Landlord residing with relative

Claimant - Brother in law rents 2 bedrooms , bathroom/toilet & living room. Shares kitchen ( although own kitchen storage )  and laundry area with landlord ( brother in law ) . Claimant has own locked door although shares the main front door.  Landlord has own bedrooms, bathroom/toilet & living room. Previously rented out to a non relative so contrived./commercial tenancy not an issue. LA applying 9 (1)(b) residing in a dwelling who is a close relative. LA relying on CH/3656/2004 & CH/542/2006.

Looked at R(H) 5/06para 13 ‘ Where landlord and tenant are sharing the majority of the living accommodation in the residential unit it seems to me to be plainly right to regard them , for the purposes of regulation 7 (1b) as both residing in the dwelling in respect of which the claimant pays rent.

Any thoughts whether R ( H ) 5/06 could be used as an argument that the landlord does not reside with the claimant ( however loose ) as it cannot be said that they are sharing the majority of the living accommodation or are we wasting our time.

Cheers

In my opinion, taking into account existing case law, the shared use of the kitchen is fatal - CH/2728/2008 is one of at least three other authorities the LA could rely on.

Further, although you state contrived is not at issue, if the tenant and LL now actively change the physical set up to make the tenant’s kitchen usable, that *may* engage the taking advantage provision if the reason for undertaking that change is to obtain HB.

There is of course nothing to lose by challenging the LA’s decision; you may just get lucky at Tribunal.  However, given the LA’s obvious awareness of case law, I suspect the LA would simply go to the UT.  Harsh as it may seem, I’m not sure I would be spending too much time on this, expecially when resources are so scarce nowadays.

Thanks Kevin. I was clutching at straws. Will arm the client with a submission as they will go on their own.
Any ideas where I can get a copy of the decision ? Did a quick trawl of internet without success.
Once again thanks.