1. This Part applies to legacy benefit claimants and SPC claimants.
2.—(1) A claimant is liable to make owner-occupier payments where in the case of a single claimant, the claimant or the claimant's partner (if any), or, in the case of joint claimants, either member of the couple, has a liability to make the payments.
(2) A claimant is to be treated as liable to make owner-occupier payments where—
(a)all of the following conditions are met—
(i)the person who is liable to make the payments is not doing so;
(ii)the claimant has to make the payments in order to continue occupation of the relevant accommodation; and
(iii)it is reasonable in all the circumstances to treat the claimant as liable to make the payments; or
(b)all of the following conditions are met—
(i)the claimant in practice shares the responsibility for the owner-occupier payments with other members of the household, none of whom are close relatives of, in the case of a single claimant, the claimant or the claimant’s partner (if any), or, in the case of joint claimants, either member of the couple;
(ii)one or more of those members is liable to meet those payments; and
(iii)it is reasonable in all the circumstances to treat that member as sharing responsibility.
(3) Where any one or more, but not all, members of the claimant’s family are affected by a trade dispute, the owner-occupier payments shall be treated as wholly the responsibility of those members of the family not so affected.
(4) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (3), “trade dispute” has the meaning given in section 244 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992(1).
3. A claimant is to be treated as not liable to make owner-occupier payments where the liability to make the payments is owed to a person who is a member of the claimant’s household.