Bedroom tax and ‘guest’ in property

My client’s ex-husband (8 years separated) has recently come to stay in the spare room as he had become homeless. They have reported this to all the relevant benefit offices and there are no issues around LTAHAW. However, HB have treated him as a temporary ‘guest’ in the property and have refused to remove the bedroom tax from the claim. I’m assuming this is going to be a longer-term arrangement as he’s low priority for social housing and isn’t financially equipped to take on private tenancy at the moment.

Is this correct or is there any way he could be counted towards the property being fully occupied?

The issue for size criteria is whether the person normally occupies the dwelling as their home.  It is possible that someone of no fixed abode who is sofa surfing for as long as his/her host will tolerate him/her does not normally occupy any home, but it’s a subjective decision based on all the facts such as:

- other addresses he is in the habit of staying at, or has recently used
- where his belongings are kept
- where his important post is delivered
- how long he has been there and how long he plans to stay there

That’s not an exhaustive list.

Do bear in mind that if the tenant is not otherwise exempt from non-dep deductions (PIP etc), allowing the bedroom would normally mean making a non-dep deduction as well.  the legal test for non-deps is whether they “reside” with the claimant, but the UT decided a couple of years ago that “occupy” and “reside” are more or less interchangeable so you cannot have it both ways.  If the non-dep deduction would be worse than the bedroom tax, she has got the better result as it stands.

Thanks for the response.

She’d be exempt from NDD’s due to PIP so it would be better if he was treated as resident there. He’s solely staying with her and his belongings are kept there, though he hasn’t redirected mail yet. I suppose she needs to firm up with him what his plans are and how long he’s planning to stay. Thanks for the help.

Having spoken to the client, we’ve come across an added complication that I would be grateful for a view on.

Ex-husband is receiving PIP and ESA including the SDP, which apparently DWP have said is fine as they are maintaining separate households in the property. The client’s adult son also lives in the property. If we argued that ex-husband occupies the property as his home and becomes a non-dependent in the household for HB purposes, would this impact on his SDP within his ESA?