
1 

(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Housing Benefit (General) (Amendment No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001 and shall come into operation on 1st October 2001.
(2) The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Assembly.
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(1) The Housing Benefit (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987 shall be amended in accordance with paragraphs (2) and (3).
(2) In regulation 2(1) (interpretation) after the definition of “the Contributions and Benefits Act” there shall be inserted the following definition—“
 “the Administration Act” means the Social Security Administration (Northern Ireland) Act 1992;”.
(3) For regulation 101 (person from whom recovery may be sought) there shall be substituted the following regulation—“
101 

(1) For the purposes of section 73(3)(a) of the Administration Act (prescribed circumstances in which an amount recoverable shall not be recovered from the person to whom it was paid), the prescribed circumstance is—
(a) housing benefit has been paid to a landlord in accordance with regulation 93 or regulation 94 (circumstances in which payment is or may be made to a landlord);
(b) the landlord has notified the Executive or the Department in writing that he suspects that there has been an overpayment;
(c) it appears to the Executive that, on the assumption that there has been an overpayment—
(i) there are grounds for instituting proceedings against any person for an offence under section 105A or 106(1) of the Administration Act (dishonest or false representations for obtaining benefit etc.), or
(ii) there has been a deliberate failure to report a relevant change of circumstances contrary to the requirement of regulation 75(1) (duty to notify changes of circumstances) and the overpayment occurred as a result of that deliberate failure, and
(d) the Executive is satisfied that the landlord—
(i) has not colluded with the claimant so as to cause the overpayment;
(ii) has not acted, or neglected to act, in such a way so as to contribute to the period, or the amount, of the overpayment.
(2) For the purposes of section 73(3)(b) of the Administration Act (recovery from such other person, as well as or instead of the person to whom the overpayment was made), the prescribed person is—
(a) in a case where the overpayment arose as a consequence of a misrepresentation or failure to disclose a material fact (in either case, whether fraudulently or otherwise) by or on behalf of the claimant or any other person to whom housing benefit has been paid, the person who misrepresented or failed to disclose that material fact;
(b) in a case where a recoverable overpayment is made to a claimant who has one or more partners, the claimant’s partner or any of his partners;
(c) the claimant.
(3) For the purposes of paragraph (1), “landlord” shall have the same meaning as it has for the purposes of regulation 93.
(4) For the purposes of paragraph (2)(b), recovery of the overpayment may be by deduction from any housing benefit payable to a partner provided that the claimant and that partner were members of the same household both at the time of the overpayment and when the deduction is made.”.
Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department for Social Development on 23rd April 2001.
John O'Neill
Senior Officer of the
Department for Social Development
