 4 benefit weeks if he could not reasonably have avoided liability in respect of 2 dwellings; or

(e) in the case where a person—

(i) is treated by virtue of paragraph (8) as occupying a dwelling as his home (“the new dwelling”) and sub-paragraph (c)(i) of that paragraph applies, and

(ii) he has occupied another dwelling as his home on any day within the period of 4 weeks immediately preceding the date he moved to the new dwelling,

for a period not exceeding 4 benefit weeks immediately preceding the date on which he moved.

(7) Where—

(a) a person has moved into a dwelling for which he is not liable to make payments (“the new dwelling”);

(b) immediately before that move, he was liable to make payments for the dwelling he previously occupied as his home (“the former dwelling”); and

(c) that liability continues after he has moved into the new dwelling,

he shall be treated as occupying the former dwelling as his home for a period not exceeding 4 benefit weeks if he could not reasonably have avoided liability in respect of that former dwelling.

(8) Where a person—

(a) has moved into a dwelling and was liable to make payments in respect of that dwelling before moving in;

(b) had claimed housing benefit before moving in and either no decision has yet been made on that claim or it has been refused but a further claim has been made or treated as made within 4 weeks of the date on which the claimant moved into the new dwelling occupied as the home; and

(c) the delay in moving into the dwelling in respect of which there was liability to make payments before moving in was reasonable and—

(i) that delay was necessary in order to adapt the dwelling to meet the disablement needs of that person or any member of his family;

(ii) the move was delayed pending the outcome of an application under Part VIII of the Act for a social fund payment to meet a need arising out of the move or in connection with setting up the home in the dwelling and either a member of the claimant’s family is aged 5 or under or the claimant is a person who has attained or whose partner has attained the qualifying age for state pension credit, or

(iii) the claimant became liable to make payments in respect of the dwelling while he was a patient or in residential accommodation,

he shall be treated as occupying the dwelling as his home for any period not exceeding 4 weeks immediately prior to the date on which he moved into the dwelling and in respect of which he was liable to make payments.

(9) Where a person is treated by virtue of paragraph (8) as occupying a dwelling as his home in respect of the period before moving in, his claim for housing benefit in respect of that dwelling shall be treated as having been made on—

(a) in the case of a claim in respect of which a decision has not yet been made the date that claim was or was treated as made in accordance with regulation 62;

(b) in the case of a claim for housing benefit in respect of that dwelling which has been refused and a further claim was or was treated as made in accordance with Part IX within 4 weeks of the date on which he moved into the dwelling, the date on which the claim was refused or was treated as made; or

(c) the date from which he is treated by virtue of paragraph (8) as occupying the dwelling as his home,

whichever of those dates is the later.

(10) Where a person to whom neither paragraph (6)(a) or (16)(c)(x) applies—

(a) formerly occupied a dwelling but has left and remains absent from it through fear of violence—

(i) in the dwelling, or

(ii) by a person who was formerly a member of the family of the person first mentioned; and

(b) has a liability to make payments in respect of that dwelling which is unavoidable,

he shall be treated as occupying the dwelling as his home for a period not exceeding 4 benefit weeks.

(11) This paragraph shall apply to a person who enters residential accommodation—

(a) for the purpose of ascertaining whether the accommodation suits his needs;

(b) with the intention of returning to the dwelling which is normally occupied by him as his home should, in the event, the residential accommodation prove not to suit his needs; and

(c) while the part of the dwelling which is normally occupied by him as his home is not let, or as the case may be, sublet.

(12) A person to whom paragraph (11) applies shall be treated as if he is occupying the dwelling he normally occupies as his home for a period not exceeding, subject to an overall limit of 52 weeks on the absence from that home, 13 weeks beginning from the first day he enters a residential accommodation.

(13) Subject to paragraph (17), a person shall be treated as occupying a dwelling as his home while he is temporarily absent therefrom for a period not exceeding 13 weeks beginning from the first day of that absence from the home only if—

(a) he intends to return to occupy the dwelling as his home;

(b) the part of the dwelling normally occupied by him has not been let or, as the case may be, sublet; and

(c) the period of absence is unlikely to exceed 13 weeks.

(14) This paragraph applies to a person who is—

(a) detained in custody pending sentence upon conviction or under a sentence imposed by a court other than a person who is detained in hospital under the provisions of the Mental Health (Northern Ireland) Order 1986(1); and

(b) on temporary release from such detention in accordance with Rules made under the provisions of the Prison Act (Northern Ireland)1953(2).

(15) Where paragraph (14) applies to a person, then, for any day when he is on temporary release—

(a) if such temporary release was immediately preceded by a period of temporary absence under paragraph (13) or (16), he shall be treated as if he continues to be absent from the dwelling, despite any occupation of the dwelling;

(b) for the purposes of paragraph (16)(c)(i), he shall be treated as if he remains in detention; and

(c) if he does not fall within sub-paragraph (a), he shall be treated as if he does not occupy his dwelling as his home despite any such occupation of the dwelling.

(16) This paragraph shall apply to a person who is temporarily absent from the dwelling he normally occupies as his home (“absence”), if—

(a) he intends to return to occupy the dwelling as his home;

(b) while the part of the dwelling which is normally occupied by him has not been let or, as the case may be, sublet;

(c) he is—

(i) detained in custody on remand pending trial or, as a condition of bail, required to reside in a dwelling, other than the dwelling he occupies as his home or, detained pending sentence upon conviction;

(ii) resident in a hospital or similar institution as a patient;

(iii) undergoing, or as the case may be, his partner or his dependent child is undergoing, in the United Kingdom or elsewhere, medical treatment, or medically approved convalescence, in accommodation other than residential accommodation;

(iv) following, in the United Kingdom or elsewhere, a training course;

(v) undertaking medically approved care of a person residing in the United Kingdom or elsewhere;

(vi) undertaking the care of a child whose parent or guardian is temporarily absent from the dwelling normally occupied by that parent or guardian for the purpose of receiving medically approved care or medical treatment;

(vii) a person who is, in the United Kingdom or elsewhere, receiving medically approved care provided in accommodation other than residential accommodation;

(viii) a student to whom paragraph (3) or (6)(b) does not apply;

(ix) a person who is receiving care provided in residential accommodation other than a person to whom paragraph (11) applies, or

(x) a person who has left the dwelling he occupies as his home through fear of violence, in that dwelling, or by a person who was formerly a member of the family of the person first mentioned, and to whom paragraph (6)(a) does not apply; and

(d) the period of his absence is unlikely to exceed 52 weeks or, in exceptional circumstances, is unlikely substantially to exceed that period.

(17) A person to whom paragraph (16) applies shall be treated as occupying the dwelling he normally occupies as his home during any period of absence not exceeding 52 weeks beginning from the first day of that absence.

(18) In this regulation—

“medically approved” means certified by a medical practitioner;

“patient” means a person who is undergoing medical or other treatment as an in-patient in any hospital or similar institution;

“residential accommodation” means accommodation which is provided in—

(a)

a residential care home;

(b)

a nursing home;

(c)

an independent hospital;

(d)

an Abbeyfield Home; or

(e)

an establishment managed or provided by a body incorporated by Royal Charter or constituted by a statutory provision;

“training course” means a course of training or instruction provided wholly or partly by or on behalf of or in pursuance of arrangements made with, or approved by or on behalf of, a government department.

(1)

S.I. 1986/595 (N.I. 4)

(2)

1953 c. 18 (N.I.)