The Housing Benefit (General) Amendment No. 2 Regulations 1989

• Citation: S.I. 1989/566
• Sections: 6

Section 1 Citation, commencement and interpretation

(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Housing Benefit (General) Amendment No. 2 Regulations 1989 and shall come into force on 1st April 1989.

(2) In these Regulations “the General Regulations ” means the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations 1987 .

Section 2 Amendment of regulation 11 of the General Regulations

In regulation 11 of the General Regulations (restrictions on unreasonable rents)–

(a) after paragraph (1) there shall be inserted the following paragraph–

(1A) Where a rent has been determined by a rent assessment committee in respect of a dwelling under Part I of the Housing Act 1988 or Part II of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1988 , the claimant’s eligible rent determined in accordance with regulation 10 shall not exceed the rent determined by the committee.

(b) in paragraph (2)–

(i) for the reference “(3) and (4)” there shall be substituted the reference “(3) to (4)”;

(ii) at the beginning of sub-paragraphs (a) and (c) there shall be inserted the words “whether by reference to a determination or re-determination made by a rent officer in exercise of a function conferred on him by an order under section 121 of the Housing Act 1988 or, as the case may be, section 70 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1988, or otherwise”;

(c) after paragraph (3) there shall be inserted the following paragraphs–

(3A) No deduction shall be made under paragraph (2) for a period of 12 months from the date of death of any person to whom paragraph (7) applied or, had a claim been made, would have applied, if the dwelling which the claimant occupies is the same as that occupied by him at that date except where the deduction began before the death occurred.

(3B) For the purposes of paragraph (3A), a claimant shall be treated as occupying the dwelling if paragraph (8) of regulation 5 (circumstances in which a person is to be treated as occupying a dwelling) is satisfied and for that purpose sub-paragraph (b) of that paragraph shall be treated as if it were omitted.

Section 3 Amendment of regulation 12 of the General Regulations

In regulation 12 of the General Regulations (restrictions on rent increases)–

(a) at the beginning there shall be inserted the words “Subject to paragraph (2),”; and after the words “if it considers” there shall be inserted the words “, whether by reference to a determination or re-determination made by a rent officer in exercise of a function conferred on him by an order under section 121 of the Housing Act 1988 or, as the case may be, section 70 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1988, or otherwise,”;

(b) at the end of that regulation there shall be added the following paragraphs–

(2) No deduction shall be made under this regulation for a period of 12 months from the date of death of any person to whom paragraph (7) of regulation 11 (restrictions on unreasonable payments) applied or, had a claim been made, would have applied, if the dwelling which the claimant occupies is the same as that occupied by him at that date except where the deduction began before the death occurred.

(3) For the purposes of paragraph (2), a claimant shall be treated as occupying the dwelling if paragraph (8) of regulation 5 (circumstances in which a person is to be treated as occupying a dwelling) is satisfied and for that purpose sub-paragraph (b) of that paragraph shall be treated as if it were omitted.

Section 4 Amendment of regulation 82 of the General Regulations

In regulation 82 of the General Regulations (procedure on further review) after paragraph (1) there shall be inserted the following paragraph–

(1A) Notwithstanding paragraph (1) where the appropriate authority has applied for a re-determination by a rent officer in exercise of a function conferred on him by an order under section 121 of the Housing Act 1988 or, as the case may be, section 70 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1988 the Review Board may, if it considers it appropriate in the circumstances, hold the hearing after the re-determination but as soon as is reasonably practicable thereafter.

Section 5 Amendment of regulation 95 of the General Regulations

In regulation 95 of the General Regulations (withholding of benefit) after paragraph (6) there shall be added the following paragraph–

(7) Where a rent officer has notified an authority that he has been denied entry to the dwelling for the purpose of making a determination or re-determination in exercise of a function conferred on him by an order under section 121 of the Housing Act 1988 or, as the case may be, section 70 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1988, an authority may withhold payment of a rent allowance, if–

(a) in a case where entry has been denied by the claimant, payment would have been made either to the claimant or directly to his landlord; or

(b) in a case where entry has been denied by the landlord, direct payment would have been made to the landlord,

and for so long as the rent officer continues to be denied entry to the dwelling.

Section 6 Insertion of Part XIV into the General Regulations

After Part XIII of the General Regulations (overpayments) there shall be inserted the following Part–

miscellaneous

Evidence and information required by rent officers

(106) The appropriate authority shall furnish as soon as is reasonably practicable such information or evidence relating to a claimant and his accommodation obtained by it in exercise of its functions relating to housing benefit as may be required by a rent officer for the purpose of a function conferred on him by an order under section 121 of the Housing Act 1988 or, as the case may be, section 70 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1988.