SDP entitlement - father & son as joint tenants since 2013. Son has been on ESA since 2015 and PIP (SR DL) from 2016

Definition of Non-Dep

The Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008
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UK Statutory Instruments2008 No. 794PART 9CHAPTER 1Regulation 71

(4) Subject to paragraph (5), this paragraph applies to—

(a)a person who jointly occupies the claimant’s dwelling and who is either—
(i)a co-owner of that dwelling with the claimant or the claimant’s partner (whether or not there are other co-owners); or
(ii)jointly liable with the claimant or the claimant’s partner to make payments to a landlord in respect of the person’s occupation of that dwelling;
(b)a partner of a person to whom sub-paragraph (a) applies.
(5) Where a person is a close relative of the claimant or the claimant’s partner, paragraph (4) applies to that person only if the claimant’s, or the claimant’s partner’s, co-ownership, or joint liability to make payments to a landlord in respect of occupation of the dwelling arose either before 11th April 1988 or, if later, on or before the date on which the claimant or the claimant’s partner first occupied the dwelling in question.

I know it is late on a Friday afternoon but I just cannot fathom out the last part of the final sentence, they were not joint tenants prior to 11/4/88 but have been joint tenants at various properties since 2013.

Can someone explain in layman’s terms to me how to interpret this? Thanks

What it’s getting at is situations where the ownership has changed at some point during the occupation of the property.

E.g. Claimant moves into the property as a sole tenant. They then move their brother in and have the tenancy re-issued as a joint tenancy. Reg 71(4) doesn’t apply because the joint liability arose after the date on which the claimant first occupied the dwelling. So the brother is a non-dep.

If father and son have been joint tenants throughout their occupation of the particular property, then there is no issue.

Elliott,
Thanks for the reply.
I will need to check how many properties they have had since 2013 as aware of address changes 4/3/21 and 20/4/22 when I know for sure that it was joint tenancies from outset but not sure prior to that! Will also check if there was anyone else in the properties obviously!