44Reduction of annual rent for eligible pensioners

44 Reduction of annual rent for eligible pensioners

44 Reduction of annual rent for eligible pensioners

(1) The annual rent for a lease in perpetuity that is held by an eligible pensioner is, on application to the Board and on production to the Board of evidence sufficient to enable it to calculate the amount of the reduction, to be reduced in accordance with this clause.

(2) The amount by which rent payable in respect of a lease is required to be reduced is—

(a) if, at the relevant date, the applicant is the sole holder of the lease or holds the lease with one or more jointly eligible occupiers but with no other person—50% of that rent, or

(b) if, at the relevant date, the applicant holds the lease with one or more other persons, any of whom is not a jointly eligible occupier—an amount that bears to 50% of that rent the same proportion as the interests (as between themselves) of the applicant and any jointly eligible occupiers in the lease bear, as at the relevant date, to the interests (as between themselves) of all the lessees in the lease.

(3) If the full or partial amount of the rent payable for the lease in perpetuity is paid in relation to a year in which a person becomes an eligible pensioner, the Board may, on application under this clause, refund so much of the rent as it sees fit.

(4) In this clause—

eligible pensioner, in relation to a lease, means a person who—

(a) is the holder, or one of the holders, of the lease, and

(b) occupies a dwelling situated on the land comprised in the lease as his or her sole or principal place of residence, and

(c) is a member of a class of persons prescribed by the regulations under the Local Government Act 1993 for the purposes of the definition of eligible pensioner in that Act.

jointly eligible occupier, in relation to a lease held by an eligible pensioner with one or more other persons, means a person whose sole or principal place of residence is the same as that of the eligible pensioner and who—

(a) is the spouse of the eligible pensioner, or

(b) is another eligible pensioner, or

(c) is the spouse of another eligible pensioner who has the same sole or principal place of residence as the first mentioned eligible pensioner.