Social Welfare (Rent Allowance) Regulations, 1982.
Statutory Instruments
Source: Statutory Instruments

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paragraphs: These Regulations may be cited as the Social Welfare (Rent Allowance) Regulations, 1982.
2 Commencement.
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paragraphs: These Regulations shall come into operation on the 26th day of July, 1982.
3 Interpretation.
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paragraphs: In these Regulations unless the context otherwise requires—
"the Act of 1981" means the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 1981 (No. 1 of 1981);
"the Act of 1982" means the Housing (Private Rented Dwellings) Act, 1982 (No. 6 of 1982);
"allowance" means an allowance to which section 23 of the Act of 1982 refers;
"beneficiary" means a person entitled to an allowance;
"claimant" means a person who has made a claim for an allowance;
"married person" means a person whose spouse is
( a ) living with him.
( b ) wholly or mainly maintaining him, or
( c ) being wholly or mainly maintained by him;
" the Minister" means the Minister for Social Welfare;
"qualified child" means a child in respect of whom an increase of benefit, allowance, pension or assistance is payable under the Act of 1981 and in any other case a person who:—
( a ) is under the age of 18 years,
( b ) is ordinarily resident in the State, and
( c ) is not detained in a reformatory or an industrial school.
4 Conditions for receipt of allowance.
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paragraphs: Subject to these Regulations, an allowance shall be payable to a person who is entitled to retain possession as the tenant of a dwelling under section 9 of the Act of 1982 provided that
( a ) the terms of the tenancy
(i) are fixed by a Court under the Act of 1982, and
(ii) have been set out in written form and signed by the landlord or his agent and a copy thereof has been furnished by the landlord to the tenant, and
( b ) the tenancy and particulars of any new rent for the dwelling are registered in accordance with regulations made under section 24 of the Act of 1982.
5 Amount of allowance.
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paragraphs: (1) For the purposes of this article "weekly means" shall be the weekly means as calculated under article 6.
(2) An allowance, in the case of a married person whose weekly means do not exceed £70 or in the case of any other person whose weekly means do not exceed £40, shall be a weekly amount equal to the amount by which the rent (calculated as a weekly rent) fixed by a Court on or after the date on which the Act of 1982 comes into operation exceeds the rent so calculated payable prior to that date except where the rent so calculated payable prior to that date was less than £3 in which case the allowance shall be an amount by which the rent so calculated fixed by a Court exceeds £3.
(3) An allowance, in the case of persons other than those mentioned in sub-article (2), shall be the amount of allowance that would arise if the provisions of that sub-article applied reduced
( a ) in the case of a married person, by 50p for each £1 of weekly means in excess of £70 but not exceeding £80 and by £1 for each £1 of weekly means in excess of £80, and
( b ) in any other case, by 50p for each £1 of weekly means in excess of £40 but not exceeding £45 and by £1 for each £1 of weekly means in excess of £45.
(4) For the purposes of sub-articles (2) and (3) any fraction of £1 of weekly means greater than 50p shall be taken to be £1 and any other such fraction shall be ignored.
(5) Where a Court orders a tenant to pay an amount to the landlord under section 14 of the Act of 1982, such amount shall be converted to a weekly amount by reference to the period to which the order of the Court relates and sub-articles (2) and (3) shall apply in determining the amount of allowance payable, if any, as if the sum of the said weekly amount and the existing rent calculated as a weekly rent, were a rent fixed by a Court and any allowance due for that period shall be payable at such times as are appropriate having regard to the terms of the order of a Court under the said section 14.
(6) Notwithstanding the provisions of sub-articles (2), (3) and (5), an allowance may be reduced or title thereto may be extinguished, as appropriate, having regard to
( a ) the income of any person other than the tenant, his spouse or qualified children resident in the dwelling, or
( b ) the reasonable accommodation needs of the tenant, account being taken of the availability of suitable alternative accommodation, the length of his occupancy of the dwelling and his personal and family circumstances.
(7) Where the amount of an allowance under sub-article (2) or (3) or, where appropriate, the sum of any such allowance and an allowance under sub-article (5) otherwise payable would be less than £1, no allowance shall be payable.
6 Calculation of means.
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paragraphs: (1) In calculating the means of a person, account shall be taken of the following:
( a ) all income which he may reasonably expect to receive during the succeeding year in cash, including the annual net cash value of any non-cash earnings derived from personal exertions and the actual or estimated amount of any income which he may reasonably expect to recieve during such succeeding year as head of the household, whether as contributions to the expenses of the household or otherwise, but excluding:—
(i) any sums received by way of children's allowance under Part IV of the Act of 1981,
(ii) any sums received by way of orphan's (contributory) allowance or orphan's (non-contributory) pension under the Act of 1981,
(iii) any sums received by way of allowance for domiciliary care of handicapped children under section 61 of the Health Act, 1970 (No. 1 of 1970 ) and
(iv) any sums arising from the investment or profitable use of property (not being property personally used or enjoyed by such person);
( b ) the value of any property belonging to such person (not being property personally used or enjoyed by him) which is invested or is otherwise put to profitable use or which, though capable of investment or profitable use, is not so invested or profitably used, the yearly value of the first £400 of the property being taken to be one-twentieth part of the capital value and the yearly value of so much of the capital value of the property as exceeds the sum of £400 being taken to be one-tenth part of the capital value;
( c ) the yearly value of any advantage accruing to such person from the use or enjoyment of property ( other than a domestic dwelling or a farm building owned and occupied, or furniture and personal effects) which is personally used or enjoyed by the person;
( d ) the yearly value of any benefit or privilege enjoyed by such person;
( e ) all income and the yearly value of all property of which such person has directly or indirectly deprived himself in order to qualify himself or his spouse for the receipt of an allowance, or for the receipt thereof at a higher rate than that to which he or his spouse would otherwise be entitled.
(2) For the purposes of sub-article (1) (a), the income of a person shall, in the absence of other means for ascertaining it, be taken to be the income actually received during the year immediately preceding the date of calculation.
(3) Notwithstanding sub-article (1), the weekly means of a person in receipt of
old age pension
blind pension
widow's (non-contributory) pension
deserted wife's allowance
prisoners wife's allowance
social assistance allowance or
single woman's allowance
under Part III of the Act of 1981, shall be the sum of such pension or allowance and his weekly means as calculated under that Act for the purposes of obtaining such pension or allowance, reduced by,
( a ) the amount of any increase in that pension or allowance in respect of a prescribed relative,
( b ) the amount of any increase in that pension or allowance because the person has attained the age of 66 years and is living alone,
( c ) the amount, if any, by which that pension or allowance, in the case of a person who has attained the age of 80 years, exceeds the payment which would apply if he had not attained that age, and