The Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit (General) Amendment Regulations 2000

Amendment of regulation 79 of the Housing Benefit Regulations

9.  In regulation 79 of the Housing Benefit Regulations (review of determinations)–

(a)in paragraph (4A)(1)–

(i)at the beginning there shall be inserted the words “Subject to paragraphs (4B) and (4C),”;

(ii)for the words “request the rent officer to make” there shall be substituted the words “apply to the rent officer for”; and

(iii)in sub-paragraphs (a) and (b) of paragraph (4A) for the word “request” there shall be substituted the word “application”;

(b)after paragraph (4A) there shall be inserted the following paragraphs–

“(4B) Except where paragraph (4C) applies, an appropriate authority, in relation to any determination by a rent officer of an application made under regulation 12A(1) (requirement to refer to rent officers), shall not apply for a redetermination under paragraph (4A) more than once in respect of an individual claimant’s dwelling to which that determination relates.

(4C) Paragraph (4A) shall operate so as to require an appropriate authority to make a second application where the following conditions are met in addition to those imposed by that paragraph–

(a)the written representations made under paragraph (2) relate to a redetermination by a rent officer made in response to an application by the appropriate authority under regulation 12B;

(b)at the time of that application the rent officer had already provided a redetermination under this regulation of a determination made in response to an application under regulation 12A(1); and

(c)both the application under this regulation referred to in sub-paragraph (b) and the second application for which this paragraph provides relate to the same claimant.”; and

(c)in paragraph (5B) after the word “redetermination” wherever it appears there shall be inserted the words “or substitute determination or substitute redetermination”.