# The Income Support (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987, Paragraph 4: Circumstances in which a person is or is not to be treated as occupying a dwelling as his home


(1) Subject to sub-paragraphs (2) to (9), a person shall be treated as occupying as his home the dwelling normally occupied as his home by himself or, if he is a member of a family, by himself and his family and he shall not be treated as occupying any other dwelling as his home.
(2) In determining whether a dwelling is the dwelling normally occupied as the claimant's home for the purposes of sub-paragraph (1) regard shall be had to any other dwelling occupied by the claimant or by him and his family whether or not that dwelling is in Northern Ireland.
(3) Subject to sub-paragraph (4), where a single claimant or a lone parent is a student 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 payments.
(4) A full-time student shall not be treated as occupying a dwelling as his home for any week of absence from it, other than an absence occasioned by the need to enter hospital for treatment, outside the period of study, if the main purpose of his occupation during the period of study would be to facilitate attendance on his course.
(5) 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 he is liable to make payments (including payments of mortgage interest or analogous payments) in respect of either (but not both) the dwelling normally occupied 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.
(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) where he has left and remains absent from the former dwelling occupied as the home through fear of violence in that dwelling or by a former member of his family and it is reasonable that housing costs should be met in respect of both his former dwelling and his present dwelling occupied as the home;
(b) in the case of a couple or a member of a polygamous marriage where a partner is a student or is on a training course and it is unavoidable that he or they should occupy 2 separate dwellings and reasonable that housing costs should be met in respect of both dwellings; or
(c) in the case where a person has moved into a new dwelling occupied as the home, except where sub-paragraph (5) applies, for a period not exceeding 4 benefit weeks if his liability to make payments in respect of 2 dwellings is unavoidable.
(7) 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 income support before moving in and either that claim has not yet been determined or, it has been determined but an amount has not been included under this Schedule and if the claim has been refused a further claim has been 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 the claimant or any member of his family,
(ii) the move was delayed pending the outcome of an application under Part IV of the Order 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's applicable amount includes a premium under paragraph 9, 10, 11, 13 or 14 of Schedule 2, or
(iii) the person 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.
(8) A person shall be treated as occupying a dwelling as his home fora period not exceeding 52 weeks while he is temporarily absent therefrom 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, sub-let; and
(c) the period of absence is unlikely to exceed 52 weeks, or, in exceptional circumstances, (for example where the person is in hospital or otherwise has no control over the length of his absence) is unlikely substantially to exceed that period.
(9) In this paragraph—
(a) “patient” means a person who is undergoing medical or other treatment as an in-patient in any hospital or similar institution;
(b) “residential accommodation” means accommodation—
(i) provided under Article 15 or 36 of the 1972 Order,
(ii) under Article 7 or 8 of that Order (prevention of illness, care and after-care and care of mothers and young children),
(iii) which is a home for persons in need within the meaning of that expression in regulation 19(2) (persons in homes for persons in need or nursing homes), or
(iv) which is a nursing home;
(c) “training course” means such a course as is referred to in sub-paragraph (c) of the definition of training allowance in regulation 2(1) (interpretation).

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/1987/459/schedule/3/paragraph/4 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/income-support-general-regulations-northern-ireland-1987/schedule-3/paragraph-4
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.