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Neutral Citation Number:	2009 67
Reported Number:	R(H)8/09
File Number:	CH 2337 2008
Appellant:	Stroud District Council
Respondent:	JG
Judge/Commissioner:	Judge D. Williams
Date Of Decision:	17/04/2009
Date Added:	18/05/2009
Main Category:	Housing and council tax benefits
Main Subcategory:	occupation of the home, two homes and temporary absence
Secondary Category:
Secondary Subcategory:
Notes:	Housing and council tax benefit – occupation of the home – full-time student The claimant was the tenant of a three-roomed dwelling and was in receipt of housing benefit and council tax benefit. She notified the local authority that her son had become a full-time student. The authority took the view that she was entitled to benefit only on the basis that she occupied her home on her own and that she was therefore entitled only to accommodation with two rooms. It referred the case to the rent officer, who determined her maximum rent on that basis. The First-tier Tribunal decided on the facts that the son was normally resident with the claimant and was a non-dependant, but that under regulation 74(7) of the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006 no non-dependant deduction was to be made in respect of him, as he was a full-time student. The claimant was therefore entitled to housing benefit based on accommodation containing three rooms. The authority appealed. Held, allowing the appeal, but substituting a decision to the same effect, that: 1. the tribunal had erred in failing to consider the effect of regulation 7 of the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006, which was not limited to questions of whether any housing benefit is payable to an applicant or not but was intended to answer the question of which home a person occupies as a dwelling for the purposes of housing benefit (R v Swale Borough Council HBRB [2000] 1 FLR 246 followed) (paragraph 20); 2. on a correct analysis of regulation 7, a full-time student is to be treated as occupying the dwelling he normally occupies as his home during any period of absence not exceeding 52 weeks (paragraph 21); 3. on the facts found by the tribunal the claimant’s son normally occupied as his home the dwelling occupied by the claimant as a non-dependant, in respect of whom, as a full-time student, no non-dependant deduction was applicable, and the reference to the rent officer and resulting decisions were to be set aside (paragraph 29); 4. under regulation 58(7)(c) of the Council Tax Benefit Regulations 2006 no deduction was to be made from the claimant’s council tax benefit in respect of her son as a non-dependant (paragraphs 27 and 30).
Decision(s) to Download:	R(H)_8-09bv.doc